The most important purpose of any marketing strategy is to target the right audience. If the audience is not suitable for your product, your product is going to fail.
As an illustration, targeting Tik Tok to users in the age group of 60+ wouldn’t have made it so popular.
Before I explain more about how to target the right audience, we should learn what exactly this term means.
What is Targeting?
Targeting is the process of selecting the right audience for your product and then communicating the value of your product to them.
There is no such product that pleases the entire population of the earth.
Some people like rock n roll and some people like rap. Some people like basketball and some like baseball.
There will always be a set of people who won’t like your product no matter what.
You have to find your own set of people who you think will like your product. And this set is your target market.
Identifying the target market should be one of the major goals of your target audience marketing strategy.
As a business owner, sometimes it gets tempting to target a bigger audience set than a smaller set in the hope of generating more customers.
But this is not an effective way of targeting and will just lead to loss of business budget.
What is Digital Audience Targeting?
It’s the process of defining and selecting your audience who will have a need for your product.
You will be defining your audience based on various factors, from demographics to psychographics.
Once you have that particular set of people ready, you are going to communicate the message of your product to them.
Audience targeting for digital marketing can be divided into various categories based on which channel you are using to reach out to them.
I am discussing a few important digital channels used for targeting.
Social Targeting for Digital Audience Targeting
Social Targeting implies targeting audiences on social media channels.
Not everyone is on social media but out of those who are there, whose problems do you think your product can solve.
Defining that group of social media users and reaching out to them with your product message will be known as social targeting. Share on X
Every social channel follows a different set of targeting rules.
How you can target an audience on social media platforms is mainly dependent on the kind of users it has got and the kind of data that social media platform has got.
To explain, Viber is mainly popular in many Asian countries like Hong Kong and Singapore. Read Word’s Best Guide To Viber Marketing.
If your audience is in the US, it’s not a good platform for you to target. Similarly, Facebook provides more sophisticated ways of targeting an audience than other social media platforms.
Facebook Audience Targeting for Digital Audience Targeting
Facebook has over a billion users but not all those users share the same interest in your product.
Some are going to love it, some are going to hate it and some are going to ignore it. Your goal is to find that set of Facebook users who are going to love your product.
The process of finding those Facebook users who are going to love your product and reaching out to them is known as Facebook audience targeting.
Facebook ad targeting comes under Facebook audience targeting.
What is Facebook Ad Targeting?
Defining your target audience of Facebook users and communicating the message of your product with the help of Facebook ads is known as Facebook ad targeting.
In other words, it means using Facebook ads to reach an audience who has a need for your exact product and solving their problems with the help of your products.
Content Targeting for Digital Audience Targeting
Content targeting is the process of targeting a selected audience by doing content marketing.
Content writing can have various categories and various sets.
A piece of content can be funny, emotional, anyone can understand including experts from that industry.
It can make you look like a trusted seller or it can make you look like a spammer.
There can be various ways you can see and perceive a piece of content. That’s why you have to use the content wisely and make sure that it is helping you reach the right audience.
When I talk about content, I don’t mean just blogs. I mean content on your website, your social media, your ads, your emails, and any other marketing material that you use.
If you are not sure if your content is presenting the right image of your brand and if it is bringing your audience closer to you or not, you should get in touch with us.
Mobile Targeting for Digital Audience Targeting
Mobile targeting is the process of reaching out to your target market on their mobiles.
Everyone is spending more time on their mobile phones these days than any other thing.
This makes mobile targeting a very effective way of connecting with your audience.
What is an Audience Targeting Strategy?
A good targeting strategy will cover two important parts –
- Who to target?
- How to target?
Who to target? Here, you have to identify your target audience marketing strategy who you think will be the most interested in your product.
How to target? Here, you have to figure out which channels you are going to use to reach out to them and what kind of message you are going to show to them?
If you are able to do these two steps perfectly, you have nailed your targeting strategy.
Why is Digital Audience Targeting Strategy Important?
If you are able to reach the right audience, you will be able to develop their interest in your product because they have a need for it.
They were looking for this for a long time and you have just solved one of their biggest problems.
A good targeting will bridge the gap between the problems of your audience and your offering. Share on X
When that happens, business growth will follow. At the same time, bad targeting will just make them ignore your message completely which can lead to your business failure.
For instance, imagine targeting real estate advertising to the age group of 18-25. Is it going to produce results? Maybe 1 out of a million is able to convince their parents to buy the real estate offering.
But this ad will be ignored by million -1 people which is not a part of a very effective strategy.
So, you can imagine the importance of targeting. It’s one of those factors which is going to define the success of your business.
6 Expert Digital Audience Targeting Tips
Targeting the right set of audiences is extremely important for the success of your business. When it comes to digital audience targeting, it is important of all because most of us are on digital platforms.
If you are not reaching the right set of audiences, then all your digital marketing efforts are in vain.
Know What Is Important to Your Audience
The best way to target your audiences on digital platforms is to know them. When you learn what is important for your customers, you reach them in a better way.
As a business, you need to take a constant look at your customer’s data and know what your customers feel about you.
Note: You can also use tools to gain insights into your audience’s demographics and psychographics profiles. This will help you gain a better understanding of what is important to you and interesting to them.
Speak in the Language of Your Audience
If you want to target your ideal customers, you need to speak in their tone. It is the best way to connect and relate to your target customers. This not only means to use an appropriate tone of voice but also using actual words and phrases that they use most.
You can also design ad campaigns in a way that generates more conversations and help connect you with your audiences. For instance, a study by an apparel brand learned that ‘darling’ was the term people used to describe their product.
Know Your Organic Keywords
Organic keywords are another way to target your ideal customers. So, you need to understand what brings more traffic to your online store. Identify the terms being used by the customers.
Observe the words that your target customers search for, is it informational, is it navigational or is it transactional.
When you identify the relevant searches and understand the intent behind those searches, you can develop better content to address the needs of your audience.
Focus On Retargeting
Targeting your digital audiences can be challenging sometimes. With a wide variety of products available, your customers have innumerable options to choose what they want.
If you want to top their list, you should know what they aim at. Whenever, a customer comes to your online store, study what is their intent. Is their search informational, are their coming here through guest post link, display ads, or any other means.
So, You can bring back those customers to your store through retargeting efforts.
Add Chatbots
Chatbots are an interactive way of targeting your ideal customers. It helps your customers to be in touch with you with their queries.
It also gives you a chance to interact with them and know all about their interests.
Moreover, it helps you gain more knowledge on what your customers ask about your brand and business.
Monitor Audience Analytics
To understand your online target audiences, you should take full advantage of audience analytics. It helps your brand to determine the kind of content to serve up to your target audiences.
It should be in alignment with what your ideal customers consume.
With proper audience analytics, you can unlock valuable data which can help you improve the persona of your audience.
Is My Marketing Strategy Targeting the Right Audience?
I am going to let you the secret key to the most effective form of targeting.
To grasp that concept, you have to take a peek into the sea of human behavior.
Humans buy things only when they have a need for something or when they feel deprived of something.
So, what does it mean when I say need?
This image represents Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He has categorized the needs of a human into five categories.
All the needs except self-actualization are together as deficiency needs which arise when you lack something that you want.
Only when those needs are met, anyone can move to the last category of needs which is self-actualization.
Self-actualization is also considered as growth needs. Share on X
Self-actualization is also called growth needs because they represent the desire of a person to grow as a person.
It doesn’t arise because of any kind of deficiency.
All the needs are like steps of a ladder and you have to climb all those steps to reach the top.
If a person is at the first step, you can’t motivate that person with the third step of the image.
To understand that more, let’s see what is the difference between all these five types of needs.
Understanding the Five Types of Needs
Physiological Needs
These represent the basic needs, the needs for survival. These include food, water, shelter, clothing, warmth, etc..
and the Internet? Jk
Safety Needs
Once the first set of needs are met, then a person moves to the second set of needs or safety needs.
As the name suggests, these include all kinds of safety needs like emotional safety, financial safety, personal security, employment, resources, property, health, etc…
Anti-virus? Yes!
Love And Belonging
Once the safety needs are met, then comes alive the third set of needs which are love and belonging.
These include love, friendship, intimacy, affection, belonging, etc..
Esteem Needs
Once love and belonging needs are met, then a person is motivated by esteem needs. These needs include a desire for respect, self-esteem, recognition, dignity, achievement, status, freedom, etc…
Self Actualization Needs
When the esteem meets satisfaction then a person wants to fulfill one’s self-actualization needs. These include the desire to become the most one can be. These are the needs of self-growth and self-fulfillment.
Understanding Needs for Digital Audience Targeting
The reason for doing that is because only if you understand the needs and at which stage of needs a person is, you will be able to help them out with your product.
If you don’t understand the needs, you will end up targeting the wrong audience.
If an audience’s physiological needs are not met, they don’t care about any solution that can solve their esteem needs.
So, if you want to understand your audience better, if you really want to help them out, you have to understand their needs.
As it is visible, these needs are already there in a person. Many of those are not visible. Many of them are very obvious. But they are there.
A good marketing strategy doesn’t create a need, it recognizes a need and then fulfills that.
Understanding Wants for Digital Audience Targeting
Basic human needs are few but human wants are unlimited. You might need food but you might want a burger by McDonald’s.
Wants are shaped by culture and individual personality.
A Vietnamese person when hungry might want Vietnamese food rather than burgers.
On the other hand, an American person might want burgers and fries. This is an example of a want shaped by culture.
Similarly, a health enthusiast person might prefer beans over fried food or desserts. This is a want shaped by personality.
Wants are like needs but these are only satisfied by those products that provide the most satisfaction to a person.
Understanding Demands for Digital Audience Targeting
When 'wants' meet 'purchasing power', they become demands. Share on X
For instance:
I want food is a need.
On the other hand, I want Chinese food is a want.
But, I want Chinese food from that famous five-star hotel in New York City is a demand.
Even though there are various ways you can target audience marketing strategy, the right targeting strategy actually starts with the identification of needs or wants, or demands.
Key Takeaway: Audience Targeting Strategy
The most effective targeting strategy is the one that can identify the right need. Once that is complete, it becomes much easier to provide a solution to that problem.
Understanding the importance of that can lead to successful business growth.
You can’t make a person buy anything if they don’t have a need for that. So, start your strategy by understanding the people you want to reach and what kind of needs they have.
And always remember that you can’t target all. So, better start figuring out who wants your product and why.
Moreover, if you need help with this part, you can reach out to us.
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