Once your book is published or your product is launched, it’s all in the hands of the customer. There’s no way to really control the buying process or if you even get noticed in the vast market of today’s commerce platforms. With how saturated the book market and publishing industry is right now, it can be a real challenge to stand out from the crowd and grab the attention of potential customers.
Strategic marketing through brand targeting can be the best way to start finding your target audience. You can’t just sell your product to just anyone that you happen to come across – you have to find people who are interested in and can benefit from the things you’re offering. You can usually identify them through demographics and an intensive market research survey.
When you take your first shot at finding your target audience, you have to be prepared to invest a lot of time in the research process. Getting to know your customers and truly understanding what they want is key to a successful business; it’s why brand targeting is so effective. Before you even start conducting a market research survey, you have to do a lot of preparation to make sure you’re fully equipped to finally start the process of finding your target audience.
It’s all a matter of learning and adapting! Here are a few tips for managing your brand targeting strategies in order to optimize your strategies for lead conversion and getting mor eyes on the product.
How to Find, Attract and Keep Your Target Audience
Define what your “target audience” is
Often the term “target audience” can be confused with “target market”, but they actually refer to different things. Your target market is the general group of people that you’re aiming to sell your products to. On the other hand, a target audience is a subset of the target market that is being served specific advertisements and content to convert them into customers.
For example, your target market for a new book could be nonfiction readers. However, you’re planning on hosting a launch party for this book in your hometown and advertising this on your social media accounts. Therefore, your target audience for the ads about your launch party would be residents of your hometown.
There are also different types of target audiences that you need to be aware of before starting your market research survey. This part is just sifting your general target audience into subcategories that will make it easier for you to understand their needs as consumers. Here are some of the more basic types of audiences:
Based on interest
These are usually the people you start looking for when you’re finding your target audience. They would usually share the same preferences or activities like sports and hobbies. For example, your target audience might like reading fantasy novels over nonfiction stories and poetry.
Based on purchase intention
These are the customers that already have something in mind that they want to buy. This could be specific or general – like needing to buy just any kind of microwave or wanting to get an exact make and model of a car.
Based on demographic and culture
Demographics can be as simple as age, race, gender, ethnicity, income bracket, or educational level – which are still very broad categories that need to be narrowed down into subcultures. Subcultures are made up of people who have shared experiences (e.g. millennials who grew up with handheld Nintendo consoles, Australian children who like a certain TV channel, or maybe even young adults that listen to the same genre of music). Chances are that if you connect with a group that has a common interest or experience, you’ll find more with similar preferences close by.
Understand what your target audience does
Your target audience plays a major role in whether or not something is bought. When brand targeting, you also have to determine who your brand is for. Most of the time your target audience is also the same group of people who make the purchase decision, but sometimes that’s not the case. Children don’t have the capacity to buy something for themselves, but it’s likely that if they see an ad with the toy they want to have, they’ll convince someone else to get it for them.
Being aware of this information can influence the way you structure and design your content to be as appealing as possible, in a way that personally connects with your audience.
Analyze your target audience
This is where your market research survey should come out in full force. You want to get to know your customers before finding your target audience, so be as thorough as possible so there’s little room for error. In any case, brand targeting and developing your marketing strategy is a dynamic process that you’ll have to revisit and adjust. So don’t worry about being too perfect!
Here are some of the most effective ways to start finding your target audience:
- Check the products and reviews from online retailers
- Conduct a market research survey on your competitors
- Check the content being uploaded under your hashtags
- Join Facebook and LinkedIn groups in your niche
- Run Facebook ads for data analytics
- Use the Twitter advanced search feature
- Join online forums like Reddit or Quora
Reach out to your target audience
After finally identifying your target audience through an extensive market research survey, you actually have to keep them around. Before launching your ad campaign, take these factors into consideration first:
Time
It’s important to gauge the correct and appropriate times to reach out to your customers. There are certain statistics available for the best time to post content on social media platforms, but this also applies to advertisements outside of social media. For example, you wouldn’t broadcast a trailer for a children’s movie at 2 AM, when most children (and their parents) would typically be asleep.
Type of content
The content you post is probably the most vital thing to ensure a successful brand targeting plan. You can attract followers and potential customers with the occasional ad or sale, but the real challenge lies in keeping them interested in your brand itself. Make sure that you keep your content genuine, authentic, and useful for a lasting relationship with your target audience.
Continue to create curated content
Now that you’ve caught your target audience hook, line, and sinker, all you need to do is to maintain that relationship for as long as your business or product exists. With how saturated the market is today, it can be difficult to keep the customer turnover rate as low as possible – but all you need to do is keep it consistent. Never stray too far from your vision, because that’s what attracted your audience to your brand in the first place.
With great power comes great responsibility… but you don’t have to navigate the waters of digital marketing all by yourself. If you’re having trouble trying to figure out a marketing strategy and managing your business all at once, it’s always a good idea to seek help from professionals who care about your journey. Don’t hesitate to reach out and network!