One of the biggest mistakes that organizations can make is being ignorant of their target audience. When you don’t know enough about your target audience, you risk missing your marketing goals.
You may find yourself…
- …Creating messages that don’t resonate. How can you make sure your messaging resonates with your target audience if you don’t understand their target problems, needs, and desires?
- …Wasting resources on ineffective marketing. Without a clear understanding of your target audience, you may end up wasting money on marketing tactics that aren’t working. Ouch!
- …Missing opportunities to connect with your audience. When you understand your target audience, you can connect with them in meaningful ways. When you don’t? Not so much.
Ignorance leads to guessing as you try to see around blind spots. But you don’t have to let the deadly marketing sin of ignorance deep-six your marketing.
Just invest in better understanding.
- Identify your target audience. Who are your customers? What are their demographics? What are their values? The more you know about your audience, the better you can tailor your products or services to meet their needs.
- Research your competition. Who are your competitors? If you’re a nonprofit, ask yourself where else people might donate their time or money if not with you. What do others offer that you don’t? This information can help you differentiate your offering and identify where you can improve.
- Set it as data. Establish your numbers now – especially those related to consumer actions, such as your number of visitors, your open rate, your clickthrough rate, number of followers and more — so you get a clear picture of where you are now… and so you can track it as those numbers grow. Or, eek, shrink! 😱
In the Internet age, there’s no reason to stay in the dark. There’s more information at your fingertips today than at any time in history. Ask yourself what you’re trying to see, and then turn on the light.
Need help getting started? Let us know how we can help.
Next week: The THIRD deadly sin of Marketing!