How to determine your target audience

Knowing your target audience provides an effective foundation for sustainable business development and scaling. It helps you properly configure marketing campaigns, decide which products or services to offer, how to best communicate with customers, and improve their satisfaction.

So studying the target audience of an online store, like any other business, is crucial for increasing sales and, consequently, increasing profits. But how to determine it? We have prepared recommendations.

Why you need to know your target audience

Offering only one product to all potential customers at the same time is not only expensive, but also an ineffective strategy. Each consumer has their own motivations, goals, and preferences. It is worth considering this when developing a unique selling proposition (USP) in order to properly motivate the target audience.

Since the target audience can consist of different groups of people (of different ages, wealth levels, places of residence, with different interests, etc.), each segment requires an individual approach. This is the foundation of successful marketing!

5W: The Mark Sherrington Method

One of the most famous methods for determining the target audience is the 5W principle (a method developed by Mark Sherrington, founder of the brand consulting company Added Value). It is based on the marketing law: each product is intended for its consumer.

In general, the method involves forming a list of detailed answers to five questions: 

1. What? (What is the customer going to buy)
2. Who? (Who is your buyer)
3. When? (When exactly and how often does the customer buy/is ready to buy)
4. Where? (Where the customer is physically located; where they spend their time (websites, social networks), where they usually make purchases)
5. Why? (Why does he choose certain products, what motivates him)

To find the answers to these 5 questions about defining your target audience, you need to take certain steps. 

Action plan: what will help you correctly determine your target audience

Product (goods or services) analysis

What exactly does your business offer potential customers? Analyze your product objectively and formulate honest answers to the following questions:

• What advantages does it have?
• What needs does it cover?
• What customer problems does it solve?
• How is your offer better than your competitors' offers?

Rely on real facts and evidence.

For example, you can say that an SEO audit is important for promoting an online resource in search engines. Or you can provide more detailed and convincing information on why it is worth ordering an SEO audit and optimization of the site: 

• Analyzing the site and implementing a set of search engine optimization actions will improve Google PageSpeed ​​performance.
• Improve the perception of the mobile version of the site by search engines.
• And your resource will be in the TOP 10 of Google.
• So you will get more traffic.
• And this is confirmed by real customer reviews.

An honest look at the product, a proven argumentation of its advantages will help you stay one step ahead of those who offer similar products or services. Read about the features of SEO optimization of an online store HERE .

Market research

An important stage of strategic planning and business development is competitor analysis, because it:

• helps to get an objective idea of ​​the market, its size, dynamics and key trends;
• allows you to identify weaknesses in their strategies and activities, which can be an advantage for your business;
• helps identify successful marketing tactics, practices, and tools that you can use in your own business to drive repeat sales;
• allows you to form a more effective development strategy, better identify the competitive advantages and uniqueness of your business offerings;
  can inspire new ideas and innovative solutions that will help you become a leader in your industry;
• allows you to better understand the needs and expectations of consumers of a product in your niche, and therefore helps attract and retain more customers (in particular, through the analysis of customer reviews about competitors and their products). 

Market research helps create strategies aimed at achieving competitive advantage and success in the market.

Marketing research

Use surveys, focus groups, or other research methods to find out who might be interested in your product, and learn about their needs, interests, and preferences.

We recommend that you learn what Performance marketing is and its benefits . 

Creating a Customer Profile 

After collecting all this information, use it to create a Customer Profile — an image of a typical representative of your target audience, a real buyer for whom your product is a solution to their problem.

The customer portrait should include data on the demographic characteristics, interests, needs and characteristics of the consumer, namely:

• age;
• sex;
• marital status;
• region of residence;
• income level and solvency;
• frequency of purchases, etc.

Customer Profile Example

Tetyana, 26 years old. Married, has two small children. Average income is about 30,000 UAH/month. Works from home, makes flowers from marshmallows. Has an Instagram page, but spends a lot of time processing orders in Direct and answering questions about the assortment, production times and delivery.
Motivation for ordering a website : wants to provide potential customers with convenient access to information about their craft product in order to communicate more objectively with potential customers and expand their audience.

You need to understand exactly who you are offering your product to (i.e. who, in the example situation, is interested in developing an online store ). The more precisely you understand who your client is and what he is like, the more effective you will be able to build interaction with him. And this is the basis for high and large sales and successful business promotion in the market.

Analysis of behavioral factors of the target audience 

The resulting portrait will help you develop advertising campaigns, create content, and your entire customer engagement strategy. Knowing your potential buyer’s interests, hobbies, passions, and lifestyle will help you better target their desires and pain points when creating your marketing strategy. It’s also important to understand your target audience’s life position and values ​​in order to formulate your messages correctly.

Adjust your marketing strategy, considering the communication channels, content types, and offers that best meet the needs and interests of your target audience.

It is also important to compare the price of the product and the potential speed of making a purchase decision. This will help build the right trajectory of communication with the audience. Example: people can buy an inexpensive product (or service) directly from an advertisement, while ordering an expensive product requires time to study this offer and analyze its benefits.

Target audience segmentation

It is the process of dividing all potential customers into groups or segments based on common characteristics. This work allows you to more effectively tailor marketing strategies and offers. 

Some criteria by which target audience segmentation can be carried out:

1. Demographics — age, gender, education, income level, marital status, place of residence.
2. Psychographics - interests, hobbies, lifestyle, values, opinions, beliefs, existing problems.
3. Behavioral — purchasing power, frequency of purchases, use of a product or service, interaction with the brand, use of media, etc.
4. Geographic — place of residence, region, country, type of settlement.
5. Technological - the use of certain platforms, devices, programs, etc.
6. Professional - field of activity, position, level of experience, etc.

After segmenting your target audience, you can create personalized marketing campaigns for each segment (you can create your own offer for each group). This will allow you to better meet their needs and requirements, ensuring greater marketing efficiency and success.

For example, you are the owner of an online shoe store and offer: inexpensive models and elite shoes. The assortment includes offers for women and men. In such a situation, you can distinguish at least 4 segments of the target audience that will be interested in budget and elite class shoes. At the same time, representatives of each segment have their own level of solvency, triggers that can prompt action (pain, desire) and behavior patterns. All these features need to be carefully studied and determined.

How will knowing your target audience help increase sales?

• Better communication and rapid adaptation. By understanding who your target audience is, you can better communicate with them. It's about using a Tone of Voice that your customers understand, taking into account the real needs of the target audience, their interests, and desires in the preparation of marketing content and communications.
• More precisely targeted advertising. Defining your target audience helps you choose the right advertising channels and more precisely target your advertising campaigns. This allows you to use your budget more efficiently and increases the likelihood of success for your advertising initiatives.
• Improving products and services. Knowing your target audience’s needs and desires helps you create products and services that meet their needs. This increases the likelihood of successful sales and improves customer loyalty.
• Personalized marketing. Knowing your target audience well will allow you to create personalized marketing campaigns. This can include personalized offers, advertising, and communications that better capture attention and increase the chances of successful sales.
• Effective marketing activities. Knowing your audience helps you understand which promotions will be most attractive to them — discounts, promotions, gifts, contests, loyalty programs, etc. This allows you to create promotions that really stimulate sales and ensure a high level of response from your audience.

Conclusion

Overall, knowing your target audience helps you target your marketing efforts more effectively, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately increase sales in your online store. If you are interested in professional online store creation, we are ready to cooperate.