What Is A Target Audience?

Scott Young
4 min readMar 17, 2022

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There are almost 5 billion active internet users in the world. Do you think every one of these users can become your customer? I don’t think so. How do you figure out which of these 5 billion people can be your customers? That’s where the concept of target audience comes from.

The simplest way to put it, is that your target audience are the people that are most likely to buy your stuff.

If you target people who don’t want to buy your stuff or don’t have the money to buy your stuff, you might get a lot of site traffic, but it won’t do much for you because it won’t convert into sales. You’ll be left wondering why all these people visit your website but no one is buying anything.

In other words, would you rather attract 10 ideal website visitors who really need your products or services and will invest in your business or do you want thousands of visitors who will do absolutely nothing?

What sort of things make up a target audience? Traditionally a target audience is thought to share demographic similarities, like age, location, or socioeconomic status. Although that’s included, I think it’s better to think of it as a subset of people who share the same problems, goals, and interests. They would need your product or services to solve a problem, want or need.

When you identifying your target audience you can craft marketing messages directly to these core customers. Instead of spending money and resources trying to cater to every person, figuring out your target audience allows for more intentional and personal outreach to those most likely to purchase your product or service.

For example, if you were selling shoes, your target audience would be broad, since men, women and children all wear shoes. On the other hand, let’s say you’re specifically selling high-performance running shoes. Then, your target audience would be more niche — elite athletes between the ages of 20–40 who have expressed an interest in running, or have run a marathon. By narrowing your target audience down like this you can focus your marketing and advertising messaging in a way that will resonate with them.

When you market to a highly specific target audience, you can develop messaging that truly resonates with them. This makes it easier to connect with them and earn their loyalty. The goal here is to target a specific market so that you can deliver the right message at the right time and have more meaningful communication.

One drawback of a target audience is that companies may become too narrow-focused on the defined target audience that they overlook or disregard other potential consumers. Even well-researched target audiences may mistakenly exclude people who are interested in the product or service, so it’s important to use target audiences as baselines, not the end-all.

The best way to find your target audience is by first thinking about the specific needs your product or service fulfills. It’s important to identify the pain point, and then determine who has those pain points.

Ask yourself each of the questions and you’ll know the exact audience you are targeting.

1. Who Are They? One way to find out is to look at who follows, likes, shares, and comments on your posts on social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. If someone is willing to engage with you, then chances are they are your target.

2. What Are Their Biggest Difficulties, Problems, or Desires? What is cool, interesting, and good for you might not be for the customer. Don’t think of yourself when it’s time to define the difficulties, problems, and desires of your target audience. Put yourself in their shoes. Understand the greatest difficulties your audience faces to try to help solve them.

3. Where Do They Look for Information Online? Everyone needs information. Figure out where your audience likes to go for information and communication and try to talk to them using a specific language from their universe.

4. What Real Benefit Do You Offer? Everyone wants solutions for their problems and to make their lives easier. Think a little about your product and the problem it solves. What benefits does your product or service offer? Try to find your competitive advantage in your niche.

5. What Draws Their Attention Negatively? Being optimistic helps a lot, but thinking about the negatives can also help, especially when we talk about target audiences. Better than considering what your audience wants, think about what they definitely don’t want and what they avoid. Avoiding what they consider negative is the first step to gain their approval. After that, you only need to apply other strategies to do efficient marketing.

6. Who Do They Trust? Trust is everything to your target audience. No one purchases a product or service from a company they don’t know or trust. This is why reviews on Amazon are read and so important for sellers. If you get good reviews, have positive comments, and garner a great reputation, customers will be more motivated to buy from you.

I hope this make sense. I hope its clicking with you. Finding your target audience will help you focus your time and money in a much more efficient way.

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