There’s a phrase that we should all keep close to our hearts, “keep it simple stupid”. That being said, there’s only two questions you need to ask yourself to find your target audience and market to them effectively. If you’re interested and free vs paid marketing strategies as well feel free to check out this post.
Who is your product for?
The quickest way to find your target audience is by understanding what problem your service/ product solves. For example, if you want to start a curly hair line that specializes in 3C to 4C hair textures your target audience is not middle aged white women. The worst mistake you can make as a business owner is believing your product is for everyone, (I’m looking at you Cantu). When you want to be for everyone you dilute your message for your actual audience and make it harder for them to find you. Therefore, figure out what problem you want to solve and who is most likely to have that problem.
Where does that person spend most of their time?
If you have a problem with finding your target audience online, figure out which online platform has a similar target audience as you and how often they spend time on that platform. For reference if your target audience is Gen Z try TikTok, Millennials tend to be on Instagram and Twitter, and older generations are most likely on Facebook.
If you’re having a problem finding your target audience in person, learn what demographic they fall in. (Demographics can be described as the age, race, gender, marital status, income, education, and employment status of your target audience.) Figuring out their demographic could help you figure out what part of town they’re in. For example, if you’re selling luxury items and you live in Houston, Tx your best bet is to find a location in River Oaks or around the Woodlands because those are high income areas. Disclaimer: high income areas do not necessarily mean high disposable income due to the fact we are in a time of inflation, but you do have a better chance in these areas.
Examples
If your target audience is Gen Z then one of the best platforms to reach them is TikTok. I know that for some showing your face on social media is nerve wracking. Luckily there’s a simple solution for that! You can record the process of creating and packaging your product. I’ve noticed an uptick in production videos on TikTok that don’t show the creators face at all. You can also do new product announcements or product reveals in this same format.
If your target audience is people 50 and above, I recommend creating a Facebook page and posting facts and testimonials about your product. The best thing you can do for this age group is create a Facebook business page and try to get as many followers as possible as quickly as possible. The game here isn’t quantity vs quality. That isn’t to say that your product should be horrible, it’s to say I’ve noticed on Facebook it’s more of a popularity thing than a quality thing when it comes to sales. Facebook is a numbers game, and lucky for us it’s the social media platform with the most users.
If your target audience is somewhere in between those two age groups, try both! Another important tips about finding your target audience is don’t be afraid to mix and match your platforms. I highly suggest finding two platforms you can repost the same content on so you get more out of your content creations. For example, if you create blog posts you can post them on your website and medium.com or if you want to post videos you can post them on both TikTok and Instagram. The pairings are endless; you just have to be creative. In fact, check out this blog post here to learn more about repurposing content.
Key Takeaways
- Understand the problem your product or service solves
- Learn who benefits most from using your product or service.
- Promote your product or service on the platforms they’re on most often.
And that’s a wrap! If you found this article helpful please leave a comment and tell me what you learned.
