Target audience matters

When it comes to digital marketing, it can sometimes be tempting to take the shotgun approach of trying a lot of things just to see what works. I don’t know about you, but I am easily distracted, so trying a lot of things just wastes a lot of time, energy, and even money!

One key to avoiding ineffective digital marketing is to know who you’re marketing to. Knowing your ideal client can make a lot of things easier.

What can that help with? It makes it easier to determine:

• The online platforms you’ll maintain a presence on.
• The types of content you’ll share on those platforms.
• Information that should—and shouldn’t—be on your website.
• What voice or tone you use with your content.

Convinced? Good, then it’s time to build your ideal client profile!

Start by making a list of clients. If you’ve been around a while, like me, list the clients you enjoy working with the most. If you’re just starting out, list clients you would like to have. Or try a combination of the two.

Your list should have a few clients by now. Next, move on to listing attributes.

If your clients are individuals, you’ll want both demographic and psychographic information. If your clients are other organizations, you’ll want information both about the individual who would be your primary point of contact, as well as the organization itself.

The following demographics and psychographics can be a good starting point.

Individual demographic

• Geographic location
• Income level
• Gender
• Age range
• Level of education completed
• Marital status
• Number of children
• Employment status
• Job title

Individual psychographic

• Religious preference
• Hobbies
• Political views
• Favorite music, television, movies, and books
• Attitudes about specific topics related to your offerings

Organizations

• Annual revenue
• Number of employees
• Age of company
• Industry
• Number of locations
• Products or services offered

Once you’ve compiled that data for the clients on your list, it’s time to look for patterns. What do they have in common?

They may have similarities in many areas or they may not. But concentrate on the areas where they do have similarities. Those details describe your ideal client.

If you want to take it one step further, create a client avatar. Give him or her a name, and pick out actual specifics based on your data. Then, when you make marketing decisions, think or talk about that fictional person. You may not want to talk about them out loud in your office, but then again, maybe you do. Would the marketing appeal to them? Would they even see it?

This basic practice can help create your ideal client profile and start to use it to make decisions about your digital marketing.