How to target your audience

You know who your people are, now what? Whelp. This is called marketing and this requires research and action. Oh joy.

In order to target your audience, we need to understand them a little more on a deeper level. Here are some questions that we can start with:

What do they do?
Where do they hang out at?
Do they use social media? If they do, which platforms are they on?
Is there a place I can interject my business before, during, and after their pain points?
How can I nurture my current audience so I can get more of the people I want to work with?

We can all spend big bucks on marketing and doing targeted ads, but I think it’s fair to say that most of us don’t have the pockets for those games (yet). Social media is free-ish, and if we already have a client list then we have an extra set of megaphones we can use.

If you nurture your current audience by staying connected with them, they’ll be more prone to sharing your business. This can look like check-ins, post cards, building relationships and connections with them on social media, keeping up with their news/updates and commenting where/when appropriate, etc.

Now let’s think about where your people hang out at. Do they read any local magazines? Are there some regular restaurants or bars that attract your people? Maybe there are some partnerships you can create with other businesses that target the same people. See if you can leave some table tents, coasters, flyers, or those silly bathroom ads for marketing. Or! Maybe you can create an event (or sponsor one) that your people would likely be at.

Take some time to figure out where your people are, where they go and how you can connect with them. Try not to overthink it and see if you can have some fun with it!