First of all, ask yourself important questions for target audiences in Ireland. It’s not possible to cover everyone but not everyone will want or need your services. In the entertainment industry they are quite specific about their genre fitting in with their audiences, for instance making a horror movie for a romantic genre audience will never fit the bill.
It is essential to define and refine target audience. Don’t be afraid to exclude certain demographics. The more focused you are in your marketing strategy it makes it easier to understand and define your target market.
One way of determining this is to conduct informal interviews and ask questions relative to your business and ascertain the insight into their daily lives. Ask your friends and family about their needs and whether they think your target market could be.
Get involved in online discussions on Social Media. This could also determine what platforms would be suitable for driving traffic to your web site.
Here are some essential questions you could ask although some of them may not be relevant to your target market depending on whether your business is business to customer or business to business company:
DEMOGRAPHICS
This is similar to filling out a landing pass on an international flight. Is your customer male or female. What religion do they belong to and what is their preference, maybe they are not practicing. You don’t want to be offering pork to an Orthodox Jew for example. What levels of education have they completed, is it going to be compatible with the level skills required? What is their marital status, do they have children.
All of the above Will make your research more concentrated and clearer and lead you closer to your target market.
PSYCHOGRAPHICS
How do you live your life and what are your lifestyle preferences? What hobbies do you have? You may like to play golf so selling you a cricket bat may be appropriate – but hardly. How do you spend your free time? What are your political beliefs? What sort of character are you, introverted or extroverted? If your introverted you may prefer to do business on line and not engage with people directly.
FINANCIALS
A slightly tricky question but an necessary one, how much do you earn? This will determine whether they can afford your services and whether they may become a long term prospect. If you charge €1000 month for a plan and they can only realistically do three months are they going to be your customer? What do they spend their residual money on, do they save? All relevant to determining your target audience.
INDUSTRY
What industry do you work in? Do you work in a specific Industry or Profession, maybe your self employed. Do you belong to a professional organization or trade body such as The Institute of Chartered Accountants which will give you serious kudos to your customers so they would be a serious contender for your target audience.
HOW DO YOU COMMUNICATE
How your audience communicates will determine what platforms they use, for instance, they may use LinkedIn which is more serious than Facebook. How fast do they need a response is important. This may be through chat platforms on smartphones and laptops. Alternatively they may use emails or possibly video links such as FaceTime and Messenger.
LOCATION
Where do they go in their leisure time, do they go to have coffee regularly at the same cafe like Starbucks. Do they visit the DIY store? Do they attend work related conferences or trade shows? What online platforms do they visit, online discussion groups or blogs?
CONNECTIONS
Who do they discuss business with on a regular basis? Where do they get their referrals from, networking online or attending business forums such as breakfast or lunch clubs?
COLLECTING INFORMATION
What newspapers, blogs, newsletters or trade magazines do they read on a regular basis? Who do they regularly follow? Do they watch movies and TV on a regular basis if so what types?
VALUES AND BELIEFS
What do they strongly believe in and what values do they hold dear? What is their priorities in work and in life?
Having completed the interviews ask yourself are there enough people in your target market to make them viable as possible business prospects? Would you be attracted to working with these people. Would you be able to work with them to solve their problems and build a long term business relationship? If yes, you now know your target audience so Go For It.
Brand You Creative
Creator – Lee Kavanagh on Sep 4, 2018
