Position and movement of the speaker in the audience. Why define the target audience

Hello! In this article, we will talk about how to determine target audience your product or service.

Today you will learn:

  1. What is CA;
  2. Why is it so important for any business to determine the target audience;
  3. How to write a portrait of your client.

What is the target audience

Target audience (TA) - a specific group of people for which a particular product or service is designed.

The people included in the target audience are united by a certain need, problem or need, which the proposed product intends to solve. For more exact definition needs of the group, it is divided into segments by sex, age, financial position, field of activity and so on.

Not everyone can be a client of a company or a buyer of a product. Each product has its own target audience with unique characteristics.

Example. The target audience of a women's fitness club can be formulated as "girls aged 18-30, with a small income, seeking to spend a minimum of time on training (living near the club), attending classes in the evening after school or work and on weekends."

Target audience should be:

  1. Interested in the product. Auto parts are not needed for those who do not have a car.
  2. Able to purchase it. A fashion boutique is out of place near a hostel.
  3. Receptive to marketing pressure. Sometimes adherents of one brand cannot be lured to the side of another even by the most effective methods.

Why define the target audience

A clear definition of the target audience of the product is a logical and therefore common requirement of all marketers. Before proceeding with the creation, you need to describe as accurately as possible a portrait of those who should be interested in it.

The narrower the circle of potential customers, the more effective it will be to work with such a target audience in the future.

The importance of target audience is often underestimated, however, this is the starting point of any. Even fishermen choose their tackle and bait depending on the fish they want to catch. So it is in the service and trade sectors - the work strategy depends on the portrait potential client.

Knowing your target audience allows you to:

  1. Increase loyalty - customers will come back and recommend the product (service) to their friends.
  2. Find new customers faster and cheaper. Advertising costs are significantly reduced when the marketer knows where and when to look for buyers.
  3. Form proposals that meet the needs of the audience.

Methods for determining the target audience

The definition of target audience starts with simple question: "Who needs my product (service)?" The answer to this problem will give only the first push in . Further, the question is concretized, clear features are added to the portrait of the buyer.

Approximate questions when compiling the target audience may be as follows:

  • How old are my potential clients;
  • What gender are they?
  • What are their financial capabilities;
  • What are they interested in;
  • What are their problems;
  • What do they dream about?
  • What is their style of thinking and communication.

The target customer is identified after a thorough analysis of the market and its segment in which the product is presented.

At first, you have to be guided by the questions “who and why should buy my product?”, But the greatest accuracy can be achieved by studying your existing customers (or customers of direct competitors). To do this, marketers conduct various audience research, observation and surveys of regular consumers.

In English-speaking countries, the popular theory of target audience segmentation is called 5W, according to the first letters of the questions:

  1. What? (What?). What product or service the customer is purchasing.
  2. Who? (Who?). What are the characteristics of the consumer, his gender, age, and so on.
  3. Why? (Why?). What is his motive. It could be profitable price, convenient packaging, uniqueness of goods.
  4. When? (When?). When the purchase is made and how often.
  5. Where? (Where?). The client makes a purchase in a store near the house, in a large hypermarket or via the Internet.

There are a lot of methods for determining the target audience. Most often, polls, questionnaires, interviews, and the collection of statistics on the Internet are used. Experienced marketers sooner or later develop their own algorithms.

Preparatory stage - determination of the purpose of the study

The first stage in determining the target audience is preparatory. To more confidently start identifying a client, you need to figure out which direction to go.

The first step on the way is the goal of finding the target audience:

  • Definition of the target audience for the existing offer (dependence on the product);
  • The choice of target audience for the introduction of a new product or for expanding activities (dependence on the market).

In the first case, the classical scheme operates. There is a product, there are buyers. It is necessary to make a portrait of existing customers in order not to lose them and attract new customers with the same characteristics and needs.

In this case, the order of work will be as follows:

  1. Comparative competitive analysis of goods.
  2. Study of loyal consumers (survey to identify the motivation to buy).
  3. Segmentation of regular and potential customers.
  4. Drawing up a marketing plan.

In the second option, it is only to be changed or expanded through new proposals. The definition of target audience depends on the market.

Example. An already existing toy store plans to expand its scope of work. To do this, the marketer needs to identify all possible target audience and choose the most profitable of them: with the largest check, least cost, high frequency demand. For example, our toy store might decide what to add to its assortment study guides and workbooks for early childhood development, including wholesale for kindergartens and creative sections.

The procedure for determining the target audience depending on the market:

  1. Complete segmentation and market analysis.
  2. Identification of the most profitable segments.
  3. Drawing up a detailed portrait of representatives of the selected segment.
  4. Formation of a further plan of work with the audience.

To identify the needs and other characteristics of existing customers, they can be offered questionnaires or participation in a survey.

Such interviews must include the following questions:

  1. Gender, age, social and financial status, profession.
  2. How often are purchases made?
  3. Reasons for choosing this particular product.
  4. Where did the customer learn about the product or service?
  5. Overall rating of the product.

The second stage is the division of customers into consumers and businesses. Not every product has an end consumer - individual. You can also sell and provide services to other businesses.

In this regard, the TA will have to be sought in different areas:

  • . The most stable segment. It is easier to correctly determine the target audience of the consumer-business, it is less subject to fluctuations in the future. All information about such clients is in the public domain, which means there is no need for time-consuming searches.
  • , where final buyer- a private person whose interests and needs are not so stable. Fluctuations in the consumer audience can be caused by changes in politics, fashion, innovation. Seasonality and competition also strongly influence demand.

Last third step preparatory phase answers the question: what is the problem to be solved? Which of the business parameters needs to be worked out?

  • What to sell? It is necessary to identify the needs of the formed target audience and create a profitable offer based on them;
  • Where? It is necessary to determine the advertising and promotion channels that will be most effective for the desired target audience;
  • When? The phrase “everything has its time” is true for business as well. Advertising for schoolchildren is useless to run on TV during the daytime school hours. Skis are best offered in winter, and sunscreen in summer. Promotions for alcoholic drinks in the restaurant are more in demand on Friday and Saturday evenings.

We found out how to tune in to the study of the target audience, how to identify the tasks that need to be solved. Next, let's proceed directly to the methods of audience segmentation.

Drawing up a client profile

All potential or existing customers should be divided into groups and described in detail. Only after all the portraits are outlined, you can decide which of them is better to work with, whom to focus on.

For example, a computer games store might have the following customers:

  • Fanatics who devote all their free time computer games, buying up all new items and rare editions;
  • Schoolchildren and students who do not have their own income, choosing inexpensive but popular games for donated or accumulated money;
  • Parents of teenagers who are not versed in the industry, buying games as a gift for their children, focusing on reviews and advertising;
  • And so on, there can be a lot of potential target audience.

A complete description of the target audience should contain:

  • Socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, social status);
  • Geographical position;
  • Psychographic data (for example, the desire to stand out, establish yourself or surround yourself with comfort);
  • Hobbies, hobbies and leisure activities;
  • Problems and needs.

What to do after determining the target audience

The target audience is defined and narrowed as much as possible. It's time to work on the proposals.

Search for places of interaction with the target audience.

In order to identify the “habitat” of your customers, you must:

  1. Describe a typical shopper's day. If necessary, you can make separate plans for weekdays and weekends, holidays. Based on the plan, it becomes clear when the client has free time for impulsive purchases when he is most susceptible to advertising, when his demand for a particular product is aggravated.
  2. Schedule the client's actions after the need arises. For example, the washing machine broke down. A potential client turns on the computer, goes to the Internet and types in a search engine " urgent repair washing machines in Moscow. In order to "catch the bait" of this potential client, repair companies.
  3. Try to anticipate what the customer was doing before the need arose. This is not always possible, but it is very necessary for the timely offer of their services. For example, before a young mother goes to the store for diapers, she will be in the maternity hospital and in the antenatal clinic, which means that you can start offering goods from there.

Proposal formation.

Talk to potential customers in their language. For example, young people are more accustomed to slang, and older people subconsciously reject any neologisms. Men think more concretely, they prefer facts, women tend to react emotionally.

To make a proposal, you must first determine:

  1. Needs, "pains", problems of a potential client.
  2. The fears of the client, on the basis of which objections are born.
  3. Primary and secondary selection criteria.
  4. Emotions involved.

They strive to look spectacular, to impress not only in life, but also in social networks(actively use Instagram) - we will conduct the main advertising campaign on the Internet.

The choice is based on the popularity and prestige of the brand. The main fear is to acquire a fake or cheap stuff - in the offer we focus on celebrities, certificates and participation in international exhibitions fashion. We put the emphasis on admiration, fame, delight.

Common Mistakes

In order to avoid annoying mistakes, you need to know about them and avoid these rakes.

When determining the target audience, beginners often make the following mistakes:

  1. Too wide TA. You can't please everyone, you can't sell to everyone. Women from 20 to 50 years old is too wide for the working target audience. It is a mistake to believe that by limiting the target audience, the seller will lose some of the potential buyers. Random purchases in our time are increasingly receding into the background, so it is not very advisable to rely on them. A large gathering of random people will never give a seller as many buyers as a specialized fair that brings together only interested citizens.
  2. One-time selection of target audience. Depending on the area of ​​business, its customers can be a relatively stable group or, conversely, changeable. In any case, studies of the target audience and its needs are recommended to be carried out once every 1-2 years. People themselves change, fashion changes, new competitors appear - and the portrait of a buyer of the same product can change from year to year.
Way Schematic representation Comment
1. Auditorium placement Separates the speaker from the audience. Feedback difficult. Large number of participants
2. "Conference" Officially. Can cause confrontation, confrontation of opinions
3. "Horseshoe" Promotes interaction. Available visual contact. Good control capabilities
4. V arrangement Allows you to create an environment of cooperation between communicating with the leading role of the speaker
5. "Round table" It unites people, democratizes the environment for discussing problems.
6. "Cabaret" To work in small groups. Difficulty focusing attention

To establish contact, it is important to consider spatial norms business communication - distance between interlocutors, volume of communication space. To conduct a constructive dialogue, it is necessary to set a distance of approximately 1.5 m, it is appropriate to position yourself relative to the interlocutor.

The options for the location of the participants in the conversation in a study with a standard rectangular table are as follows:

Position name Schematic representation Comment
1. Corner arrangement It is typical for a relaxed, friendly conversation.
2.Position of business interaction Promotes productive discussion, development of common solutions.
3. Competitive position It creates an atmosphere of rivalry, testifies to the relationship of official subordination.
4. Independent position Characteristic for people who do not want to communicate

The shape of the table significantly affects the creation of the psychological climate. A square table contributes to the creation of a relationship of rivalry between people who are equal in position; round table leads to a relaxed, informal atmosphere.

The status of a visitor to the office is reduced if a large long table is located between him and the boss, if the head has a huge chair with a high back.

It should be remembered that a person experiences strong tension if he sits with his back to the door, window, open space, so the visitor should be invited to sit with his back to the wall.

How to establish contact in the shortest time, communicating with another person? One of the conditions is to please him. How to please people ? To do this, it is advised to follow six rules:

1. Genuinely interested in other people. Why should people be interested in you if you are not the first to be interested in them?



2. smile.

3. Remember that person's name is the sweetest and most important sound to him in any language.

4. Be good listeners. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Ask questions that the other person will be happy to answer. Encourage him to talk about himself and his accomplishments. Remember that the person you are talking to is a hundred times more interested in himself, his needs and his problems than you and your problems.

5. Talk about what interests your interlocutor. Anyone who visited Theodore Roosevelt was struck by the extent and versatility of his knowledge. Roosevelt knew how to talk to everyone. How did he achieve this? Each time Roosevelt expected a visitor, he would sit up late the night before reading material on a subject he knew was of particular interest to his guest. For Roosevelt knew that the surest way to a man's heart is to talk to him about what he values ​​above all else. He talked about things that, as he knew, would interest and occupy the interlocutor. It is important to find out what your interlocutor is interested in and what he likes to talk about.

6. Inspire your interlocutor with the consciousness of his significance and do it sincerely. Always and in everything treat other people, act towards them as you would like others to treat and act towards you.

If during a conversation with another person a feeling of anxiety arose, what should be done to maintain contact? Recommended to answer next questions:

1. What am I worried about now?

2. What can I do?

3. What am I going to do to solve the problem?

4. When am I going to start the planned activities?

To solve business problems, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is the problem?

2. What is causing the problem?

3. What are the possible solutions to the problem?

4. What solution do you offer?

Gather the facts, as most anxiety arises when decisions are being made before sufficient information has been obtained to support those decisions. After careful analysis of the facts draw a conclusion. Once a decision has been made, take action.

Friends, tell me honestly, with your hand on the Bible, which of you clearly seeks to impress your audience in any way, thereby imposing their interest in your person? How can a blogger win over an audience? Start a boob blog? Well, what about the questions? Well then, let's go ... So, if someone thinks that by imposing one can gain a lot of fans, and even friends, then they are deeply mistaken. True friends are not made this way.

Personally, I like those people who admire me. Just don’t pretend and don’t say that you are not like that, I see right through you: you also like it when you are stroked on the head.

If I want to win over everyone who comes to read my blog and magazine, then I try to do something good for these people, spend my strength and energy, time, attention and, mind you, all this is disinterested.

For example, I organize free promotions, and then publish guest posts in a blog and magazine. Kind free advertising. Or simply, where they are partly revealed, which positively affects their reputation. I find and publish useful manuals and instructions in the magazine ... Sometimes I indulge my readers with links to interesting blogs of colleagues with intriguing names, for example, blog and boobs. Basically, the male audience immediately clicks on such a link with an intriguing anchor, and there ... it is written about bras. That's the kind of bummer men get...

I don’t know how you look at it, but I always try to be friendly with people and show my joy from communicating with them. And I'm really happy to communicate here and now with any visitor to the blog, even if he came here to criticize me and smash me to smithereens.

What matters here is not what a person says, but how he acts. A person is judged not by his words, but by his deeds. Any action can "speak" louder than words. And my sincere joy indicates that I like the interlocutor, and he makes me happy man I am happy to have a discussion with him. It is thanks to sincere joy that our smaller brothers, dogs, have such success. They are always happy to meet us. And we are happy to see them too.

Guys, I am one hundred percent sure that you experience great joy when someone comments on your blog post. If someone does not experience this joy, then you need to somehow work on yourself in this direction. If there is no such desire, then no one will force it. Although, there is a way out. When a person is sad alone, what does he do? Correctly! Whistles or hums a cheerful tune to himself. This will definitely help. No one will even think that you are crazy. This is the proven way.

You just need to keep up and be a happy person, and happy people always succeed. After all, every action is accompanied by some kind of feeling. Anger and resentment can lead to unpredictable actions. Therefore, actions must be subordinated to one's will, and not to momentary, surging emotions. This is the only way to put your feelings in order.

Based on what I have stated above, we can draw some conclusions. In order for a blogger to attract and win the favor of the audience, it is not at all necessary to give a name to your online diary like a blog about boobs, but, preferably, do the following:

  • Genuinely show interest in the visitors and readers of your blog.
  • Enjoy the conversation in the comments.
  • Meet people and address them by name in the comments. The name is the sweetest perception during a conversation.
  • Be able to listen to the interlocutor. Encourage people in the comments to talk about their blogs, about themselves.
  • Conduct a conversation so as not to go beyond the circle of interests of the interlocutor.
  • Always in a conversation give people the opportunity to feel how much they mean to you. And it must be sincere.

In general, you need to try to focus your thoughts on your own goal, not shy away from side to side, this is the only way you can achieve your plans.

We have already noted that it is better for the speaker to stand in the audience. It must be clearly visible. You need to stand in front of the audience, not among them.

It must be remembered that a standing speaker:

Demonstrates respect for the audience;

Creates constant tension for yourself;

Better sense of time;

He speaks more energetically.

All this speaks in favor of standing up.

Tribunes, dais, stage should be used as little as possible. Rising artificially above the audience, the speaker demonstrates to her his official superiority, which contradicts the rule of "intimacy of communication", which is very effective in public speech influence. "Stop-

those next to their listeners,” recommends D. Carnegie. If there are less than 75 listeners, then you should talk to them below, and not from the stage, says P. Soper. Get closer to the audience. Go down to the hall, walk around the audience (slowly, and not very much abusing this technique), lean towards the audience. If you are speaking from a hill, go to the very edge of it. From behind the pulpit, come out from time to time and stand next to it, or generally stand next to the pulpit, and not behind it.

In the course of the performance, it is imperative to move. The audience does not trust motionless speakers, considers them conservative thinkers. The movement of the speaker through the audience increases the credibility of him, enhances the sympathy of the audience. It is necessary to walk not in front of the audience, but deep into the hall, while you should not go too deep and reach the last rows of listeners - in this case, those who sit in front feel uncomfortable, they are forced to turn around after the speaker. It is best to go deeper by a quarter - a third of the length of the hall, no more; at the same time, when returning back, you should not turn your back to the audience, you need to move back "in reverse".

The speaker's gait should be even, measured, without acceleration, somewhat slower than the usual human gait - only in this case, the gait diversifies the perception of the speech, and does not distract from it. Hands when walking should not be static, they should move. When walking, the chin must be kept up, this gives the impression of a speaker's confidence. You should not keep your hand or hands in your pockets when walking - this is perceived by the audience as evidence of the speaker's secrecy, and in some cases, his uncertainty.

When walking, in no case should you sway - this is very distracting for listeners. Walking around the audience, the speaker should not fix his eyes on one thing, this forces the audience to shift their attention to what the speaker is looking at.

You can’t turn small objects, pens, keys, etc. in the process of performing in your hands - it’s better to pick up a pointer or chalk.


Sight

The speaker's point of view is very important to the audience. Listeners believe that if the speaker looks at them, then their opinion and assessment are important to him. And this makes them listen more actively and attentively.

In addition, if the interlocutor looks at us a little, we believe that he treats us badly (“he didn’t even look!”), Neglects us.

If a lot of people look at us, then this is considered by us either as some kind of challenge (this happens when we feel in opposition to the interlocutor), or as a demonstration of a good attitude towards us, or at least interest. In the audience, the second option usually takes place, which the speaker must take into account.

1. The speaker should look at all the listeners in turn, without singling out any of them personally. Otherwise, it may turn out like one lecturer, who was approached after the lecture by the audience, thanked and said: “But why did you give a lecture only for our Katya?”

2. You can look away from the audience for a short time - when formulating some thought, then you need to re-establish eye contact with the audience.

3. Do not speak while looking into the “space”, this causes distrust and irritation of the audience.

4. Do not look at the floor, at the feet, at the window, at the ceiling during the performance, do not look at foreign objects.

This leads to loss of contact with the audience.

5. Looking at the audience, do it slowly.

6. Make eye contact with the audience throughout the speech.

7. Look at the audience in a friendly way, the way you greet friends. Pretend that you are glad to look at everyone, it pleases you.

8. When looking at the listener, look into his eyes.

A look into the eyes is always regarded as an expression of interest, sympathy, but on one condition: it must be short-term, short-lived. A long, intense gaze directed into the eyes of the listener will cause him a feeling of unease, a feeling of pressure being exerted.

9. In a large audience, you should break up everyone listening

lei on the sectors and look in the process of speaking from one sector to another, without disregarding any of the sectors.

Pose

If the speaker is standing, the legs should be slightly apart, the toes apart.

The emphasis on both legs should not be the same. In the most expressive places, the emphasis should be transferred more to the toe than to the heel.

The chest should be slightly "exposed", the stomach is tightened.

The chin should never be lowered.

Hands should be slightly apart, they should not be motionless. You should not take closed poses (hands cover the chest, crossed on the chest, legs crossed), such a pose is perceived by the listeners as an expression of distrust of the audience, a certain superiority over it.

Better to stand than sit. The higher a person is above the audience, the stronger his communicative position (the rule of "vertical dominance"), the more convincing he is.

You should not lean your hands on a low table, leaning slightly over it - this is a dominance posture that is negatively evaluated by the audience. This is a demonstration of aggressiveness; this posture is sometimes referred to as the “male gorilla posture”.

If you are standing with one foot forward, pay attention to which foot you have forward. If a person puts his left foot forward, he demonstrates aggressiveness (as if he is preparing to strike the interlocutor with his right hand), but if he puts his right, “favorable” foot forward, then he is open to dialogue, cooperation, looking for contact. Listeners subconsciously perceive this information, which the speaker must also take into account.

In contact with

Classmates

From this article you will learn:

  • How to determine the target audience of the company
  • How to determine the target audience of a product or service
  • How to determine the target audience of VKontakte

Often typical mistake novice businessmen is the fact that they believe they are selling their product to "everyone". It can't be! Such an approach to the sale of goods may well adversely affect the success of an advertising campaign, which, as a rule, is big hopes. Therefore, the first step to successful business is an right choice"your buyer". In the article we will try to explain how to determine the target audience.

Why is it so important to identify potential customers in a specific target audience

First, we need to understand what it means concept of "target audience" and define this term.

So, the term "target audience" came to us from in English: "target audience, target group". This is the name of the community of actually existing and potential consumers of a particular product or service, created as a result of the influence of marketing.

It is quite possible that somewhere you will come across the term “target group” - this is a synonym that can give an additional interpretation of the “target audience” as a group of people targeted by the brand’s marketing move.

Wikipedia says that the term "target audience" is used in marketing to name a group whose members are united by a common goal or characteristics. Common features, in this case, imply a wide variety of characteristics, such as working married men in their 30s and 40s who wear glasses.

When marketing activities is defined, then the target audience makes it possible to focus the attention of the seller (manufacturer) on the consumer of a certain group and offer a product that is ideally suited to him. The target group and scope of the target market can be determined by conducting marketing research. The main thing that the owner and director should know about marketing → get on the course In other words, the target audience is a group that is interested and needs your product, who are interested in it. specifications and benefits.

It is necessary to determine the target audience, given that, like any segment of the market, it has its own characteristics and characteristics. What to look for when choosing which determining factors to be guided by - the decision is yours, dear entrepreneurs. You can be guided by the following indicators:

  • geographic (orientation on a territorial basis, for example, residents of Central Asia);
  • socio-demographic (choose by gender and age, for example, men from 25 to 35 years old who work in the office);
  • psychological (the desires and aspirations of a person or group are taken into account, for example, the desire to find a way of self-expression);
  • behavioral (targeting people who buy the product once).

When you decide how to define the target audience, you should pay attention to fluctuations in the number (increasing or decreasing), which is defined in thousand / people. This will allow you to give a correct assessment of the prospects for business development. Please note, as in any other group, there is also a “backbone” here - people who are the most active consumers of the product.

On the present stage development of marketing identified two types of target groups: primary and secondary.

1. Main target audience

The main (primary - primary target audience) - the leading group. This target audience is the most active and is decisive when buying, because it usually includes people who directly make a decision to purchase products.

2. Indirect target audience

Indirect (secondary - secondary target audience) - passive group. Even when purchasing a product, it is still not the initiator of the purchase of a specific product or service. This group is less priority for brand distribution.

The example of the children's toy market will more clearly demonstrate how to define the target audience, which can be divided into two types: parents (buyers) and children (users). In this group, users are not buyers, although quite often they are the initiators, since they ask to buy it. Consequently, it is children who are the primary, and parents are the secondary target audience in the market of toys for children.

How to determine the target audience of a company that sells "for everyone", wasting the advertising budget

Step 1. Determine the goals for which the target audience is selected

  • Target audience for an existing product

In this case, everything is elementary: you offer a specific product (service or product) that is not subject to change and does not require them, because it is already in demand. For example, you are a toy vendor in a children's entertainment center. In this case, the target audience will tell you what kind of advertising is needed and where, what marketing move to take.

  • Product for a "profitable" target audience

This case is more interesting, although more complicated. You are at the very beginning of your business journey or are planning to expand / change the scope / direction of activity. Consider how you can determine the target audience of a business. Let's say a salesperson needs to serve a business customer who is a wholesaler and retailer of coffee. He set himself the task of increasing the level of sales, but did not know which way to go. This entrepreneur has not yet decided which option suits him best: retail or wholesale, maybe The best decision This is coffee machine rental. How to determine the target audience in business? Experts used the method "from selected". To do this, they identified all possible target groups for all possible options, and then worked with them, selecting the most “profitable” in terms of such indicators:

  • the size of the check;
  • the time required to complete the transaction;
  • frequency of transactions;
  • the cost of a lead is much lower than the amount reflected in the receipt.

You may have already guessed that the option was selected wholesale trade in the HoReCa segment.

Step 2. Determine which market segment we belong to

  • b2b segment(business to business - businessforbusiness)

If the area of ​​your activity is the b2b segment, then you can consider that there is already a certain amount of luck in this, since this area is the most stable. b2b is the niche that is least affected by any changes in demand, apart from, of course, crisis situations.

  • b2c segment (business to customer - consumer business)

If you prefer to work in the b2c segment, then you need to constantly "keep your finger on the pulse" and control all the changes taking place in the market. The demand of the consumer, as well as his behavior, depends on many aspects:

  • state of the economy;
  • political situation;
  • new products;
  • seasonal fluctuations in demand;
  • influence of trends, fashion, etc.

Therefore, working in this segment, the question of how to determine the target audience requires an unambiguous answer, because such errors as targeting a very wide target group and a one-time definition are possible.

Step 3. Determine which of the tasks you want to solve

  • WHERE to sell.

If you have a number of questions: “Where is my target audience?”, “Where is it better to place your ad?”. So, your goal is to define advertising channels.

  • WHAT to sell.

You have already figured out how to determine the target audience, and did it. The question of what they want to buy, what to offer them remained unresolved. Therefore, your goal is to choose the “right” message to hook your audience.

Step 4. Determine who your customer is

This stage involves the distribution of clients into groups. Moreover, this must be done in a very simple and understandable language. For example, "Plumber Vasya", "Exquisite nymph", "Fifa rich husband." Your task is not to ridicule a person, but an eloquent and capacious description of his features, which can be supplemented with small remarks so as not to forget what is meant.

Step 5. Determine where your client lives

When the target audience is determined, you can begin to work with the stage of determining its location. This is easiest to do if one of the following points is detailed:

  • Or a few days of the life of your potential target audience.

It could be detailed description business, weekend or, if necessary, a holiday.

If you offer products of impulse demand (for example, gifts for loved ones, tickets to a concert), then it is better to place ads in places where members of your target audience can have a couple of minutes of free time. During this time, they will be able to see the ad and purchase the product offered without deviating from their usual schedule or plan.

  • Or how the client acts, if necessary.

If you offer an “as needed” product (such as furniture, tires, websites, etc.), then advertising is appropriate at the time of such a need.

  • Or where a person is / what he does some time before the need arises (pro level).

If you know exactly when there will be a need to purchase your product and start acting (promoting the product) in advance. Let's say you are selling suspended or stretch ceilings and you know that they are usually purchased at the end repair work. You need to start offering your product both at the first stages of repair and at the stage of its completion.

Why "either"? Yes, because after you understand how to determine the target audience of a product, you will notice that each product needs a “personal approach”. This means that it must be offered in different time, in different places and on different advertising platforms.

You already know who your customer is and where he is at the time of purchase of the goods, then it's time to take the next step. It is often done to create a landing page, advertising message or any other information carrier, and quite often the previous stages of work are skipped.

To draw up a portrait, you need to determine:

  1. Need. For what, why and why the client may need your product? You must know the "sore spots" of a potential buyer. It is this knowledge that will contribute to the creation of a good USP.
  2. client fear. If a person is afraid of something, then he has objections, and you need to work with them.
  3. Selection rules. You, as a seller, need to understand what the client pays attention to first of all, and what after (second) when choosing a company or offer that suits him.
  4. The emotional impact of the product. Here it is important to understand what state your product or service causes in the client. For example, after purchasing a product, the buyer feels more confident in the future, he improves his social status, etc.
  5. Reasons for buying. Why does a client buy a product from your company or, conversely, why didn’t they buy from you, but went to competitors.

How to identify your target audience by asking yourself just 5 questions

To determine your target audience, you need to select a market area. Clustering (segmentation) is the definition of the needs of group members and the organization of proposals, on the basis of which client groups are formed.

To segment the target audience, you can use the "5W" method offered by Mark Sherrington. This method is one of the most popular and acceptable not only to determine the target audience, but also makes it possible to draw up its psychological characteristics.

5 questions of market segmentation:

  • What - what to sell (type of product);
  • Who - who is the buyer (type of consumer);
  • Why - why they buy (motivation to purchase);
  • When - when they purchase (time and situation of making a purchase);
  • Where - where they buy (the place where the purchase was made).

The table below can help you identify your target audience.

Based on the results, you can identify the target market segment. The consumers who enter it are your target audience. The table can be made wider to be able to analyze the work of competitors.

Changes can be as follows: horizontal - "5W", and vertical - ways to segment competitors. Such a table will make it possible not only to identify competitive advantages, but also contribute to the organization of an effective advertising campaign. The main advantage of the method is the presentation of products focused on the needs of the target audience, its lifestyle and psychology.

How to determine the image of the target audience (portrait)

For an accurate description of the target audience (TA), it is desirable to clearly characterize it. You can start by drawing up a portrait corresponding to a simple scheme:

  1. Age group, gender and marital status, social characteristics (status, profession, average income).
  2. How he spends his leisure time (hobbies, preferences, visited forums, social networks, etc.).
  3. What customer problem will your product solve?
  4. What is the emotional state of the client after the acquisition. Perhaps he feels moral satisfaction or his self-esteem rises.
  5. Why should he buy this product from you, or for what reason did he not do this, but went to competitors.

Now you have a portrait of a potential client. It does not hurt to make a photo collage or a portrait of your buyer in order to visualize the target audience.

Now your products and services should be designed for a specific target audience. Often, during an advertising campaign, large agencies reinforce research with a photograph of the brightest representative of Central Asia.

Consider an example. Your product is a premium men's watch.

The very first thing that comes to mind is that they should belong to a wealthy guy or a man under 45 years old.

More correctly and in more detail, it could look like this:

How to determine the target audience of a product or service in stages

If you offer products whose characteristics are practically unchanged, then it is more expedient to choose the target audience, focusing on specific item. The scheme proposed below will tell you how to determine the target audience in this case.

Stage 1. Product analysis.

Analyze the competitiveness of your products. To do this, compare your product with an analogue of competitors and determine its advantages and disadvantages (preferably 2-3 on “+” and “-”). It is necessary to take into account all the components, starting with the packaging design and ending with the place of sale.

Stage 2. Analysis of existing buyers.

Conduct a survey among real customers. Ask them to answer questions about the product: why they buy your product, what problems they solve by purchasing your product, etc. This will help you understand what your product is valued for, the reasons for the purchase, and distinctive features products. Then the results of the analysis of buyers can be attached to the results of the first stage (analysis of the product).

Stage 3. Brief SWOT analysis.

Prepare a SWOT analysis of the products. It does not have to be detailed, it is enough brief information to define the leading properties of the product. In addition, you will become more aware of shortcomings that are difficult or almost impossible to change, given your capabilities. It is this document that will help to understand how to determine the target audience, becoming decisive in solving this problem.

Stage 4. Market segmentation.

Now, knowing the main properties of products, carry out market segmentation. You need to define the following: real buyers, potential buyers and those who will never become your buyer. Make a description of the segments on the questions proposed above, and you will have a ready-made portrait of your target audience.

Stage 5. Plan of work with the target market.

Plan your marketing activities so you don't lose existing customers and attract new ones. This plan should include product perspectives: improving quality and range, pricing strategy, and steps to promote the product.

How to determine the target audience of the site

Internet users to whom the content of the site is directed and who are interested in it are called the target audience or target visitors to the site. This group of people is usually interested in the information or products offered by the blog.

This term can also be used in relation to your blog (site), on which you post information or through which you make sales. In this case, you need to understand how to determine the target audience of the service and find your reader. After that, you will need to focus your attention on his interests and needs.

Where to begin? How to find out what is interesting and what the visitor expects from you? The answer to this question is quite simple: start with sites that compete with you. Do a little research and you will get some information about the readers and visitors of competing sites. Let's say you run a blog about vegetarian food. So your first step is to compile a list of sites that post information on this topic. If you are just getting started in this niche, then start with search engines.

1) Use "Google" or "Yandex".

Imagine that you personally need information about vegetarianism, what would you write? Probably, you will write “vegetarianism” or “website about vegetarianism” in the Yandex search bar. It is better, of course, to act through both search engines, writing the main words in them.

There are actually a lot of options, but they are all similar to each other. The first, most likely, will be online stores offering products for vegetarians or healthy food. To check, you can simply go and see the information on the site.

Consider the information of the site vegetarian.ru. This resource is good in every way. It offers a large selection of recipes for vegetarian cuisine, written "life stories", which are also interesting to readers.

Now let's pay attention to who visits it. Here, of course, there is no unequivocal answer on how to determine the target audience. Therefore, you need to use all the resources available to you. So let's get started...

2) Use "Alexa" to research competitors.

Alexa.com is a resource that can help you and provide some pretty detailed information about "competing firms". But even he is not omnipotent if the site or blog of the subject you are interested in is not sufficiently advanced on the Internet.

However, let's continue our research and try to "get acquainted" with the visitors of vegetarian.ru.

To do this, we enter the Alexa.com website (main page), go down below and find the search bar, into which we enter the address of the site we are interested in and click "Search".

The information received indicates the growing popularity of the site. This means that its owner understands how to determine the target audience, has chosen the right tactics and is working in the right direction. Probably, the number of people who want to eat right and think about vegetarianism is growing day by day.

If you continue browsing the page and go down, you will see which half of humanity is more interested in this topic (let's say right away, as a rule, these are women). In addition, you can more or less accurately determine their type of activity.

Next, you are presented with invaluable information for marketing: the countries that this audience represents, and with the help of what words they find this site. Subsequently, this information can be used when placing paid advertisements, for example, in social networks or a blog.

If you continue to work in this direction, then the information received will help you when writing materials for your articles when you select keywords.

If the information of the site is not interesting to you or for some reason did not fit, then move on.

3) Use "SimilarWeb" to research competitors' website visitors.

SimilarWeb. This resource can be very helpful. With it, you can see through which social networks visitors get to a competitor's website. So, you can decide how to define the target audience in social networks.

The resource offers paid and free versions, but even without paying for the use, you can get a lot of valuable information and draw conclusions about the target audience. To do this, you will need to perform a number of simple manipulations: enter the site (main page), find the search bar, enter the address of a competitor site.


You will see a detailed report about the site you are interested in or the leader site in this area. In the same way as on the previous resource, you will find out countries whose inhabitants are interested in information about vegetarianism, their behavior on this resource (website), their interests, the amount of time spent, the number of refusals and other equally valuable information.

Unlike the previous resource, this one will tell you which social networks your target audience is on, which means that it is on them that you should direct your attention and strength and develop in the first place. Of course, the registration process is not complicated, so you can register everywhere, but ... Not all networks are useful for business, and even advertising campaign requires certain both material and moral costs. For example, visitors to the website vegetarian.ru are mainly Facebook and VKontakte users. Pay attention to how many visitors are on Facebook and VKontakte. See also that more than 4% of the traffic is from YuoTube users. Now pay attention to the total number of visits during the month (» 100 thousand) and you will understand that 4% is a decent figure.

By continuing to work on how to define your target audience, you can pay attention to the interests of the potential client. From the data obtained, we can conclude that one part of the visitors wants to choose vegetarianism in order to prepare healthy food and drinks, and the other part wants to improve their health. Of course, this information is not one hundred percent and requires additional verification.

In addition, you, again, will have the opportunity to see the requests with which visitors get to the site and from which sites they “come”. A report on what other sites are interesting to readers of vegetarian.ru will also be useful.

The report ends with a list of 10 names of similar sites (again, these are also your competitors, which means you should pay attention to them). In a word, this resource will help in finding the answer to the question of how to determine the target audience.

4) Use the Russian-language service "Serpstat".

Serpstat is a website research service aimed at a Russian-speaking user. It is similar to the foreign ones presented above, but it also has its advantages. When you enter the main page, you will be asked to enter the url of the site under investigation. Enter and start your research.

This service is aimed at answering the question of how to correctly identify the target audience and understand it. You will see such data about the site as the pages visited by users, a list of competing sites.

You will have the opportunity to analyze the backlinks of a competitor, its position in the list - search results, etc. All the information received is very useful for marketers, and it will help you in writing interesting and useful SEO articles for the reader.

5) Explore "Facebook" (groups and pages).

The study of Facebook groups and public pages is necessary in order to know what the potential target audience is interested in, what they ask about, how they comment. Thus, you will have an additional helpful information, which reveals the unadvertised interests of users. At the same time, pay attention to which articles are most interesting to people.

However, views and analysis are good, but communication is better. And you will have the opportunity to communicate with people who are interested in vegetarianism, who doubt the correctness of the choice, in other words, with your target audience. In addition, you can personally participate in the discussion of any issue by answering a group member.

So, go to your Facebook page and enter the word "vegetarian" in the search bar (in the upper left corner). As a result of the search, you will be offered various groups and pages on this topic. Go to any, for example, to the one with the largest number of participants. We went to VegetarianUA. Now you can read the comments left in the public, and join the conversation, answering questions from users.

But there is a more interesting way to determine the target audience. Once on the page of the group, type the words by which they find competitors, for example, "how to switch to vegetarianism." We entered and look at the result: articles and comments appeared on them. And you have information about what people are interested in, what problems they are pursuing, what they need. Find out their most "sore" places.

The next step may be to contact a moderator for permission to conduct a poll in the group. You can explain that you are working on how to define your target audience because you want to start a new blog. It is possible that the results of the survey will be of interest to the moderator.

6) Summarize.

After conducting the research, you already have the opportunity to more or less accurately draw up a portrait of your target audience and determine your ideal reader. For example, let's call her Tatyana. So, “she was called Tatyana”, she is from 25 to 40 years old, she has a family that she loves very much and cares about the proper nutrition of her husband and child. On the this stage she is thinking about switching to a vegetarian diet, but still has doubts. Therefore, he is interested in information about this on the pages of Facebook and VKontakte, watches programs about healthy and vegetarian nutrition on TV.

Katerina is also a visitor to sites about vegetarianism (vegetarian.ru and others). However, her goal is to learn how to cook vegetarian meals, and she does not want this to negatively affect the health of her family members.