As consumers, we’re all faced with hundreds of messages from brands of all types each week. Many of them go unnoticed. Even so, these messages are not random. Let’s face it, marketing is expensive and companies don’t want to pay to send a message to someone who doesn’t care. That’s why as marketers, we define our target audience and do our best to reach them as many times as we can. A campaign’s target may be as broad as “18 to 25 year old males” or even as specific as “30 to 35 year old females with more than one child who live in the suburbs.” Target audiences differ with individual campaigns and their respective goals.
Some may ask, “Why not reach out to everyone?” At first thought, getting your message out to as many people as possible doesn’t seem like a bad idea. However, as I mentioned before, marketing campaigns are expensive and the bills add up quickly when trying to reach the masses. Secondly, the results of a campaign are exponentially better when a certain group of consumers are kept in mind. Simply put, it makes more sense to reach out to a group of people who are more likely than other groups to buy a product or service. To put things into perspective, think about a store that sells crafting items. The store could put out a generic message about their company that a lot of people will see. Or they could tailor their message to females (who I’m assuming are more likely to shop at the store than men) and place the message in media channels that females are likely to engage with. Nine times out of ten, the second method is going to draw more traffic into the store and ultimately lead to more business.
Target audiences are defined on a basis of relevance. Marketers seek audiences who are likely to use their client’s product or service because of their age, gender, interests, values, etc. At Transformation Marketing, we’re seasoned target audience-definers and finders. Let us figure out what kind of consumer will give you the most business and craft a clever campaign to get those people in your door!