Target audience, target market. These words get tossed around daily in the world of small biz, but what do they really mean and how the hell do you find them – let alone market to them?

tar·get mar·ket

noun

1. a particular group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed.

Let’s break that down into way simpler terms. A target audience or a target market is basically the type of person who is wanting to buy your product. On a very wide scale they are usually broken down into both gender and age (Example: Women age 25-54). That being said you should niche your buyer down farther and actually find out who is purchasing your stuff and how to reach them.

“Who is your target market? Who is buying your stuff?”

If your answer is “Everyone” you are WRONG! Not everyone is going to buy your product, so why waste your time selling to the people who aren’t. Is an atheist going to go to church? No. So why try to sell them a bible. You catch my drift. Here are a 5+ questions to ask yourself to really dig deep about who your target audience is and how to start marketing towards them and only them! By the end of this hopefully you will have at least two specific “people” in mind who you can mentally picture and can direct your posts to in social media.

1. Is my person male or female?

2. How old are they?

3. What is their lifestyle? (This question encompasses many. Think: Do they have money, what is their average income per year, are they married, are they single, independent or dependent on others, do they have kids, do they work full time, are they a student, what is their job, are they artistic, are they analytical, what does their fashion style look like, what do they wear… the list could go on)

4. What is their insecurity? Or what are they afraid of? (Find this and make your product the solution!)

5. What is their name? (You make this up of course!)

 

By answering and thinking about these questions you will get a better sense of who you want to buy your product and who is already buying. You will be able to easily direct your posts to that specific person and connect with them on a deeper level. Need more help? Here’s an example:

My company is Knitatude, I make knit accessories and decor for your home. My items range from $60 scarves to $475 chunky blankets. One of my target customers is named Heather. She is 55 years old and is a stay at home mom. She is well put together (nails done, hair did) but truly lives for the comfy side of life. Her husband has a respectable job and brings in a considerable amount of money, meaning they have a nice house and she lives in “comfort”. She has two kids who are both in university and she loves to spoil them rotten whenever they come home to visit. She loves textures, deep fall tones and warmth in her house and likes showing this off to her neighbors. She is still trying to keep up on social media and is just getting the hang of instagram. She has a bubbly personality but wants to make sure she is still hip and keeping up with the times. She loves supporting local and in order to do that she buys knit infinity scarves since it’s something her daughter likes and she’s found she likes them too! Since she easily gets chilly, she loves knit blankets and scarves because she can use them all year round.

FURTHER: I’ve niched it out to imagine what Heathers schedule is like too! I know when she wakes up, what book she is reading, what magazine she picks up to sift through when drinking her tea in the afternoon, how she dresses and what her favourite colours are. This helps me know when to post on social media so I know she will see it, what to post to catch her eye and what to talk about in my posts that she will find relate able.

My second target audience is a 27 year old female named Kelly. She’s just gotten into the fibre world and has been knitting for about 8 months to a year. She works full time at a downtown office job and is recently engaged. She is huge into the Instagram game and really likes to keep in contact with the other knitters and crocheters on through the IG community. You can find her in Indigo or Chapters looking at all the stationary, buying certain mugs and purchasing notebooks that she can plant in her social media photos. She buys items just for social media. She loves knitting bulky items and being wrapped head to toe in wool and likes to splurge on more high quality yarns. She likes easy to read patterns as they still somewhat scare her and she’s started to get more experience in trying new stitches. She usually heads to Pinterest to find her next project but just has heard about the website Ravelery.

Now that you have an idea and put together who your “perfect customer is” and market towards them. Every social media post and every product photo you take should be directed towards that one person. If you don’t have a target audience yet, don’t worry! You can make it up and start directing your posts at those “people” right now. Brand yourself in that direction. All you can do is find out more info and use it to your advantage. Good luck!