The goal of marketing is to reach your target audience via channels like social media, email, Google, catalogs, etc. By doing so, you can reach current and potential customers, and increase your brand awareness and further your brand’s reach. Knowing this, what should your marketing team focus on to reach your target audience?
There are a variety of things you can do to effectively meet this goal!
What is a target audience?
First, it’s important to know what a target audience is specifically. Sprout Social informs readers that a target audience is “the group of people that are most likely to be interested in your product or offer.” Knowing who your target audience is can help you focus on marketing techniques and strategies that will effectively reach them. If your marketing isn’t reaching the group of people who are most likely to be your consumers, then your efforts (and money) are being wasted.
So, what can you do to successfully reach this specific group of people?
How do you reach your target audience?
Reaching your target audience with your digital marketing is a surefire way to ensure your digital marketing is successful and you’re driving traffic to your website, increasing your sales, and expanding your brand awareness. Here are a handful of useful ways to help you do this effectively:
1. Define your target audience
GRIN informs readers that step number one of reaching your target audience is to first know who they are! Once you know who your target audience is, you can strategize and invest in ways to reach them. To define your target audience you must:
- Build a customer/buyer persona based on your current or ideal consumer base
- Research demographic and psychographic attributes of the persona you built
- Use this information to fully understand your target audience
You can also use statistics like “engagement, reach, click-through, hashtag engagement, and organic versus paid likes”(INC) to help figure out who is interacting with your brand the most!
Knowing as much as you can about your audience can help you shape your brand and marketing strategy to successfully reach them and focus your efforts on making your brand more relatable!
2. Figure out what their need is
Whether you’re new to the game or you’ve been in it for a while, customer needs are always changing. So, it’s good to focus on the current need of your target audience. Forbes notes that once you’ve confidently determined their need, it’s important you advertise your ability to meet their need(s). This can be done using social media platforms, website strategy, “search engine optimization, blogging tools, print shops, advertising opportunities, networking events” and more!
3. Take advantage of Social Media
Most people, whether they’re your target audience or not, spend a significant amount of time on social media (check out these statistics). Therefore, Mail Chimp notes that one great way to reach your target audience is to take advantage of social media platforms. Sharing useful content (i.e. blogs, research, and other articles), promotions, new merchandise, going live, posting stories, interacting with comments, having a hashtag strategy, and utilizing targeted social media ads are all great ways to take advantage of the benefits of social media to reach your intended audience.
Ads specifically are extremely helpful for reaching your audience and driving traffic to your website. There are a variety of ads you can use across social media platforms including:
- Facebook ads
- Google ads
- Photo ads
- Video ads
- Stories ads
- Carousel ads
- Slideshow ads
- Collection ads
- Messenger ads
- Instagram ads
And more! Not only can you run ads across platforms, but you can also use tools to track the engagement your ads are receiving and use that information to make any necessary adjustments.
4. Create content that’s both useful and engaging
Whether you’re sending out email ads, posting on social media, putting together a video, or writing a blog for your website, it’s important you’re focusing on content your audience is going to care about and/or addresses a need or want they have. Ensuring your content captures the attention of the viewers will help you with generating leads and make conversions!
The best way to ensure your content is engaging is by knowing your audience (what they like, what they care about, what interests them, etc.) and by being intentional, creative, authentic, and unique. It also helps when your content is actionable and/or interactive!
5. Use multiple channels to reach your target audience
Even if you’re receiving more traffic from your Google Ads than you are from your emails or your social media page, it doesn’t mean you stop utilizing those other platforms. Even if you’re only generating a lead or two a day, it’s still better than nothing. If you notice some of your channels are doing better than others, you can focus your efforts on ensuring that content is as effective as possible. You can also work on strategizing ways to increase traffic on your platforms that aren’t doing as well. Taking advantage of multi-channel marketing will ensure you’re reaching your target audience from more than one angle as each channel will have its unique advantages!
Reaching your target audience is the number one way to drive traffic to your business or website. Taking the time to ensure you have a good marketing plan in place will help you reach that intended group of people!