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How do you figure out who your target audience is?

by LiquidNoir
10 replies
There are articles out there on this, but they all give what seems like very poor advice, basically saying to just guess and brainstorm what your target audience is. Maybe someone who knows different types of people well can do that, but I'm not a people person.


What is a good, solid, no-guesswork way of determining who the appropriate target audience for your online product is?


Sometimes, it is straightforward...for example, if you're selling a toy fit for a three year old, then obviously your target audiences are the three year old and their parents (since the parents actually buy it).


But sometimes, it isn't so straightforward...for example, if you're selling jewelry. The target audience will be mostly women, but what kind of woman is the question. There are a million different types and styles of jewelry (fine jewelry, costume jewelry, fashion jewelry, handmade jewelry, etc.) and different women like different kinds. How do you know what type of woman likes YOUR kind?


That was just an example (I'm not selling jewelry or baby toys).


I just need a method for figuring out target audience. Thank you.
#audience #figure #target
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    The process is so much easier and straightforward when you start with market research to identify demand in the marketplace.

    When you look for common problems, frustrations, desires that people express, then you understand exactly who makes up your targeted audience.

    When you start the process with a product . . . then you must hunt to find people who might be interested in that product. It's a much more difficult starting point.

    It's easier to identify an audience and then match a solution to their wants . . . instead of finding the solution first and then looking for people that might be interested in buying it.

    Here's to your success,

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Yes, as Steve has pointed out, you have to GET TO KNOW your audience.

    This information is not going to be sitting out there giftwrapped with a bow around it.

    It's also why so many people fail to commit and don't get good results.

    You have to go out there and interact with your audience to find out what their important problems are, what solutions they would like, and what they'll pay.

    Sometimes there are are forums where your audience has discussed these things (eg. carpet cleaning, dog walking, and ooohh a google search for "jewelry forum" brought up some results) and you can pull data from there.

    Kindle book reviews are another good source ("I bought this book because") of this kind of problem-solution information.
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  • Profile picture of the author stackman
    Half the problem is determining your target audience, the other half is figuring out how to get to and market to that audience. The second half is much harder than the first half.

    Oftentimes, determining a target audience is simply by trial and error. For example, jewelry. You know your target is women but you may not know which segment of women are most interested in your product until you begin offering it and determine what your audience is buying. When you determine something about the segment that is buying, you can begin targeting to that segment.
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  • Profile picture of the author nmwf
    Originally Posted by LiquidNoir View Post

    There are articles out there on this, but they all give what seems like very poor advice, basically saying to just guess and brainstorm what your target audience is.
    I have never seen any article that suggests guessing or brainstorming for a target market. What in the world are you reading??

    Here's a good start: How to Identify Your Target Market - For Dummies

    You can find even more through this: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...+target+market

    I don't know what's going on with your Google, but that's what my Google shows me.
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  • Profile picture of the author ElleBlue
    You need to start with the basics. I don't know what you sell, but let's say you do sell jewelry. The starting point is as you've already said, women. Now what kind of jewelry is it? Is is 14K and 24K gold? What is the price point? If it is expensive jewelry, you will want to appeal to men too, as jewelry is the number one gift item. nmwf gave good links to books. You might want to start there.

    Let's go back to the women. Are they single? Married? What is their income level? Where do they live (a suberb or a city)? What age range are these people?
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    • Profile picture of the author webmarketer
      Assuming you have determined the commerciality of your niche (need for the product)--

      1. Key in the keyword or keyword phrase of your niche on Google's search bar.

      2. Get 3-5 of your chosen competitor's domain names.

      3. Research domain names on:

      compete.com (register for a free account)
      quantcast.com

      From the above sites, you'll get stats on your target demo: age, income, ethnicity, gender, education, political pref, political engagement, household size etc.

      You'll also find about their surfing behavior via the other websites they visit, the category of websites, frequency of visit, and traffic sources.

      4. From the data you'll get here, comparing the 3-5 websites of your competition, you can draw a consumer profile of the specific person/primary target you want to market to.

      5. You can then design your site, content, marketing, traffic, and promo efforts for your target audience--since you already know their consumer profile.
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Look for similarities among your existing customers in terms of demographic factors such as age, gender, income, education, job, group memberships, ethnicity, etc. Use this information to narrow down your target audience.

        Write a basic profile of the type of customers you want to target using this research. Determine the lifestyle, background, occupations, age range and location of your ideal customers.

        Assuming you can relate (ie have an affinity) to your targeted prospect profile, people with similar profiles often have closely correlating buying patterns.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Market research.

    Some people suggest selling in niches that you have affinity to - or that you know well. But this isn't always the best approach. You have to find a niche using Google and a wide variety of other sources pinpoint demand, niche size, opportunity for backend marketing, opportunity with joint ventures, keyword suggestions (for SEO and PPC), and available topics to talk about for email marketing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Trankuility
      Lots of good replies here.

      Here's something else you could possibly try.

      If your Niche is represented by a magazine then you could go to the magazines website and look for their media or press kits. Those contain advertising information such as buyer demographics. Bingo.

      And if your niche isn't exactly the same as the magazines...if it's similar those buyer demographics will give you a good starting point.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronaldmd
    Originally Posted by LiquidNoir View Post

    But sometimes, it isn't so straightforward...for example, if you're selling jewelry. The target audience will be mostly women, but what kind of woman is the question. There are a million different types and styles of jewelry (fine jewelry, costume jewelry, fashion jewelry, handmade jewelry, etc.) and different women like different kinds. How do you know what type of woman likes YOUR kind?
    Assuming the jewelry isn't fake, it's going to cost a fortune, hence, target audience is women with money, obviously women who are old enough to have money to spend. Certainly not young women age 19.

    Women with money is your target audience, you don't need to worry what kind of jewelry they like because it's impossible for you to know unless if you can read mind. As long as you target women with money, it would be fine.
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