It really doesn’t matter if you’re producing the highest quality content possible if the audience that’s reading it isn’t right for it. We believe that the right content given to the right audience at the right time is what will result in sales. But it’s not always easy to figure out exactly who your target audience is. Here are some tips.
First things first…really being successful at identifying your target audience takes some research and trial and error. This is why many small business owners hire professional agencies for their ad management. Most people don’t know how to get started with doing this type of business development and if they do get started, they don’t know how to interpret the numbers they’re seeing.
So if this is what you’re feeling, know that there’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional. It’s what we here at Limelight Department do and because we’ve done it so often, we’re good at it.
To start…take a baseline of where you’re at with your marketing efforts.
Promotional emails
Create a spreadsheet of your promotional emails, your open rate and click rate. Note the time of year they were sent out. Note the subject matter.
Blog articles
You have Google Analytics installed on your blog/website right? Take note of the blog posts that performed well. When were they posted? Does the time of day make a difference? Were you advertising to drive any traffic to any of them?
Facebook posts
Go into your Page Admin and view your charts of the results of your Facebook posts. To find this, go to your Ads Manager, then Page Posts, then Published Posts. Here you can see Privacy, Reach and Clicks/Actions.
For boosted posts, go to Ads Manager. Start with Account Overview. Click through to Campaigns and take note of the Conversions rates. You are looking for posts that have the greatest reach and Impressions with the lowest cost per result.
Any other marketing avenues?
Print ads? Radio ads? Google AdWords? Whatever you’re doing, document it and see where you are right now.
After documenting…
Viewing all of these results, particularly if you put all that info into one spreadsheet, should really help you figure out what’s been working and what hasn’t been. You only need to refine this now. This is where the trial and error comes in.
Does the time of day make a difference to your audience? Can you target your boosted Facebook ads more deeply?
If you haven’t already, think about the people your product or service is intended for. Not “just anyone who wants to buy it.” Think deeply about the following:
- How old are they?
- Where do they live? In a region, city, rural area?
- Are they male or female?
- What is their income?
- What is their education?
- What is their occupation?
- Does their ethnicity matter?
- Are the married?
- Do they have children?
- What are their hobbies?
- How do they spend their time online?
- What other details can you think of?
This will help you target to the best extent you possibly can, which just about guarantees your success.
