You might think you know your target audience.
But who are they, really?
Hi! I’m Keisha Mabry Haymore, a Grow with Google Digital Coach.
Today we’re going to talk about understanding
who your customers are so you can do a better job marketing to them.
You might think you know your target audience:
“Urban Millennials,” “Fashionable Sports Fans,” or “Frugal Pet Owners,” for instance.
But if you don’t do the work to go deeper and really know your target audience,
you risk falling into the trap of marketing to stereotypes instead of actual people.
Not only is that a waste of time and money,
but you’ll be missing out on potential customers that could make your business a success.
One way to do this is by breaking down your target audience into groups,
or what marketers call “segmentation.”
You can start with demographic segmentation, which includes things like
age, gender, ethnicity, religion, income, and education level.
List your audience’s geographics,
which include location-based information like size and density of the region they live in,
what language they speak, and even the climate where they live.
Lastly, behavioral segmentation involves understanding and targeting
based on patterns of behavior,
for example the frequency of your customers’ purchases,
their usage of your products, and their level of loyalty.
These segments and descriptions do a decent job of defining your audience narrowly,
but you can go further by looking at their values, personality, lifestyle, and emotions—
these are what are called “psychographics.”
Look at what your audience likes to do and what type of hobbies they have.
For instance, are they into arts, sports, or socializing?
You can conduct surveys and focus groups,
plus check out social media and Google Trends to learn more.
Your target audience’s values can also tell you a lot about them.
Think about what they believe in,
which might include authenticity, sustainability, or community.
Finally, look at how they view your business and product.
What’s their relationship with your product or service?
Do they think of you as a passion, an escape, a tool, or something else?
Challenge any assumptions you’ve made about your customers,
and list out anything you still might not know about them that you should explore.
Once you have an idea of your potential customers,
it can help to create a model customer persona.
This involves creating a fake name, a photo, and back story of one customer or several,
informed by your demographic and psychographic research.
For example, your business might create the persona “Metro Mikayla.”
Mikayla is a woman in her late-40s.
She lives in a mid-size city and has two adopted sons.
She also went to a local community college
and has a mid-level management job in the retail industry.
Mikayla dreams of traveling but spends most of her time in the city,
supporting local businesses and checking out the farmers markets.
She likes to have friends over to cook and drink wine.
Once you’ve gotten to know your customers better,
you can think about how you will reach them online and in person.
Decide what channels you’ll use to reach them,
what type of imagery, words, and tone of voice would appeal to them,
and what types of product attributes would be important to them.
For more information about creating a digital marketing plan and reaching your customers online,
be sure to tune in to our other videos and subscribe to our channel.
You can also keep learning on the go with the Google Primer app
or check out our Google Career Certificates for job-ready skills you can put to work.
See you next time!