One of the key principles of marketing is identifying your target audience. In any marketing or advertising 101 classes, students will begin to learn about target audiences because they play a critical role in the success of a business. Every content marketing company understands that in order to generate sales and an eventual profit, you must know the right audience for your product.

It is sometimes fascinating to see business owners start out thinking one thing about their product, and then learning that the biggest selling point or benefit of the product ties to an entirely different demographic than they originally thought. Typically, business owners won’t misdiagnose their own product, but they do frequently miss nailing how to create the bridge between their target audience and their product.

Considering that the entire purpose of what content marketing companies do revolves around connecting the product with the target audience, they understand how to identify that audience. These companies put in the necessary time to learn more about the audience by conducting extensive research BEFORE they start coming up with plans and ideas. There are a few common ways marketing companies come up with a detailed analysis of the target audience; some of the frequently used tactics include producing primary research with polls and surveys, scanning secondary research in related scholarly/professional research articles, and learning more about a specific demographic.

Producing primary research – One of the most well-known and effective ways to learn more about your target audience is to produce surveys and polls that your current consumers will fill out. This will give you insight into what kind of groups and peoples you are working with.

Scanning secondary research –  The results to this are similar to the primary research you conduct; you will be able to better recognize the individuals that fall under the demographic category of your target audience. To get these results though, you will have to go through trusted scholarly/professional research and articles that related to your product and consumer. These articles will likely give you statistics or findings that direct you more to the individuals you should target.

Learning more about a specific demographic – Embrace the recognized demographic—check online forums, go to events they might have interest in, listen to the music or podcasts they do, and watch the TV shows or movies they do. Going to this length of research will help you speak their same language which will give you the ability to relate with them on a whole new level. This is ultimately what starts building the bridge between companies and their potential consumers or clients.

When a company properly identifies their target audience, they will be able to market their ads and promotions directly to that specific demographic. If the marketing efforts miss the mark, then that company can expect a minimal increase in sales and profit, and face the possibility of losing money as a result. However, if the target audience is spot on and the marketing tactics are executed well, then the company will achieve what they desired to from the beginning; content marketing companies understand that everything hinges on making your product appeal to the target audience.

Focusing on the target audience for a content marketing company is second nature. If you have any concerns with misidentifying your target audience or have any other marketing concern, contact us at Fusion 360.