How to Effectively Define and Reach Your Target Audience

You've heard the saying that you can't be all things to all people. Whether it's personally or professionally, you simply can't be everything to everyone, so stop trying. In business, this is especially true. Before you can build a successful marketing campaign, you have to define who your target audience is, why they need your products or services and determine how you are going to reach them. It is no easy task to define and reach your target audience, but a very important phase in order to build a better, stronger business, especially if you have a limited marketing budget.

Define your target audience.

The first step is deciding who your audience is, with whom you want to connect in the hopes they will buy your products or services or even just resonate with what you do. A lot of marketers want to say "everyone," but that is not an appropriate answer if you want to be successful in your marketing efforts.

When defining your audience, it is important to consider demographics, psychographics and behaviors. Demographically, who are they? What is their age range, gender or profession? Depending on your company goals, it may not matter where they are physically, as you may want to focus on a national audience. However, in some instances, you may want to focus on a specific part of the country or drill down to specific zip codes.

From a psychographic standpoint, how do they think? What are their interests, likes/dislikes, values? Finally, how do they typically buy things? Do they go the online or brick and mortar route? How do they consume their media? This may help determine how you reach them.