Knowing your audience is not a formality, it is a necessity. 

An essential piece of the marketing puzzle, audience research is the process of collecting information as it relates to your target audience. To fully understand the needs, wants, and preferences of specific market segments, it is critical to customize your marketing strategies to the intended audience - this is the magic sauce that makes it all work. The effectiveness of this work is heightened when a buyer persona exercise is completed and these are utilized throughout the marketing process. 

Buyer Persona

When analyzing the wants and needs of potential consumers, the creation and utilization of semi-fictional representations of these same consumers, can help marketers ensure messaging resonates with the target audiences. Commonly understood as a buyer persona, data-fueled portrayals of consumers are used in order to personify market research. Consumer demographics, behavioural tendencies, and psychographics are three of the most influential aspects that need to be considered when creating a buyer persona. 

Consumer Demographics

The demographics of a target market refers to the age, gender, financial status, ethnicity, generation, marital status, location, education history, career, etc., of the individuals who compose a company’s desired market sector. This type of information is utilized in order to create effective and meaningful marketing strategies which aim to meet consumers where they are and make sure that the are receiving the information that is most relevant to them. Consumer demographics also help marketers piece together buying patterns and preferences which inform business decisions in relation to marketing strategies. 

Consumer Psychographics 

In comparison to consumer demographics, consumer psychographics go beyond the surface level of consumer identity. Psychographics dive deeper into consumer beliefs, opinions, interests, attitudes, lifestyles, and personalized goals. Such information allows marketers to ‘speak the language of their consumer’,  truly enabling marketing techniques to truly resonate with the identified audience. 

Behavioural Data 

Behavioural data refers to the ways in which consumers tend to utilize digital media. Knowing the habits and routines of an ideal consumer allows for the implementation of strategically placed marketing efforts on various digital platforms.This type of data can be collected by observing the online activities of consumers, content usage, digital navigation habits, as well as competitor brand preferences. 

Benefits of Audience Research 

• Identifying the obstacles of competitors in order to create more effective marketing efforts

• Resonating with consumers on a meaningful level, boosting consumer loyalty 

• Strategic marketing placement in order to avoid less successful efforts that result in poor engagement 

Audience Research is utilized by marketers in order to provide companies with the context of their target audience. Without an understanding of who a message needs to reach and resonate with, marketing efforts fall flat and cannot perform. Truly, getting to know the ins and outs of the target audience means meeting the audience where they are and ensuring the messages are meaningful and relevant.