Target audience and how to identify it correctly

Target audience is a particular group of consumers within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message (page on Wikipedia). Identification of this group is the most important step for finding ways to influence the consumer all the way to buying your product or service. And involving in the group of likely buyers, along with the already existing ones, is an important marketing move aimed at occupying your niche in the industry and work success.We will discuss the basic rules of activity with the target audience, its types, advise how to find the backbone, outline the list of indicators with whose help it’s possible to outline the target audience of a particular trading enterprise.

Contents:

1. Fundamental rules of interaction with the target audience
2. Core (base) and types of target audience
3. Socio-demographic features
4. Psychological characteristics
5. Target audience in the B2B market (business to business)
6. Ways to identify the target audience
7. Conclusion

Fundamental rules of interaction with the target audience

Working with the target audience serves as the main facet of the company’s trading activities. The fact of the existence of the target audience gives an opportunity to learn about consumers and will allow:

• separate them from the mainstream;
• select the product they need;
• find a method of selling products in accessible conditions with the right approach;
• allow to delineate the boundaries and determine the thematic purpose for the manufacturer (through analysis)

Long story short, the target audience is a consumer community, who is in need of your product at this particular time with the benefit for itself. It occupies a specific niche in the business segment. It’s clear that each target audience has common factors. Classifications are determined by the company itself.

For example, it can be an integration of the following:

• location, for example – the population of the central part of the USA;
• composition of the population and its social status, for example – men and women over 50, with a small income, retired;
• psychological – people who differ themselves by certain tastes, hobbies, sociability, domination, way of life;
• model of behavior, people who are committed to some type of behavior, for example, buy certain products once a month.

To study the target audience, it is necessary to determine its driving force, development, and variation in the number of its members. Its scale makes it possible to understand the perspective in the capacity of the market, measured in thousand people, it allows to determine business benefits, profitability of investments in advertising and promising development.

Core (base) and types of target audience

Constant people with high purchasing power make up the essence of the target audience and are its core. The backbone of the target audience, as a rule, are buyers, which bring high income to business and at the expense of which the level of sales is growing. Such consumers, using the desire to purchase the goods, which are necessary regularly, possess them, by all means. From the established practice, there are 2 types of target audience:

The main target audience – plays a paramount role in business, in which consumers themselves dictate the demand for the products they need. Targeted audience becomes the main motivator for the implementation of shopping.

Secondary target audience – serves as a secondary, indirect significance, as it plays the role of an unemployed buyer, may not buy a certain product or service at all. This type is not fundamental for the promotion of branded products on the market.

Consider both types in the visual case of the entertainment market for children. Here the main target audience of children (who use the product). They want to have fun, but not in a position to acquire it, but they prompt you to buy, asking your parents (who purchase the product) about it. Therefore, parents can be attributed to a secondary target audience.

Socio-demographic characteristics of the target audience

To determine such target audience, the personal data of the person making the purchase needs to be studied:

• gender identity;
• age category;
• the level of education;
• amount of earnings;
• belonging to the social stratum, marital status;
• occupation, its kind, place of work;
• nationality;
• geographical location

Sample characteristics of the target audience on the socio-demographic trait: men 40-50 years old, with high wages, received a higher medical education, heads of medical institutions, living in a metropolis, numbering more than 1 million people.

Psychological characteristics

The target audience for the psychological factor can be characterized by the following characteristics:

• by features of character (cheerfulness, ease of communication, with high ambitions, possession of leadership quality, etc.);
• attitude to life, principles, position taken to socially significant values (conservation of natural resources, struggle for the purity of the environment, human well-being, demographic issues, etc.);
• lifestyle, favorite pursuits, passions;
• behavioral pattern of the acquirer (the process of making a purchase from the desire to buy until the purchase);
• the choice of the location of the product, the scope and mode of use (where they acquire and how they are used);
• position to the price level;
• the reason of choice and impulse for application;

Target audience in the B2B market (business to business)

This type of audience can be characterized by such parameters as:

• type of business, variety of products;
• number of working people;
• annual revenue for products sold;
• border of production’s expansion- local, state and international scale;
• number of subsidiaries;
• level at which the order is accepted;
• uneven implementation, depending on seasonal production;
• principle and method of price determination.

For a broader familiarization with the methods of determining the target audience for the trademark of the product, you can use the description technique.

Ways to identify the target audience

The success of business determines the right policy for finding the target audience for your product and the area of its distribution.

You can learn the target audience by two methods known to researchers – from the demand for the products you sell or from the scale of the market in which you intend to take your place. In any case, it is necessary to answer six core questions:

1. Do you know the personal characteristics of your customer? (gender, salary level, social position).
2. What is the psychological style of the target audience?
3. How does the targeted consumer want to see the right product?
4. What task does ihe solve when buying a product?
5. What factors matter for choosing the product and way of purchasing?
6. How does the consumer get informed about the product (from what sources) , what methods of communication does he use during the day?

Conclusion

We hope this article will be useful to you and will help you to understand the most important thing – finding and determining the target audience for your product. Remember that without a clear understanding of who is your buyer or user it’s very difficult to conduct any marketing activities (both offline and online), because by knowing who your audience is, you can more effectively influence it with your advertising messages.

If you still have questions or need help, ask your questions in comments or directly to managers via online chat on our website.