A step further in your target audience profile

Who is the target audience for this? is a question that always has an answer, as you’d expect – this is for women over 30, men over 50, young adults, teens, mums etc. It’s good that the question always has an answer, but is that answer enough? Getting to grips with target audience is essential for any new product or campaign but it needs to go further than just basic demographic information. It’s a fundamental driver of your product and strategy.

You can determine target audience in a number of ways – your existing customer profile/profiles, a segment you can see in the market buying a competitive product or visiting a competitor website, a group defined by age or gender, interest or behaviour. Target audience should start with demographic information and you should have a picture of age, gender, interests, what they read and do, where they go, how they behave, how they use the web, where they shop, what holidays they take and similar.

It’s the step beyond this where your understanding of target audience really makes a difference. The psychographics, values and emotional behavior of your audience is where you can really ensure your product, idea, message or campaign can get through.

Ask yourself how do they feel?

What are there emotions and what is the emotional reaction you want?

Are they nostalgic, creative, inspired, sad, intrigued, entertained, proud?

What are their desires, what do they aspire to, how do you fit within that?

For a new product, campaign or idea to achieve success above and beyond competitors it needs to engage emotionally and be in tune with the common emotional values that your target audience shares. So next time you’re defining the target audience profile, think about going beyond gender and age and focus on these emotions. It will make your idea stronger and more compelling to all