How do you achieve the perfect audience? You have the superpower to attract it for your business. They are crazy about what you do, how you do it, and want to work with you! Sounds great, doesn’t it? So how do you unlock this superpower, do impactful work that matters, and make a lot of money in the process? That’s what we talk about today in this episode of The Donut Shop.
A Campaign That Converts Needs A Perfect Audience
Starting a marketing campaign takes forethought and research – before you get too far ahead of yourself, it’s important to take a step back and find out who your perfect audience is.
Knowing your target audience is essential to any marketing campaign. Without this information, you’re essentially shooting in the dark and hoping for the best. And while campaigns can be successful without a clearly defined target audience, they’re much more likely to convert if you take the time to nail down who you’re trying to reach.
If you don’t know who your target audience is, you’re essentially flying blind with your marketing campaigns. Without a specific group of people in mind, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to create content or offers that will resonate with them and drive conversions.
In other words, you’re much more likely to see dismal results from your campaigns if you don’t take the time to identify your target audience.
Figuring out who your target audience is can be a little daunting, but it’s essential if you want to see any real results (read: conversions or paying customers) from your campaigns. Luckily, it’s not as difficult as it may seem.
There are a few key things to keep in mind when identifying your target market, and once you have a solid understanding of who they are, you’ll be ready to start targeting them directly with your marketing content.
So, let’s get started! In this article, we’ll take a look at the basics of identifying your target audience, and we’ll also offer a few tips on how to speak directly to them through your marketing content.
How Do You Know if You’re Marketing to the Right People?
You likely know that your products, services, and offerings aren’t for everyone. You understand that not everyone needs or wants your product or service. You wouldn’t market diapers to people who don’t have children. This is the same principle.
Too many entrepreneurs start out thinking they can market to everyone, and they end up spinning their wheels, wasting valuable time, and burning out… ultimately appealing to no one.
You initially had so much excitement as you created something “meant to help everyone.” Now that you’re on the other side, there is no interest in your product, and you’re getting the sense that no one sees the value, you are frustrated, deflated, and unmotivated to continue to push forward.
This is why it’s so important to market to the RIGHT people.
How can you be sure that you’re targeting the right audience?
It’s not as simple as putting your content in front of as many people as possible and hoping for the best. If that’s what you have been doing (and don’t be embarrassed if that’s you, so many people do it this way), you need to know there’s a better way!
If you’ve been marketing to the wrong people, you’ve probably heard your prospects and “leads” say or comment something like:
- I’m not sure this is for me.
- What does your business do?
- I’m not sure this can help me.
- Hmmm. I’ll have to look at your sales page again.
- I’m not sure it’s the right fit.
- What do you actually do?
- How would your product/service/offer help me?
If you’re getting these comments, it’s a clear sign your marketing is not targeted enough toward your perfect audience.
Ultimately, you need to be more specific about who you’re trying to reach. The common phrases above are your (current) audience telling you that your offers are unclear. Perhaps you’re trying to solve a problem they don’t actually have right now. Maybe you’re trying to help them in a way that is further down the path than they are. Perhaps you’ve completely missed the mark and you’re wondering why people are reaching out who are in unrelated fields to what it is you actually do.
It is time to back up.
Ask: what need am I trying to satisfy and who will benefit the most?
As you backtrack, the first stop needs to be to people who you perceive represent your target audience and ask them for input. You’re not looking for input from your friends and family members. They want to help, but they might not be the best barometer for whether or not your marketing is resonating with your target market.
Your mom, spouse, or best friend who is outside your target audience will often give opinionated feedback rather than objective criticism. Perhaps you ask your mom for her thoughts on your Facebook Ad design, “Oh, that looks nice.” This is not actionable feedback and is not going to help you.
In addition to feedback that is not actionable, you’ll know you’ve experienced “friends and family feedback” when your friends and family sugarcoat their feedback because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Friends and family don’t often give us the necessary criticism we need to create the improvements and tweaks that would resonate with our target market.
Instead, talk to people who are already fans of yours, and think you’re awesome – as long as they are in your target market. They’ll be more likely to buy what you’re selling, and may even refer their friends!
The Importance of Knowing Your Ideal Customer
The avatar we will walk through creating in this article is the key to staying on the right track as you create campaigns, offers, and services.
Knowing that you have the right people in front of your content and site, as well as social media will make all the difference. Not only will you be able to show up authentically with the full faith that you’ll be received well, but you’ll only attract people who can work with you knowing that they’re lit up to do so.
When you know your audience, it’s also much easier to create content that is in alignment with what they are looking for. You can give them what they need at each stage of their buyer’s journey without going off on tangents that don’t serve them. The result is that you not only attract the right people, but you also keep them around longer. You will create longevity for your existing customers by offering them additional products and services that will help them achieve their goals.
Your ideal customer is the person who is most likely to buy what you’re selling. They should be the focus of your entire business. You need to know everything about them, from their demographics to their interests. We will get into specifics in a bit.
If you don’t pivot your business toward the people that are your perfect audience, you risk creating offers, services, products… even arms of your company that will never take off. You need to know your ideal customer inside and out. You should be able to describe them like they’re a friend. If you can’t, you’re not as connected with your audience as you think.
Being disconnected from your audience has a lot of serious consequences. You’ll be wasting time, energy, bandwidth, and resources to try to serve people with something they don’t want and isn’t helping them. That’s exhausting, and it’s something many entrepreneurs do in the early stages of their business; stay away from that pattern and you’ll already be far ahead.
You aren’t here to waste time.
You’re here to help the world be a better place, and help people solve their problems.
How to Create Your Customer Avatar
Creating your customer avatar is a critical step in understanding your ideal customer. You need to know who you are selling to, and even more importantly, you need to know WHY they would want to buy from you.
Your customer avatar is not a generalized representation of your target market. It’s an individual that you can imagine as your perfect customer. This person is the one who will benefit the most from your products or services, and their life will be improved as a result.
Start by seeing your perfect client or avatar clearly. Who is your ideal customer? What type of person would light you up to help? Who do you dream about having as a client? Spend time here and clearly see the picture you have of this person. Be careful not to model them after an exact past customer because you don’t want to pigeonhole yourself too much. (Not all of your customers are going to have the same hair color or first name, for example.)
Once you get that mental image and character semi-developed in your head, mindfully ask yourself some clarifying questions. We’re not interested in personality yet – just the basic facts about this person.
What are their demographics (meaning age, location, economic status, are they married, etc)? When you think about demographics, consider the questions a census would ask. Getting this information allows you to understand some basic points about their life, and how your offering or services might fit.
If you want to sell relationship and lifestyle coaching to divorcees that want to get remarried, but your entire audience right now is single people who haven’t ever been married and aren’t looking, that’s a big problem. Clarity on demographics helps avoid that.
Then we can get into personality traits or what we marketers call psychographics. Ask yourself these questions. What are their pain points? What do they fiercely care about fixing right now in their life? What are the big struggles they are having and NEED help with as soon as possible?
Knowing who they are, what it is that they spend time focusing on wanting to fix, what wakes them up at night feeling anxious or worried, and any other issues like this character/avatar/representation of your audience is facing, write them down.
Now it’s time to ask yourself a bigger question! What are they looking for? What type of content are they searching for? What questions do they ask Google? What do they type into Amazon’s search bar? If you want to get in their head, spend some time thinking about where they spend time on the internet.
Are they on a specific social media channel? Are they focused on a particular kind of blog or a special news site? If they’re on Reddit, what threads do they follow? All of these pieces of information can radically help you understand how they think and behave.
This information gathering will help you maximize the effectiveness of your copy and marketing. You’ll be laser-focused on what your target market is experiencing, what they need to hear, and how they need your help.
Remember, we’re trying to answer the question of how you can be sure you’re marketing to the RIGHT people. And that’s how! By taking the time to develop an avatar or perfect client, understanding their demographics, their pain points, and what they are looking for, you can be sure that you’re marketing to the right people.
Once you have a clear picture of who you’re trying to reach, it will be much easier to create content. You’ll get stuck a lot less and wonder a lot less about whether or not something is going to convert. When you know who your customer avatar is, you’ll be able to speak directly to them in all of your marketing content. You’ll know what their fears and concerns are, and you can address them genuinely and authentically.
So don’t be afraid to get specific when it comes to understanding your target market. The more targeted your marketing campaigns are, the more successful they’ll be!
The Perfect Audience is Yourself From Five Years Ago
The first thing you need to do is take an honest look at yourself.
We know who the audience is, but who are you? What are you good at? What are your weaknesses? And what do you want to be known for?
What makes you special? What were you afraid other people would see in you five years ago? Why do people like you?
Give specific criteria for who you can help best. Be realistic about what you can and can’t do. This is the start of you having healthy boundaries and client relationships – it starts this early. Don’t over-commit. Commit, and then over-deliver. Whatever you do, don’t try to be all things to all people.
If you’re perfectly made for your people and your people are needing you – your work is syncing those two truths.
It’s all about leveraging who you are. You’ll use your skills, personality, training, experience, and more to bridge the gap from your offer to their enthusiastic yes.
The next step is to show up as your true self, especially on social media. Don’t bait and switch people with a persona. Let your personality shine through. The perfect audience will tell you what they want if you are willing to listen. Be open and receptive to feedback, and always be learning and growing.
Think about the challenges you’ve overcome in your life. Think about the journey you’ve taken in the last five years especially, and notice if there are any correlations to the target market avatar you just created. We’d bet there are a lot of similarities – you’re made for your people!
What has changed the most? What challenges have you overcome? What lessons have you learned?
The “secret sauce” is getting those pieces to connect. How can you turn that experience, knowledge, and skillset from the last five years into something that will help add value to the life of your target audience? How could you use that to help them? What about the last five years of your development makes you a perfect fit for them?
Once you have a better understanding of the last five years and the impact on your life, ask yourself, “What do I make look easy that other people would consider very, very difficult?”
This question is important because it will help you understand the value you bring to your people. It also helps you get clear on what it is that sets you apart from everyone else who wants a piece of your pie. Often we don’t understand how something we think is easy can be complicated for someone else. Perhaps we’ve done it a thousand times, but if someone is doing it the first time it would seem complicated. How can you help them at that moment?
What is something you can do on autopilot, perhaps because of recent experiences, trials, or setbacks? What challenges have you faced that can help others avoid pitfalls?
Once you have a good idea of what makes you unique, you can start targeting your marketing campaigns directly to those people.
Actually Finding Your Customers Online
Now that you have a good idea of who you’re serving, and what you were experiencing five years ago.
It also means targeting them with ads and marketing campaigns that reach them where they are already spending their time online. By taking the time to build a connection with your target audience, you’ll be well on your way to seeing conversions and sales from your campaigns.
You could find your customer base on social media. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer a wealth of information about your target audience, including their age, gender, interests, and spending habits. Thinking about where they spend time online is going to be a key factor. You wouldn’t want to waste energy marketing your product on a platform that your audience doesn’t like – you’d be playing on a stage with no fans!
By targeting your campaigns on the platforms where your target market is already spending time, you can be effective. Showing up where your audience already hangs out is an easy way to meet new potential customers, grow your social authority, and make sales. You can reach your perfect audience more easily and effectively when you know where they are.
Another great way to identify your target audience is by using data from your website analytics. This information can help you determine where your current customers are coming from, what kinds of content they’re interacting with, and even what devices they’re using to access your site.
Armed with this data, you can tailor your campaigns specifically to those audiences who are most likely to convert.
Ultimately, finding your perfect audience is all about understanding who they are and what they want. Once you have that information, it’s much easier to create campaigns that speak to their needs and interests.
So don’t be afraid to do some digging around the internet – the payoff will be well worth it!
How to Listen to Your Customers
When you’re gearing up for a new marketing campaign, you must listen to your customers. After all, they’re the ones who will be buying your product or service!
Don’t ask for feedback from people who aren’t your ideal audience. Only ask people who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer or who have already purchased from you.
One way to ask customers for feedback is to send them a survey after they’ve made a purchase or interacted with your company in some way. This can be done through email, or you could even put a link to the survey on your website.
Another way to get feedback is to hold a focus group or chat session on social media. This gives customers the opportunity to voice their opinions and ask questions in a more informal setting.
And don’t forget to ask your current and past customers for feedback about how things could be improved. Most people are happy to help out a business they like, as long as they’re asked in the right way.
Your superpower is asking questions!
- Ask your customers what they loved about your product the most.
- Ask what you could improve on or do better next time.
- Ask what was irresistible about the offer!
- Ask how likely they are to recommend you and your product to a friend or family member.
The responses to these questions will give you a wealth of information.
Use this superpower to your advantage, and listen to what your customers have to say. Meeting with them to get their feedback can help improve your products and services so you can build lasting relationships with them.
The Perfect Audience has Rejected Your Competition
It’s one thing to target a niche audience and appeal only to people who are likely candidates for your products or services. But it’s another skill entirely to market only to those who have rejected all of your competitors’ offerings.
There are a few reasons why a customer might choose your business over a competitor’s. Maybe you offer a unique product or service that the competitor doesn’t have. Or maybe you’re more affordable or have a better reputation.
Your client avatar can assist you here because it is helpful to know what the ideal audience cares about when purchasing something. Are they budget-savvy, and it’s your price point that helps them say yes? Is it that they are needing something very specific that you happen to be offering?
The key is to identify what your product or service has that is unique to you. Your target market decides on you because of you. It’s not revolutionary to hire a coach, but it feels revolutionary when someone hires the perfect coach for them.
Know that your best prospective customers have already rejected the competition, and they are choosing you.
As far as the rest of your perfect audience? You won’t just appeal to their needs; you’ll also remind them why they decided against purchasing from the competition in the first place. All of this conspires to create a beautiful profit and result for you.
You Are in a Relationship With Your Perfect Audience
Think about going on a date. You sit down at dinner with someone who is supposed to be excited about seeing you, spending time with you, and talking with you… only to see that they’re completely checked out. They don’t care about what you’re saying, they don’t listen to your insight, and worst of all, they aren’t even looking at you!
That would be a pretty bad date. You likely wouldn’t ask this person out again or accept another date request if you were the one who was asked. Why spend time with people who don’t want to show up excited, enthusiastic, and fully present?
This is the same thing as your marketing. When you market to your perfect audience, you are sitting down on a dinner date with someone excited to be there, ready to say yes to you, and listening with open ears to what you’re saying. Your perfect audience loves you, shares you with the world, and is a fanatic about your work together because you add value to their life.
Your clients being ALL IN on you makes a world of difference.
Not only do they not need convincing, but you also can feel good knowing that you’re not the only option they could choose – but they did. They picked you for a reason. They trust you to have the conversation, to be engaged on the “date” as well, and be fully present when you show up because you want to add value to their life.
This takes the pressure off selling of you and allows you to focus on providing the best possible experience for them.
It’s tempting when you’re starting out to take on anyone and everyone as clients. This would be the same as saying yes to all the date requests you receive, even if you know the person isn’t a good fit for you. If you know that you’re not a match, don’t say yes!
Saying yes to everyone is like that moment when you go to bed at 2 am after taking on a new client (who you know nothing about and will take way more than you can give), but you don’t turn them away because your bank account is low. It disempowers both sides of the equation.
It’s more important to focus on quality over quantity, and make sure that your ideal clients are the perfect audience. Only engage in relationships with people who want to be in a relationship with you. It’s so much easier, more fluid, and more fun that way.
Conclusion
Listen to your customers, create an avatar that represents them, and you’ll be on your way to marketing success! If you’d like to hear our companion podcast episode that dives deep into how to find your perfect audience, check out episode two of the Donut Shop Podcast!
The perfect audience is a key component to successfully converting marketing campaigns. The Blocks Agency can help you find the perfect audience for your marketing campaigns, and work with you to create campaigns that convert.
The Perfect Audience Chapter Markers
0:00 Introduction
0:58 We Love the Intersection Where Data Meets People
3:31 A Sneak Peek Behind the Scene at The Blocks Agency
5:02 Your Perfect Audience Fits Your Niche
7:50 You Will Get Some People Who Won’t Buy Your Product, But They Like You
9:46 Who You Were 5 Years Ago Gives Insight Into Your Perfect Audience
12:14 Get Feedback From Those Who are Part of Your Ideal Audience
16:14 When You Partner with a Client, You Should Be All In – Your Client Will Feel the Same
18:07 Be Very Clear About How You Work and What You Expect From Your Client
23:03 Your Perfect Audience Thinks You’re Awesome and They’re Cheering for You
26:13 Ask Your Client Questions and They Will Tell You What They Want
30:19 Your Perfect Audience Will Tell You What They Need If You are Listening to Them
31:45 If We Missed Something or You Have a Question, Please Let Us Know
33:27 Here’s What’s Coming Up on Our Next Episode
