and they are who you curate your brand for.
There’s nothing to be scared of. They're going to love you. In fact, if you get super-duper-almost-creepy specific with your target audience, chances are they’ll just want to hug you... aww.
I hear it so often that now I’ve started to mouth the words at the same time my new branding clients say to me, “I don’t want to alienate anyone who might be interested in my business.”
The issue is, if you don't have teams the size of Apple, Nike or Google, you won’t be able to successfully resonate with your audience, unless you get specific. That's what makes digital entrepreneurship so different from brick and morter businesses! With 7 billion people on this earth and a good amount of them having access to the internet, you should not be everyone's cup-o-tea. You want to be the shot of whiskey.
Why do you think they call it a TARGET AUDIENCE?
Time for a good ol' fashioned sports analogy: If you aim for a bullseye, you have a better chance of hitting it. Dead on. Inner circle activated. BUT you also have a better chance of hitting those in the outer circles. I won't give you any less points if you get 20 clients from your outer circle, but by focusing on your inner circle you'll be able to engage people with less work. I speak from experience here. I get asked pretty often if I provide specific services that I don't advertise for or promote. Since I've resonated with my target audience, I've grown, and I've still hit some outer circle folks as well.
Moral of the story: Don’t be afraid to get specific. Aim for the inner circle and your outer circle will jump on the brand wagon!
Here are 5 questions to ask yourself when you’re thinking about your brand:
1.
How is my Target Audience different than ME?
I saved the unpopular question for first. Many solopreneurs want their audience to look just like them. It’s great to have some similarities, to be sure. But if you want your brand to seem authentic (this is very important, stay tuned for another post about that), then you need to differentiate it from you. Humans have too many moods to be a successful BRAND. Some variation is great but does your target audience really need to see how you act when you’re hangry?
2.
Where does your target audience like to shop? What do they value about shopping at these locations?
This boils down to the Target Audience or TA values. If you can research this or know a few of your TA members that would be open to giving you honest feedback-GO TO THEM.
3.
Are you’re still convinced that you have more than one target audience? Fine. I give up.
Just kidding. That’s OKAY. Just make sure you know who your primary TA is. Focus on getting them up to speed and on board with you. Then you can expand from there.