After all, no matter what product or service you sell, their task is to solve a problem or fulfill the desire of people united by a number of criteria into one target audience. This article is about defining the target audience and adapting advertising to the values and needs of your target audience.
Whenever new clients approach us, we begin our dialogue by discussing who the product or service is intended for. We never settle on vague formulations like “men 25-40 years old” or “fashion-conscious women.”
Therefore, when we define the target audience of the Customer, we approach this issue systematically and thoroughly. We ask the client a number of leading questions, and also independently delve into the business topic, studying open sources.
Yes, of course, we are interested in the socio-demographic characteristics of the target audience, such as:
• age;
• gender;
• city of residence;
• education;
• profession;
• marital status.
However, the psychographic characteristics of the target audience are also important to us, for example:
• tendency towards innovation/conservatism;
• hobbies, interests;
• features of worldview.
And behavioral characteristics , in particular:
• a tendency to make impulsive or thoughtful purchases;
• a preference for getting acquainted with information from a certain type of content - articles, videos, reviews;
• behavioral characteristics of the type of people of interest when visiting web resources.
It should be noted that many behavioral characteristics of the target audience are revealed already in the process of work. For example, when we notice the behavioral features of users on the site through a webvisor or click map, etc. The main thing is that such analysis is systematic - this way the portrait of a typical user becomes clearer and more "lively".
When defining the target audience, sometimes it is also necessary to divide it into direct and indirect . A striking example of this is the sale of toys. An adult makes the purchase, but the child makes the choice!
It is also important to remember that the target audience has a core - a circle of people who are most ready to buy. It is to them that your advertising should primarily appeal.
Only after such a classic marketing assessment, when the target audience is defined with the utmost precision, do we proceed to the next stage.
We create advertising messages
"for the target audience"
In order for an advertising message to make a person want to perform a target action, it must:
• attract attention;
• generate interest;
• awaken desire;
• inspire trust;
• call to action.
Such formulations migrate from book to book, acquiring a variety of forms, for example, the famous AIDA formula - Attenton-Interest-Desire-Action.
However, knowing this formula is not enough, it is important to fit the variables of your business into this “marketing equation”, including the characteristics of your target audience. On the one hand, this means creating a USP (unique selling proposition), based on what is valuable for a specific target audience. The offer should reflect the benefit for the client. It is impossible to formulate it extremely clearly without knowing the desires, problems and aspirations of the target audience.
Once the target audience has been studied and the USP has been formed, the most exciting stage of work begins - website development , writing advertisements , drawing banners , creating SEO -optimized content based on the identified characteristics of the target audience.
So, when working on an advertising channel, we adapt its design, copywriting and functionality to the target audience's value settings. Let's look at some examples.
The design for a website or advertisement for a creative women's club may include light, thin fonts, romantic shades, purple or orange colors (associated with creativity). In turn, the design for a men's business club will often be rich in black (strength) or blue (reliability), with the addition of red (power, activity). Read more about the features of color perception in web design here.
Copywriting for a website of a creative women's club will contain many beautiful, sensual metaphors. A certain sublimity and gracefulness of style corresponds to the emotional mood of the target audience. In turn, texts on the website of a men's business club will often be written in an info-style, and if any metaphors slip through, then in a "business" or "combat" style.
The functionality of a women's creative club website will "forgive" the use of beautiful complex transitions, heavy design elements designed to create a certain mood in the site visitor. In this case, for the target audience, beauty is not much inferior in importance to functionality. In turn, on the website of a men's club, pragmatic functionality will often reign. After all, a representative of the target audience is a business man who wants to quickly find what interests him and will not tolerate wasting time on something unnecessary.
