You have a marketing plan, and now you're ready to start your campaigns and content strategies. But, first, you must determine who you are speaking to and how to approach them best.
Why Should You Know Your Audience?
By now, you are aware that knowing your audience is essential to know whom you are marketing to and who is more likely to identify with your brand. Moreover, knowing your audience will allow you to reach them sooner in the buyer's journey, increasing their potential to become your customers.
A more significant percentage and the ultimate success of your business will depend on your ability to identify your audience and convert them into customers to capture your corner of the market before your competitors.
That can only be accomplished by having a deeper understanding of how you should be speaking to your audience to begin with. Getting to know your target market gives you a guide in how you should be addressing them, including your tone of voice, how you communicate, and the ways through which we meet them.
Identifying Your Tone of Voice
Brand voice and identity shape how those who come in contact with your product or service get to know who you are and what you are about. It sets the stage for all communications throughout your marketing and sales process.
Your brand voice will carry through every medium you choose to speak to your audience, including newsletters, social media posts, blogs, email campaigns, etc. However, it must be consistent and hit the right notes and strike the right chords.
And while your brand voice is a part of your brand identity, the tone you decide to take is just as important. The tone you embody has to come from your brand values and personality. Are you humorous? Relaxed? Bubbly? Or does your brand take on a more inspirational tone? By asking this question, you will know which direction to take as you create your brand messages and campaigns.
Ways to Communicate with Your Audience
Strong communication is what will help your brand stand out among your competition. Whatever your message or purpose, you want to communicate it clearly and in ways that are true to the heart of your business.
In this instance, you are communicating the 'why' and 'how' to your audience. Why should they do business with you? What value do you have to offer? What problems are you able to solve and how? How can you meet their needs, and in what ways can you do so? These questions are yet another means to direct you in how you speak to your audience.
With effective communication, you can understand what your market wants from you and how they respond to how you communicate back. However, there's another component to communicating. You guessed it; it's listening!
Communication is very much a two-way street, as we say, and that includes speaking as well as listening. So make it a priority to listen to what your audience has to say; there is great value in that, as they can show you what direction to go with new products, app features, or ways in which you can improve your services. In addition, you are in business to serve your customers, and your customers may have some great ideas that can grow your business to greater heights.
Where Will You Find Your Audience?
Now that you understand why it's beneficial to know your customers let's talk about how you will reach them!
It's a digital world, and most brands will find themselves interacting in some way digitally. There are plenty of options and strategies you can build as well as interlock them to make your message more cohesive throughout the digital platforms you utilize.
Of course, which platforms you use will depend on your brand and where your audience is engaging the most. Twitter may work for one brand, while Snapchat might work for another. The key here is to connect to your audience in as many places as possible.
You may use four different social media platforms along with a blog. Or you may choose podcasts and Instagram. Regardless of which platforms you use, adjust your tone and communication to fit how you engage with your customers.
Are You Ready to Reach Your Audience?
Knowing your audience is going to be what sets the tone, literally, for your company and how you proceed in your marketing and branding. Creating a user persona will greatly assist you in this endeavor and directs you to the right people at the right moments.
It takes research, knowledge of the industry, and trends in communication. We develop strategies for our clients by looking deeper into what each brand wants to communicate to those they hope to reach and how best to do so. So if you are ready to reach your audience, let's do it together!