Identify your target audience

A 'target audience' is the main group of people your organisation wants to appeal to and communicate with. Speak to any marketing expert and they'll always stress the importance of identifing your target audience before you begin any marketing activity.

Although it's tempting to try to sell to anyone and everyone, it's an expensive approach which is almost always less successful than restricting your message to a specific group of people. If you attempt to 'preach to the masses' your sales messages tend to be so generic and unspecific that you don't engage anyone - potential customers don't feel as if you're talking to them or catering for their specific needs. Instead, my advice is to speak directly and only to your ideal customers.

If you've read other articles on my blog, you'll have gathered by now that I run a leaflet printing company. In actual fact that's not quite true. I run a company that designs and prints all sorts of things: leaflets, letterheads, business cards, greetings cards, postcards, folders, posters... Even so, I target my promotional activities toward people who want to buy full colour leaflets via the internet.

The reason for this is simple. Printing is a very labour intensive process. By concentrating on producing leaflets, we've been able to streamline our production facilities and reduce our prices, thereby attracting lots of new customers. If I attempted to promote all my products, my marketing costs would increase dramatically. Instead, I concentrate on promoting my most profitable product line - leaflets. That said, we still get loads of orders for other print items - mostly from people who've had leaflets printed by us and who return to us for their other print requirements.

My target audience is quite broadly defined. Many companies need to be much more specific. Imagine you own a hair and beauty salon. Your most profitable customers would probably be female professionals in their 20s and 30s who live within a few miles of your premises. This type of customer would be willing to pay a premium for expert styling advice and are likely to want additional services like colouring and beauty treatments. If you target your promotional activity toward these people, they'll deliver the best return on your investment.

What type of person would you describe as your ideal customer? Picture them:

- What do they buy from you?
- How often do they buy from you?
- Are they male or female?
- How old are they?
- What car do they drive?
- What do they watch on TV?
- Where do they shop?
- What do they do in their spare time?

Once you've identified your target audience, you need to figure out the best way to reach them. If, as in our hair salon example, your customers are located within a very small geographical area, you should probably consider a leaflet drop, supported by adverts in your local newspaper. If your customers are scattered throughout the country, a national campaign may involve posting out leaflets to people who already buy products which complement your own, alongside an advertising campaign in market-specific publications.

By the way, if you're thinking about running a direct mail campaign, I've found a company that sells fixed-price mailing lists online. Business Mailing have loads of lists to choose from. Even better, you can build your own list consisting only of people or companies who meet your target audience. You can even download the data immediately so you can start your mailing straight away!

Successful marketing campaigns rely on a mix of different communication methods. Monitor the results over time and refine how and where you deliver your message but always keep one person in the front of your mind... your ideal customer.