Designing a successful search marketing campaign starts with knowing your audience. Unless and until you properly define your target audience, your campaign remains vague.
So, the question that comes up here is, who includes your target audience?
The answer is pretty simple – your target audience comprises of people who you’re marketing to. As simple as that.
When you’re planning to create an effective SEO strategy, it’s important that you know the pain points of these people you’re targeting. It’s about understanding their wants and needs to get the most out of your efforts.
This not only helps you prioritize content that you should be focusing on, but also gives you a clearer vision for what needs to be done next.
Also, keep in mind that keyword research is a step that comes after you determine your audience. This allows you to tailor your content for them and find keywords that are laser targeted.
Conduct a Thorough Market Analysis
In order to identify your target audience you should know your market like the back of your hand. This can be achieved by conducting a detailed market analysis. Going through the current news and doing extensive research on the web will help you gouge the interest level of your market.
Your basic aim here is to know where your target audience hangs out, what are their buying habits and the kind of feedback they have for your products/services. The more you learn about your prospects/customers, the better you will be able to serve them.
Analyze Your Customers and Competition
Have a look at your current customers to know where you stand. It’s crucial that you know who your customers are and what’s making them buy from you. Do they share the same interests? What are their characteristics? This will help you create a customer profile that you can use to look for other people like them.
Besides your customers, also check your current competition. What kind of audience are your competitors targeting? Who is their typical client? The idea here is to avoid going after the market they’re into, and find a niche that has been overlooked by them.
Study Your Own Product or Service
Sit down and analyze your product/service; list out all the features in detail. Once you’re done, list out the benefits that each feature provides.
When you’ve got all the benefits on paper, the next step is to create a list of people that have a need/want that can be fulfilled by your product. You will have a strong starting point for getting more customers/clients with your marketing by doing this analysis
Don’t Break Your Target Too Far
Avoid making the mistake of breaking down your target audience to a micro level. It’s better to go for more than one niche if needed. Ultimately you want a responsive market that is neither too broad, nor too narrow. Always try to have a balance when it comes to this one aspect.
How do you define your target audience? Do you have your own unique way of doing it? Please share them in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!
