If you’ve ever read any advice on how to get started with a marketing strategy, then you’re likely to have come across the idea of knowing your audience, and how vitally important it is. However, if you’re fully onboard and familiar with the advantages of your products or services, then why does the audience need to factor into it? Whether you’re not convinced it’s as important as it is, or you just need a little reminder, here are a few reasons why knowing your audience is truly vital.
Their needs matter more than your qualities
Taking the time to identify your target market and to really research them is going to yield you the information that is most important to all of your marketing questions: why they would choose your brand to begin with. You might have a strong unique value proposition crafted with your product or service, but it’s not going to matter to your audience if it doesn’t speak to their needs. Take the time to research the needs and wants of your audience, the barriers between them and their goals, and how your products or services can remove those barriers. That is your true unique value proposition. It’s not about what you think is great about your products, it’s about what your audience thinks is great about them.
Different markets have different priorities
The priorities that your audience has is going to change how they engage with brands. If you’re crafting your message to appeal to too general an audience or the wrong audience, then you could be missing your real customers. The most prominent difference is between B2C customers and B2B clients. With consumers, you’re trying to appeal to personal needs, often using emotional marketing, on a short selling cycle. B2B marketing is all about focusing on the bigger picture, with more logical, business-driven decision-making, and more emphasis placed on winning trust with your clients, which is why B2B marketing professionals like Alex Croucher are more often used for marketing to that kind of audience. You need to work with those who understand the priorities of the market that you’re trying to target.
You can spend a lot of money not getting heard
You might have a well-crafted marketing message, and you might even have one that aligns with the priorities and needs of your audience, but if you’re not crafting the message using the medium they are more likely to engage with, then you could be speaking to no one at all. For instance, while content marketing is, generally, a valuable strategy for most audiences, it’s going to be a lot more effective for B2B clients and other high-information buyers rather than, for instance, a student buying something for dinner. Understand where your audience is, what media they engage with and even what time they’re more likely to engage with it for the best results for your targeting.
Your audience should dictate your marketing strategy. It’s as simple as that. What you’re trying to communicate and how you’re trying to communicate it can be shot down by a misunderstanding of your audience’s priorities, how they engage with brands, and even failing to time your efforts right.
