How to research your target audience and, who is your target audience?
Are usually the first questions I ask any new and existing customer when they want to launch a new product or service and they need content or marketing collateral to promote it.
- Who is your target audience?
- What is your target market?
- Where is your target customer?
- Where do they spend their time?
- How are you going to sell to them if you’re not really sure where they are?
As a business owner of a print management company, this is an area we regularly review and I can honestly say we still haven’t got it right!
Digital Print Management is very niche specific we provide transactional print and mailing services. Our audience is HR Directors, Payroll Managers, Accounts Managers, Credit/Collection Managers, all very specific but that doesn’t mean they are any easier to find than a reliable plumber. Aside from Linkedin and Facebook, I’m talking about real interaction and engagement.
How do you find the people to sell too?
The key to generating leads and acquiring customers is knowing and understanding what your audience wants. Showing and telling your services to an audience without knowing who they are is like finding a needle in a haystack. In spite of what you read on the internet and the copious amounts of content available on this subject, it can be a minefield.
So, let me share with you what we have tried and failed and tried and been successful at so that when it comes to writing that much-needed content, sales letter or marketing brochure using the following tips should help or at least provide you with a stepping stone.
I am going to assume that you know who your audience is and that you already have established products and services.
Here are some questions to consider:
- Who are your current customers and how did you find them?
- Who stands the most to benefit from your services and how did you get your message out there in the first place?
- Why did they choose you over other competitors?
- Why do they continue to work with you?
- What problems did your product/service solve for them?
- Who is your competition and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
- What can you offer that they can’t?
- Sketch an outline of your portfolio of customers you presently serve, how did you solve their pain points?
- Ask your cohort of customers what they like about you and why they continue to use you as a supplier?
- Your instincts are the very essence of writing and finding your tone of voice, understanding your customer really helps craft content that is worth reading
Aim to be target specific and niche. There is no point in trying to be a big fish in an even bigger pond with your voice not being heard.
The first rule of journalism is the who, what, why, when and where which makes your focus on writing content easier.
Thinking about what you do helps you create what you need to write about, does your content actually match the product/service you are selling?
Always think why am I writing this and who is it for? But to do that requires you to be laser focused on your customer type so visualising what they look like and what they are going to want to read can make a difference.
Simply talking about how wonderful you are isn’t enough, customers want to know what is in it for them and they want to find that out quickly.
But writing the content is more than just making sure it fits in with the persona of your audience. You also need to consider your wider audience people who may not fit the criteria you are seeking to sell to but may be looking for your services in the near future.
Finding a balance is an art.
Using google analytics and keywords in your copy are crucial here because you can really drill down into understanding what type of person is visiting your website.
If you write as though you are sitting in front of them chatting about what your services can do and asking questions you are more likely to elicit a better response because you are sharing rather than telling.
If all of the above sounds daunting then a copywriter can help you write the perfect copy.
What does a copywriter do?
We write great sales and marketing content, it is “salesmanship in print” it is our job to write persuasive copy that gets your customers to take action.
So, if you don’t have the time or the inclination then talk to me and I will be happy to get to work and write the best content that will work for you.
