Know Your Target Audience – Where Too Many Marketers Fail (Pt 1)

Are you among the few online marketers who know your target audience well? We ask this question only after reading a recent article from the SEO and Marketing Mavens at HubSpot that claims you probably don’t!

It should go without saying, yet must be repeated often, that developing an ideal client profile of the types of people you most want to work with is critical to your success when marketing your business online. Yet, a staggering percentage of businesses lack even the most basic information on their target audience. Without this and other important data, developing such a profile for targeting your online content becomes difficult, if not impossible.

To quote the opening of the article, “In our annual survey of over 1,200 marketers, we found that just 42% know the basic demographic information of their target audience, like their name, gender, and location.”

What Does the HubSpot Marketing Study Tell Us?

Unfortunately, the numbers from this year’s HubSpot study are not in your favor. Although all is not lost if you heed their warning and respond positively.

For example:

• “A whopping 82% of marketers say having high-quality data on their target audience is important to succeeding in their role – but more than half of them say they're missing key information.

• Fewer] than half of the marketers surveyed know their audience’s interests and hobbies, shopping habits, the products they are interested in buying, their purchase history, and where they consume content.

• Only 31% know the online communities their target audience is a part of and even [fewer] know the challenges they are facing.

• Just one-fourth of marketers know the social causes their target audience cares about - a huge, missed opportunity when it comes to expressing your brand’s values, especially when marketing to Gen Z and Millennials.”

As you can see from the image below, in addition to lacking basic data, just 29% of the marketers surveyed claim to know their potential client’s pain points! Further, just 41%, know where to reach them online!

Data Can Inform but Rarely Offers Solutions

These are dismal numbers. In fact, they are so bad, we can’t help but wonder how it is that any of these marketers reach their target audience at all.

So, now that we’ve depressed you with these data, and made you wonder if your marketing efforts coincide with them, we’ll end this post here. That is not to say we’re finished with the subject, however. It’s just that we believe there is too much data to unpack in a single blog post.

Take the time to digest this information, then return for our next post in this series where we will dig deeper into the metrics and, eventually, offer ideas on improving your marketing strategy. We’re talking about things that actually work!

Statistical analyses of data are fine as far as it goes. However, if you continue struggling with ways to get to know your target audience, Ted is available for business and marketing consultation. With more than 25 years of experience in the trade and an exceptionally empathetic approach, he is sure to find ways to help.

Just click here to… Get in touch with TD Fall today.