A business cannot exist without a target audience or, ‘someone to purchase their products’. Do you know how businesses just seem to predict what their customers want, even before they do? That’s because most businesses, big or small, follow basic guidelines in the early “branding” stage of its development. By using ‘avatars’ as fictitious ‘ideal customers’, they’re able to learn exactly how to appeal to their target audience.
For example, the owner of a health food store is struggling to gain a consistent customer base. She thinks her store would thrive in an area that, demographically, votes more to the left. It also wouldn’t hurt to be near the local university! Now, some might call this ‘generalizing’, and to some extent it is. Let me paint you a picture of… an ideal customer avatar.
Don is a conservative voter from the mid-west and a year away from retirement. He’s generally healthy and not limited from walking into your store for a carton of almond milk. Then again, Don is quite vocal with his opinions about how “you can’t milk nuts, it’s impossible!” So it’s easy to see why he may not be the most frequent patron of your establishment. This is why directly targeting your marketing efforts towards Don isn’t really necessary.
Learning how to appeal to her target audience, in the health food store owner’s case, was crucial towards her having a better business life. The goal here is to have you consider the marketing tactics necessary to appeal to your target audience. So, let’s consider what some of those look like now!
How To Appeal To
Your Target Audience
Understand the Purchasing Habits of Your 
Target Audience
Target Audience The goal is simple, you want to profile your target audience really well. Most companies have a customer avatar representing who their product might appeal to the most. For example, a hip new corporate bar has started selling fruity ‘wellness’ drinks. They’re the new alternative to water, for those wanting a break from alcohol.
People who replace every third cocktail with water will now have an alternative that does more than just help them abstain, it replenishes them. You see, this particular fruity wellness drink is made with activated charcoal and loads of superfoods like berries, which contain high levels of polyphenols.
These ingredients boast loads of antioxidants which help balance your bodily fluids and have serious rehydrating properties. Just what ‘the drinker’ needs to replenish her electrolytes between martinis.
Create Your Avatar
A note to you, reader; I’ve cast you as ‘the retailer’ who sells the fruity wellness drinks in this post. In case you didn’t know, I did this to help you understand what’s entailed when appealing to your target audience!
Now you’re going to create an avatar for your specific product, usually with a stock image model in mind. Your mainline targeted customer might be a fictitious person named Jessica, who works in environmental law.
She enjoys spending her weekends in nature, hiking with girlfriends. She practices yoga three times a week, writes for her law office’s blog, and likes old movies (hence, the martinis).
Once you have the idea of your model, you should decide on the marketing materials. One very important component would be choosing the right stock image for the packaging. These stock models usually have premium sets with tons of pictures with them in different scenarios.
For example, she’s at the beach above and at work on the left. You’ll want to see several different looks before deciding on the main one that will represent your brand’s product. The same thing goes for the font used on the label. These things absolutely matter and can either help or hurt your finished product package. Since so much effort goes into this type of research, you’d be remiss if you didn’t take it seriously.
Stay Relevant
You must always consider the changing needs of your target audience and apply any/all of those changes to each of your corresponding product avatars. For example, that avatar model, Jessica? She ages just like anyone else. In five years, her tastes might have changed, her relationship/family life, even her career.
It doesn’t matter if you produce content or release products, engaging a pay per head 24 7 operations. Either way, you must continually update your content and even tweak your products if necessary. Because what works now, will likely not in 5, 10 or definitely in 15 years.
If your product cannot be tweaked, you may consider remaining in the same demographic of your business interest. Or Visa Versa. Are you happy with the current supply of ‘hip’ new corporate clientele? Can you count on them to continually buy your products?
Or do you want to keep your long-standing customers while still bringing in new customers long term? You’ve got the product so if you want to continue to grow, you only have to adjust those marketing tactics I mentioned before, and tweak them here and there, over time.
Learn ‘Active’ Words
‘Active’ words, commonly known as buzzwords are words that get an authentic reaction from your target audience. You want to research the best buzzwords to go with your marketing material. For example, there’s a reason that most action films are described as “shocking,” “visceral,” and “adrenaline-fueled” during the trailers.
Hollywood knows every single one of their target audiences, as perfected over a century of marketing their products. Action films are primarily marketed to men, both young and old, who want to get that feeling of testosterone and aggression pumping through their veins. So, how does one come up with these ‘active’ buzzwords?
Here’s a research tip: think about which words you can derive from your product itself. What were the ingredients in that healthy fruit drink at the bar? Activated charcoal, polyphenols, superfoods, and other natural elements that will surely gain attention. A lot of times, the very materials that are in your product make the best buzzwords.
Jessica Rose Adams
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