Advertising isn’t About Luck, it’s About Properly Targeting Your Ideal Audience

Whether you are Irish or not, most people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in some way this month and tend to jump on board with embracing the luck that is said to come with it. When it comes to your business, you likely have already learned that you need to focus on a few more things than just finding a four-leaf clover, especially when it comes to marketing your business and gaining new customers. Advertising isn’t about luck, it’s about properly targeting your ideal audience, which can mean the difference in your business’s success or lack thereof.

While it would be great to just close your eyes and make a wish for new customers and open them and have them right in front of you, it isn’t usually that easy… Unless, maybe, you find out what is at the end of the rainbow and then you may unlock a whole different type of treasure. For today, we are going to focus on those of us who don’t just find the pot of gold, but do something to ensure we get it. We are going to review some tips for how you can properly target your ideal audience to take it out of luck’s hands and put it into yours.

Properly Targeting Your Ideal Audience

Bruce Springsteen said it best, “When it comes to luck, you make your own”. The same is true in business, especially when it comes to your marketing. To be successful, you need to know who the people are that need your products and services, what they like, where they go, how they communicate, and what messages will work for them. Just running with an advertising campaign to run with it because someone in the office liked it, likely will not work for you. Having effective marketing requires skill and thought and should be focused heavily on properly targeting your ideal audience.

The first step to effectively reaching your ideal audience, is knowing who those people are. You should take time and evaluate who the people are who you are currently doing business with. Simply taking a wild guess will not do. If there is a certain type of customer who you don’t enjoy working with and who don’t seem to keep coming back for more, exclude them from your list. Take some time to look at their gender, age bracket, industry, location and income level. Ask them what drew them to working with you and understand what and why they need the products and services you offer. This can quickly give you a good overview of “who is your who.” You should do business with customers who you enjoy doing business with and those who feel the same about doing business with you.

Now that you know who the people are that you want to reach, to be able to properly target that ideal audience, you need to know where they are looking for the products and services that you offer. The goal here is to not just keep current customers, but to drive more people like them to do business with you. Dig a little deeper and ask yourself what is it that your ideal customers need and how they fulfill that need. What do they search for on search engines? Where are they searching for this information; what search engines and tools are they specifically using? Are they more frequently on a mobile device or on a computer? What social media platforms are they using the most (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)? By knowing where your ideal customer is and what they are looking for, you can reach them more effortlessly. Knowing what your ideal customer desires to accomplish can be crucial information when developing marketing content that will create results.

You have your ideal customers and where they are, so you need to send them messaging that will really resonate. Your ideal customer and audience are the people who you are targeting to do business with. They are the type of people who need your products and services and you prefer doing business with. Your business is the solution to a problem they are trying to solve. When it comes to communication with your ideal audience, nothing is more important than actually understanding that audience and what works and doesn’t work for them. Know your audience, ask questions and listen, keep it simple, and chose the right channels. If you are selling dog toys, you likely will want to target people who have pets. If you are selling beef, you probably will want to exclude vegetarians from your marketing efforts. We have more tips for communicating with your ideal audience here.

You now know who and where your ideal audience is and how to communicate with them, so the next step is really pushing them to become a customer. Properly targeting your ideal audience depends on how they make buying decisions. Some people like to take the time to research, read reviews, explore upcoming sales, and look at alternative options. Other people purchase impulsively and on the whim. It is valuable for you to know the purchasing habits of your ideal customer so you can ensure they have the resources they need to help them make the purchase. If your ideal customer purchases spontaneously, make sure they can do so on your website and can complete the transaction all in one instance. If there are additional steps for this type of customer, you will likely lose their interest and purchase. If your ideal customer needs research and reviews, provide them for them and make them readily available on your website and on search engines.

Advertising isn’t about luck, it’s about properly targeting your ideal audience, and lucky for you, at Water Bear Marketing, we are experts at that. We just may be that pot of gold you were looking for.

At Water Bear Marketing we believe that in today’s world, there is no room for guessing with your advertising dollars. We help our customers get a return on their online advertising dollars and prove the results with our reporting. Your success is our success.

Contact us today for a free consultation to make sure that you are getting exactly what you want out of your advertising campaign.

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