Don’t Skip This Important Step!
It’s important before you produce anything that you know who you are trying to market your product towards. Not everyone shares the same definition of value, and if you are expected to provide value to your audience, then you must pinpoint what group of people has a need for your product or service.
Now you might be saying “I’m not trying to target anyone in particular. I’m just being true to myself, and I want people to like my work for that reason”. I hate to tell you, but that is simply a cop-out excuse. It’s a reason to be lazy. You can still be true to yourself without sacrificing the necessary steps to finding your target audience.
A Real Life Comparison
Look at it this way. Do you always act exactly the same way around different people? I’m sure that your mannerisms and attitude changes around different people depending on their age, race, religion, or gender. There’s nothing wrong with this. We all do it. Of course, it’s better to not change around different people than it is to be a completely different person. And maybe you don’t change who you are around people of a certain type, but just depending on their personality.
What I’m getting at is that when you’re making these subtle changes to fit in with the people around you, you are adapting your “socializing strategy”. Now imagine that you decided to socialize with one certain type of people more often than others? You might do this for any number of reasons. Most likely because you felt most comfortable socializing with those people. The more you hung out with those people, the better you would get at talking to them, and you’d probably make a lot of friends.
It works the same way in the business world. It makes no sense to try to market to everyone, and to try to please everyone.
In My Case…
Take me for example. My target audience with Swollen Thumb Entertainment is young people. I don’t have an exact age, but it’s anywhere between 15 and 30. Now, if people younger or older than that are interested in what I’m doing, that’s great. However, I’m not going to chase after those demographics because they most likely won’t understand what I’m trying to do. I also don’t distinguish between males and females, because I don’t feel that the entertainment that I want to provide is polarizing like that. I’m also not too concerned with pinpointing or excluding any races.
Finding YOUR Target Audience
Those are all things that you should take into account. There is no shame in saying that you want to target… let’s say black females between the ages of 40 and 60. Maybe your target audience is white men between the age of 25 and 35. Or any combination of race, gender and age. The thing is, maybe your product or service would be best marketed in this way. One thing is for sure, you have to narrow it down as much as you can, so that you can directly seek out and speak to the people whose lives are incomplete because they have yet to discover or comprehend the value of what you are trying to sell them.
And that’s what it boils down to… value. You have to provide value to your target audience. That must be your number one goal with any business venture, because that is how you establish a business. Customers or clients have no problem giving you their money, as long as they are getting value in return. But what is valuable to one person is less valuable to others. This is the purpose of identifying your target audience. Because the ultimate, number one, best definition of a target audience is a group of people who share the same definition of value. It is your job to find that target audience, and give them your product which will fulfill that value.
Photo by Dominic Morel
It is important to know the audience you are interested in communicating to. There has to be an audience of choice, because the messages are being sent to those who are interested in listening to them, and there will also be those who don’t fit the material. The chance of one’s audience being all people is nearly zero. Thinking for a minute about who would fit one’s material can help provide a more targeted message set.
Armen Shirvanian’s most recent blog post..Instant vs. Delayed Gratification
I agree with Armen that is who you are interested in communicating to. Even when we change how we act in different social situations it is a matter of communication. If I want to communicate with my mother and her friends my message is presented way different than when I am around my grandson’s friends.
Yes, you have to be able to speak directly to your target audience, to those who find value in your product.
Sheila
Sheila Atwood’s most recent blog post..Screen Capture Software – Only the Good Friday
Finding the audience is not as easy as it seems at first. Trying to sink up my voice with the readers requires focus. Thanks for the tips.
trina’s most recent blog post..O, Yes I Can Be Fit For Life
@ Armen
That’s right. Choose your audience. Don’t be afraid to be blunt about who your audience isn’t. There are definitely going to be people who aren’t interested or don’t “get it”, and those people aren’t worthy of your energy.
@ Sheila
Your example of a “socializing strategy”, where you present your ideas differently to your mother, as opposed to your friends is a good one. You find you clique by identifying who you socialize with the best, so you can find your target audience by being true to yourself.
@ trina
Finding an audience isn’t always easy. When I started out in January, I was speaking to anyone who would listen to my message. Right now, with my writing, and especially with my music, I am staying true to myself, so that the people who are on board with the mission can understand it, and for those who aren’t, I won’t waste their time anymore. I’ve received a little bit of feedback that is less positive than in the past, but that comes with the territory because you can’t please everyone.
Thanks everyone for your feedback!