When marketing, the most important thing for any business is to know who they are trying to reach. No matter whether you’re marketing online or offline, you must know your audience and communicate directly with them in order to create a successful campaign. Knowing who your audience is will help you to understand their needs and the best way to reach them.
Market research is essential for any type of marketing. While you could hire a professional researcher to help you, if this is not possible, it’s still possible to get a sense of your audience simply by knowing where to look and what to hear.
Three Ways to Get to know Your Audience
1) Surveys and polls
If you have clients and they are the right audience for your campaign, you can ask them for their assistance. A simple survey can give you a lot of insight into your audience (age, gender and net worth), as you can also find out where they go for information, how they would like to receive additional products or services from you. Asking questions will help you uncover things you didn’t even know.
2) Forums and Groups Online
Listening to your audience firsthand in forums, on Facebook and in Linked-in groups is one of the best ways to learn about them. Many professionals and consumers meet online to discuss important issues. You can also join the same forums and groups that they are in to get direct access to their conversations, their pain points, and the main points they are making about these topics. You don’t have to be a personal trainer, dry cleaner or anything else. People talk about almost everything online, and you can get an honest account (and even the talking points for your marketing).
3) Industry Data
To find the correct information, you don’t necessarily have to hire a researcher. You may find publications that provide information about specific trends and success stories in your industry. You are doing your business and yourself a disservice if you don’t know about such information. You can do a quick online search for information about your industry or consumer dates and benefit from the work done by others.
Once you have a better understanding of your audience, it is time to learn how to best use that information. You can identify potential prospects by using key phrases on your website and marketing materials that highlight the themes they’ve found online. This type of marketing is described as “joining in the conversation” with your prospect.
This simple but effective marketing strategy will put you far ahead of your competitors, who don’t know as much about your customers and what their needs are.
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