Picking the Right Platform for Your Audience
For a business owner it may be a badge of honor to say that you don’t have to pay for marketing or advertising, that you simply “get business from word of mouth.” While this is great, it isn’t a customer base that you can depend on. Referrals, organic traffic, and being popular by nature is a wonderful way to achieve business but eventually advertising will be necessary to grow your customer base even if everyone loves you. Before you run out the gate and start (this is exciting I know), there are some things you need to consider. You need to get in the mindset of your target audience. You need to meet them where they are at if you want to run successful campaigns. Are they unaware, aware, or hungry for the solutions or products you offer? What are their interests? What are their activities? We are going to take you through some guidelines to help you clarify who your audience is and where you can find them.
First, let’s look at the three types of audiences you will face:
- Aware – They know of the problem they have but don’t know you exist.
- Unaware – They do not know your solution exists. They need to be educated on a problem they have but don’t know they have.
- Hungry – They are searching, seeking and out there with intent. They are ready to sign, buy or give you their money.
Let’s now look at the types of platforms to advertise on:
First, you have the platforms for the seekers. The ones that go there have intent and are hungry to find what they are after. This is going to be a place like Google, Bing or YouTube. Your seeker is aware of the problem they have and are hungry to find the right person or solutions to meet their needs. Have a leaky roof? These platforms are where you are going to head to find someone to fulfill your needs pretty quickly.
Then there are the display and interruptor platforms, this is going to be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. If you want to make people aware of a problem they have but may not know they have Facebook is a great place for your campaign. This type of platform is where you can educate them on the problem they have and then introduce you and your services or products. You show them what you can do for them. Social Media is perfect for the aware and unaware but don’t know you exist to solve their problems.
So now you know the types of audiences (aware, unaware, and hungry), and platform available to deliver your campaigns. Let’s take that knowledge and ask ourselves these questions:
What state is my target audience in? Aware, unaware, or hungry? This will help you decide what platform you are going to start with. Think about the audience demographic. Are they on Yahoo, Google or Bing (seeker) or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (interruptor)? If you can answer these questions it will take you from I don’t know how to find my people to I know which platform I want to run traffic.
Now that you know what platform you are going to use you need to know where they are hanging out. Here are four very important questions to ask yourself:
- Where is my audience hiding? What types of books, magazines, TV shows or podcasts does your ideal customer read, watch or listen to?
- Who are the authority figures, leaders, big brands, and competitors in your niche?
- What are some beliefs, interests, social groups, passions and activities that your customers have in common?
- What events or conferences do they attend?
If you can get inside the heads of your ideal target audience you can put your product or services in front of them. Think like them. What are they into? Another great resource is to simply use your Facebook search feature. If you are trying to target an audience that is looking for fishing gear, type in something like “pages liked by people who like Bass Pro” or “pages liked by people who like Cabelas.” This is a great tool to help you explore what other pages and influencers your target is looking at.
Remember, think like them, get in their heads and be strategic about how you are going to run your campaigns. You can not advertise effectively if you don’t hit your target audience. Do you research so you maximize every dollar you spend on marketing.
If you would like to hear about specific strategies/campaigns that we offer to get in front of your target audience please contact us, we would love to hear from you! We want to see you win.
