Identify Your Target Audience

Who's in your target audience?

Last time I spoke of the rule of 7 and the fact that, according to some, it may be losing its relevance. I feel that the best way to maximize the rule of 7 in today's world of over-stimulation is to identify your target audience, understand how they live, work, and play; how they get information; what entertains them; how they prefer to communicate, and how they like to shop.

I suggested that you ponder some stats from Sprout Social:

Age: 

Younger people are more likely to use social media, but the gap between age groups is narrowing. For example, 88% of 18–29 year olds use social media, compared to 80% of 30–49 year olds and 65% of 50–64 year olds.  

Platforms: 

Different age groups prefer different platforms: 

•  18–29: YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat are popular  

• 30–49: YouTube and Facebook are popular 

•  50–64: YouTube and Facebook are popular, but engagement with newer platforms is lower 

Content: 

Younger people tend to prefer non-linear forms of news and entertainment.  (on-demand vs. scheduled entertainment, graphic vs. textual news and information)

TV: 

Adults who haven't grown up with the internet or other digital channels tend to consume the most TV. Boomers, born before 1964, are especially likely to watch traditional TV. 

Social media trust:

Young people don't trust some social media platforms, especially Twitter. They consider Twitter to be a source of misinformation, and many also say it's bad for mental health. 

And Radio? According to MusicalPursuits.com

• More Americans listen to the radio than use Facebook each week.

• Radio holds the highest share of collective trust across all advertising channels.

• 77% of listeners would try a brand or product endorsed by their favorite radio personality.

• It takes 2.4 days on average for audio ad listeners to take an action.

Let's not forget print1 According to the 2018 Release 2 Nielsen Scarborough Report.

• More than 124 million U.S. adults, or more than 6 out of 10, read newspaper media each week.

• Fifty-eight percent of adults aged 18-34, and more than 6 in 10 adults aged 35+, read a newspaper.

• Seventy percent of households with income above $100K are newspaper readers.

• 63 million adults access newspaper content on their smartphone or tablet.

If your target audience lands neatly into one age group, you can look at this data and easily see where you should be advertising. If, like most businesses, your target audience is more diverse, you'll need to divide and conquer.

Let's assume you own a restaurant / pub that is somewhere between causal family dining and $$$$ high end. You're open for dinner Thursday through Saturday, you offer some music / dancing on Friday and Saturday after the dinner crowd, and you're open for Sunday brunch.

Here are the different groups who are likely to patronize your establishment:

Dinner:

Couples or groups of friends, likely late 20s to early 50s. Aside from a great dinner, they may be drawn to the after dinner entertainment for a change of pace. Plus there is the 50+ population that just wants a great dinner and to be home before the dancing starts.

Sunday Brunch

This is likely to be young professionals, families, and locals, often in the 25–65 age range.

Nightlife

Adults 21–40 who enjoy music and dancing and the convenience of a single venue for dinner and entertainment.

Overall you're looking at an audience with an age range of 21 through 65 and will need to use all media if you want to reach them all.

So where do you place you advertising dollars? I think the fist thing to recognize as you look at the stats here, newspaper and radio are still relevant to all age groups and should always be a part of your plan. Social media should be geared specifically to target age groups.

This table illustrates your audience by age group and the media sources each age group is most likely to engage with.

No matter what your business is, you can use this process to help you decide where to spend your marketing dollars.