Who Do You Love — Get to Know Your Audience?
By: Jackie Schwabe, Mba
Tags: Email Marketing, List Building, Online Marketing, Marketing Automation, Email Marketing Tips

Practical Business

Who Do You Love — Get to Know Your Audience?

You are going to be spending a lot of time with these people. So, why not take a little time to figure out who they are and if you want to spend time with them? I mean really. If you hate spending time with individuals that are obsessed with fashion, maybe don’t start a fashion blog or fashion line. If you love dogs, maybe don’t start looking for people that hate dogs as part of your audience.

I think we forget sometimes that this isn’t just a ‘target audience’ or people that we are wanting to sell stuff too. These are people that we are going to begin, at least at some level, a relationship with. So, as we run through these details — first and foremost — consider: Who Do You Love?

The only way you or any business owner can truly be successful in attracting their target audience is by understanding who they are (and if you like them!). Many small business owners, especially people who start their business alone from home, often skip a few steps in the process, causing issues with finding an audience for your product. (Don’t be shy — admit it? Did you build it and then think who can I sell this to?)

As a product manager in corporate America for a long time, I didn’t get to pick my audience. The audience was already picked by the company. Since you own your own company, now is the time to decide who you want to spend your time with. Look, it is one of the perks of owning your own gig!

So, let’s focus on who you want to serve before you do anything in your business — knowing who you want to serve and why will help you fill your email list with people who are ready to buy from you. Use these ten ways to get to know your audience better. It can help inform products, services, and even the words you use to communicate to them the value you offer.

1. Research Your Industry — I know this seems boring to some of you. Yet, consider it as a way that you are getting to know some new friends. Again, you are going to be spending a lot of time with them.

So, when you first start, you need to know what industry you are in. Those industry metrics will help you know where you can start making goals and setting standards in your own business. Look at business organizations, associations, and nonprofits to help you do the research both online and offline.

2. Study Your Competition — Remember, your competition are also individuals that you are going to be around. Who you serve is also about who you will be working with or against. Some of these competitors might become partners. It is good to find out who they are before you invest time and money in a specific industry.

Even if you don’t have the first customer, you can get to know your audience by studying your competition. Participate in their groups, join their email lists, and network with their customers for the most traction into getting the right information about them. When you become part of the community, you’ll get so much more inside information. Just do it ethically! No one likes a thief. Be inspired, don’t conspire.

3. Create Customer Personas — As you get to know your audience, create customer personas that match the person you’re directing the information to. You may have many client avatars or personas based on the customer’s buying journey.

I like to look at this as creating my friend profile. If you could journal out the person that you most want to hang out with, that is your friend profile. Why not have that be your customer personas as well? Remember, you want to like them. You want to enjoy spending time with them. So, carefully select your friends and your customers.

4. Monitor Engagement — An enjoyable way to get to know your audience is to participate in their social media engagement and discussions. Social media should be a two-way conversation that helps you get insight into their deepest fears so that you can help them.

Think of this as a conversation with your friends. What are they talking about when you are not necessarily in the conversation? Do you like those topics? Do you want to engage I those conversations? You can both learn a lot and also add value to your own life and business if you are engaging in conversations you enjoy.

5. Ask Them — Once you’ve identified precisely who you want to market to, you can simply ask them questions about what they want and need when you’ve incorporated yourself into their communities. You’re going to get far more insight when you participate and network with your audience.

Think about it. Isn’t this topic just “friendship 101”? You don’t just decide for your friend group what you will be doing and where you will go all the time. You want to be sure that everyone, or at least a fair number of individuals in the group, wants to hang that way.

6. Do a Test to Determine Interest — Another way to check if you have the right audience is to generate a test of some kind. Create a checklist for a topic that you think they care about, offer it as a freebie to see who takes it. Then ask for feedback.

This would be like having game night at your house and pulling out Cards Against Humanity and just seeing if everyone would like to test it out for just a few rounds vs. planning the entire night around that theme. We berry test things all the time in real life. Same thing with your audience.

7. Identify Their Pain Points — When it comes to knowing your audience’s pain point, you’ll need first to understand your expertise and the niche you want to be of assistance to your audience. In other words, choose pain points you can solve.

Again, think of your best friend. Do you know what she struggles with? Of course, you do! Do you know what drives your spouse nuts? Of course, your do. If you can’t empathetically identify with your audience, then pass. It is really hard for them to truly want your help if they don’t feel like you are authentically aware of their pain, their struggles, and their passions. You can’t fix their pain with your solution if you don’t know what it is.

8. Be a Resource — Sometimes, you may not be able to fix a problem on your own due to a miss-match with the audience. When this happens, don’t force it. Focus on being a resource to your audience, and it’ll be a win-win.

What does this mean? Consider this. What if your friend had a serious drinking problem and they asked for your help? Unless you are an AODA counselor you might not know how to support them. Yet, you might know of a great resource. That is what this means. If you don’t have the solution to an adjacent problem, don’t try to be all things to all people. Start creating your list of resources that can support the needs of your audience for areas that you are not an expert in. You would do the same thing for a friend, right?

9. Use the Tools of The Trade — Don’t skimp on software that helps you get to know your audience and network with them. Use paid versions of the software that you want to help you get more done, such as email marketing software, landing page software, and others.

This one is a bit oversimplified to be honest. It is essentially saying don’t use two tin cups and a string to call your bestie. Get that iPhone. Same with keeping in touch with your audience. You can use the free version of Mailchimp, that is until you want to create a new lead sequence. You can cobble together a lead page, or you can use ClickFunnels to create it.

However, start where you are. A real-life example of this might be inviting friends over for dinner. If you have a card table right now, you still invite them over. When you get that next job, invite them over to the new dining room table. When you hit it big, invite them to a resort. Essentially, use the tools for the place you are in your business. Mailchimp is a good “card table” and ClickFunnels $97 a month model is an okay starter dining room table.

10. Build Relationships — As you get to know your audience, make the focus on relationship building. When you build a close relationship with your audience due to your honesty, transparency, and ability to stay on the topic, you’re going to build strong relationships.

This entire article was not just about building your audience, it was about building the relationships you have with your audience. Of course, you are not going to be able to talk personally to 1000 people in one day, but you could do it in 30 days with some email marketing magic. Right now, though we just want to make sure that you want to talk to them. So do the work.

As you work on getting your first 1000 subscribers, you’ll want to keep each of these tips in mind. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Instead, do what works repeatedly, and you’ll soon find that you’re building your list with an active and interested audience who needs what you offer.

More Stories from Practical Business You Might Enjoy …