Connecting with Your Target Audience

After you have defined your target audience, the next step is create a connection with your target. How do you do that?

Here are a few ideas.

• Name your products with the intention of attracting your target audience.
  1. If your target is yoga enthusiasts, then incorporate yoga poses or terms in the names
  2. If your target love sarcastic or sassy humor, make your product names and descriptions funny & witty
  3. If your target audience loves gardening, create products specifically for people who spend time in the dirt and have a love of plants. Use terms & expressions that only a gardener would appreciate

This is why a general target audience is not helpful with marketing – how do you create a connection with everyone?

• Create a list of other content (content marketing speak for information) that your target audience wants to read about or listen to. Set the intention of providing value to your target BEFORE you try to sell anything to them
  1. If your target is yoga enthusiasts – post a pose of the day, or a top 10 yoga routines, or inspirational messages for yoga lovers
  2. If your target love sarcastic or sassy humor – be funny. Post jokes, funny memes, short, humorous videos
  3. If your target audience loves gardening – post gardening tips, planting calendars, recommendations on places to get seeds

The more specific your target audience is, the easier it is to come up with information that is relevant and interesting to them.

Get a conversation going. Use social media for it’s #1 purpose – ENGAGEMENT. Talk to your target audience about their interests (spoiler, your products are NOT their interests). Ask questions, share stories, get to know other.

One the amazing benefits of being a small business on social media is that your customers can actually get to know YOU, and you can get to know THEM.

1. If your target is yoga enthusiasts – ask why people love yoga, how they got started, what is their favorite pose & why
2. If your target love sarcastic or sassy humor – ask them to share their own jokes. Encourage them to repost funny stuff on your business page or in your group. Get a thread going where people write limericks on the fly
3. If your target audience loves gardening, ask for people to share photos of their gardens, start discussions on how to make a garden a success, ask for stories about favorite things to plant and why

People will gravitate towards brands that listen to them and provide value. If you use your marketing program as a way to engage with people about what they are truly interested in (vs. just trying to sell them products all of the time) you will be more effective at creating a strong emotional connection with your target.

People buy from brands they trust. This is a very effective way to establish trust – give before you ask.