Targeting the right audience is one of the most critical aspects of marketing. If you don’t get this right, your company is destined to fail.
Don’t worry; I’m going to help you figure out who that target audience is. That’s because I figured this out.
I made every single mistake with marketing you could think of (and probably a few other ones), which led to me making the most massive blunder there is: targeting everyone instead of a specific group of people.
- Not Getting Target Response:
Have you ever wondered why some companies don’t look like they are selling the products they have? For example, a high-end shoe company might have a very plain website.
If you’re not getting the expected response from customers, it’s one of the clearest signs that you’re targeting the wrong audience. Let’s pretend your website is pretty simple.
You, on the other hand, are a high-end shoe retailer. You’re going to reach the incorrect audience with this mix.
Using the same example, there is a distinction to be made between simple and straightforward. You may reach a high-end customer base with a website that is simple yet appealing.
In addition to your website being representative of your company and brand, it also needs to be representative of your target audience.
If you are trying to reach high-income earners, for example, then that should show in your site as well as in your marketing materials.
- Unusual amount of negative reviews:
When we spend money on marketing and promotions, the last thing we want in return is a slew of bad reviews.
That’s why it’s important to make sure that you fully understand your audience before you spend time and money marketing to them.
Say you ally your business with a specific cause and tout that cause in your marketing.
Now imagine that the cause you’ve attached yourself to is something that deeply offends the types of customers that you are looking for.
A simple example of this would be a company promoting logging while trying to appeal to environmentalists.
This won’t work, and you’ll get bad reviews and potentially drive away customers who might have been interested in your business otherwise.
While this example is relatively simple, it’s always important to consider your customer’s interests and tastes in detail before targeting them with your marketing efforts.
- Decrease in number of subscribers:
If you’ve been using email newsletters to promote your business and have noticed a sudden drop in the number of subscribers, it could be a sign that you’re targeting the wrong audience.
The content you produce for your newsletter will have a tone, a flavour, and an angle. If any of those elements is out of line with the views of your target audience, you won’t retain their interest.
A good newsletter may be targeted at a specific group and contain content that will appeal to them in particular.
For example, if you own a bar that caters to sports fans, you might produce a newsletter that includes links to articles about sports topics and upcoming events at your establishment.
However, if you notice that you have a lot of people unsubscribing after receiving this type of content, it could be a sign that the audience isn’t happy with the focus of the newsletter.
This can often happen when you start getting more customers from different backgrounds who are not interested in sports topics.
You might consider switching up your content to appeal to this new audience because they may be more likely to stay subscribed to your newsletter if they receive relevant information.
Summing Up:
If your marketing isn’t working, one of the first things to assess is whether your efforts are targeting the right audience.
Even a slight miss can lead to disappointing results. We’ve seen marketers struggle with this in our community and we’ve even struggled with it ourselves!