Target Audience

What is a target audience?

As the name suggests, the target audience is the segmented portion of the population at whom a product or service is directed. The target must be understood in detail in order to reach them through marketing, advertising and communication campaigns aimed directly at them. Communication and marketing should always come after a detailed study of the target audience, in order to optimise costs and results. Where possible, the buyer persona should also be defined — a graphical projection of the person the product, service or brand is addressing.

How to define a target audience

To define the target audience, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the product or service — its characteristics and the benefits it delivers in meeting customer needs. Carrying out a thorough study of content for your target audience is essential for focusing a marketing strategy — avoiding wasted resources, keeping their needs in mind and assessing whether the products on offer are appropriate and achieving the desired impact. Defining the target audience means segmenting the population according to factors (from more general to more specific): sociodemographic, socioeconomic and psychographic, until the group whose needs we aim to meet is identified.

Sociodemographic

• Gender
• Age
• Nationality / Place of residence
• Marital status

Socioeconomic

• Purchasing power
• Education
• Occupation
• Family
• Transport

Psychographic

• Consumer insight
• Momentums
• Influencers
• Community
• Purchase process
• Technology
• Media consumption

Many target audience studies are carried out at a generic level, covering mainly sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors, when the real value of the study lies in segmentation by psychographic factors. It is this information that brings us closest to the target individual, revealing their needs, concerns, who they follow, which social group they belong to and how they communicate. Conducting a thorough study of the target audience is essential not just to reach the right population group, but to do so in the most appropriate way.

Brand target and product target

Most brands market different products and services that do not necessarily share the same specific target audience, since they seek to satisfy different consumer needs. For this reason, a broader brand-level target must be defined — one that is more general than the specific target for each product or service, but that shares certain common factors, so that the company's overall communication remains coherent.

Brand target

The brand target is the audience that identifies with the brand through the values and recognition represented in its corporate identity and image. It is ideal for developing a global content strategy to strengthen and position the brand.

Product target

Within the brand's target audience there are consumers who differ greatly from one another, each seeking to satisfy different needs. For this reason, regardless of corporate communication, the ideal person for each product or service on offer must be individually defined.

Advantages of defining a target audience

• Avoiding marketing strategy failure: If no target audience study is conducted, or the wrong target is chosen, the marketing strategy will most likely fail — failing to satisfy any need or add value.

• Resource optimisation: Correctly defining the target audience allows economic and human costs to be optimised and reduced. Knowing who we are addressing allows us to concentrate all resources on attracting new customers within our niche and retaining existing ones.

• Improved engagement: Having fluid communication with customers through the most appropriate channels allows us to build loyalty and even meet their needs more effectively and before the competition does.