Your audience is the most important thing to examine when marketing your brand*. Period. Your audience can turn into loyal customers, lifelong consumers, or they can be the reason you go out of business. Understanding the most crucial asset to your brand is the most underrated tool for small businesses, right next to not preparing a crisis communications plan.
Your particular audience may be extremely different from John sitting next to you. In fact it is very likely unique to your brand especially if you specialize in a niche market, or are anyone other than Coke Cola or Pepsi Cola (and even those have slightly different audiences).
When looking to identify your audience, ask yourself:
1. Where do people hear about you? In order for them to be considered one of your audiences, you need to communicate a message to them. How do you best do that? Is it through twitter? Do you have a podcast? Do you run a forum? Whichever medium you use says something about the demographic of people that are listening to you. Research that.
2. Which medium is the most followed/liked/read? The most popular platform for communication tells you the most successful form of communication for your audience. The way your audience receives your information tells you how they prefer to receive their information. Tailor to that.
3. How much does your following fluctuate? The content you produce appeals to different demographics. If your constantly pumping out different kinds of content your following may change frequently. Identify the most popular content and look at the audience for that information.
3.a) Audiences do change as they progress**. The baby boomers, an aging demographic, once favoured the prime time television award shows. Changing times bring shifts in interests. The progression into the 'on demand' nature of television and media content pushes once popular programs closer and closer to the curb. 2015 Emmys draw record low TV Audience .
Finally, regardless of your particular audience, I encourage you to love them and cherish them. They will be the reason you are successful - no matter what industry you are in.
Your particular audience may be extremely different from John sitting next to you. In fact it is very likely unique to your brand especially if you specialize in a niche market, or are anyone other than Coke Cola or Pepsi Cola (and even those have slightly different audiences).
When looking to identify your audience, ask yourself:
1. Where do people hear about you? In order for them to be considered one of your audiences, you need to communicate a message to them. How do you best do that? Is it through twitter? Do you have a podcast? Do you run a forum? Whichever medium you use says something about the demographic of people that are listening to you. Research that.
2. Which medium is the most followed/liked/read? The most popular platform for communication tells you the most successful form of communication for your audience. The way your audience receives your information tells you how they prefer to receive their information. Tailor to that.
3. How much does your following fluctuate? The content you produce appeals to different demographics. If your constantly pumping out different kinds of content your following may change frequently. Identify the most popular content and look at the audience for that information.
3.a) Audiences do change as they progress**. The baby boomers, an aging demographic, once favoured the prime time television award shows. Changing times bring shifts in interests. The progression into the 'on demand' nature of television and media content pushes once popular programs closer and closer to the curb. 2015 Emmys draw record low TV Audience .
Finally, regardless of your particular audience, I encourage you to love them and cherish them. They will be the reason you are successful - no matter what industry you are in.
*When I say brand, I don't necessarily mean a trademarked product, an established company or an international corporation. You are your own brand. Everything from the way you speak, to the clothes you wear, and to the content you push out on the web is how you market yourself. I know I can hear you saying "no no of course not! I'm a person not a 'brand'." Now imagine that you are looking for a job, and your employer googles you and scrolls long enough to find your rant on youtube. Yeah remember that homemade video of you defending Brittany Spears in 2006 underneath the sheets of your bed? Okay, maybe that wasn't you, but the point is that everything that you do, say and write reflects on your reputation. This reputation that can only be tarnished so much before you become unemployable. Now thinking of yourself as a brand, representing yourself professionally, or at the very least reasonably, you can determine your success.
**Continually and regularly analyzing your audience is crucial.
**Continually and regularly analyzing your audience is crucial.