EPISODE 011 | APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

identify YOUR AUDIENCE & BUILD A loyal BRAND COMMUNITY

WE ALL LIVE IN A VERY NOISY AND FAST PACED WORLD, where understanding your audience is becoming more important than ever. During this episode, I am looking forward to sharing WHY and HOW you should define and understand your audience, ultimately ensuring that your business offerings align with your audience's needs, desires, and lifestyle.

I'll walk you through a series of practical and straightforward strategies to help you identify and connect with your ideal customer, giving you an insider's look into how having a comprehensive profile of your target market can drastically enhance your brand communication and product or service offerings.

My goal is to equip you with the necessary tools and insights to make sure you have a loyal and strong brand community, one that resonates with your offerings, understands your brand's ethos, and remains engaged for the long haul, with the focus on increasing your revenue and profit, and ultimately to grow and ensure your business is highly viable.

So, let’s get stuck in!

A FEW WEEKS AGO I SHARED AN INCREDIBLE FREE GUIDE, the five steps to help you create the foundations of a loyal and strong brand community. I don’t mean that you will create your entire audience in just five steps, instead you will build a strong foundation and fully understand the steps you need to follow, to begin building a brand community, creating loyal and long-term customers.

One of the five key strategies in the guide is to fully understand your audience.

I want to focus on this specific step and bring it to life for you. I have also included a link below for you to access the comprehensive full free guide - I’d love you to have this as it takes you through all five of the key strategies, and this podcast episode works as the perfect introduction to the guide.

Today we will look at what it means to understand your audience and how that can benefit you. We will look at who they are and what they want, and we’ll also look at their pain points so you can better understand their needs. We will talk about narrowing down your audience – the more niche the better and how actually, the control is all with you. You can choose who your audience is. How amazing is that?

And finally, I will share how you can connect with your audience at an emotional level, so let’s begin.

WHAT DOES UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE MEAN?

FIRST UP, IT’S IMPORTANT TO GRASP what I mean by understanding your audience. One of the incredible aspects of having your own business, is the ability for you to choose your own audience. You can create offerings that fit perfectly for the exact type of people you would love to work with, support and or supply to. It means you are fully in control, but it also means that you really need to understand who they are, and what their needs and desires are, so you can perfect your offerings for them, and also importantly find them in the first place and communicate effectively with them.

I remember many years ago, in one of my first corporate roles, one of my managers at the time said to me that you can’t sell anything, until you first understand what the buyer wants. And this advice still resonates with me today. To fully understand our audience, is the power of selling authentically, without any need to be sale-sy or overly pushy.

So many business owners make the huge mistake of creating offerings that they themselves feel are brilliant, and proudly market them without first really understanding their target customers, in fact, so many owners don’t even know who their ideal target audience is, never mind the intricacies of them.

I want to do everything possible to help you avoid that, to ensure when you are working tirelessly on your incredible offerings, that you know exactly who you are creating them for and the solution you are providing or fixing.

WHAT DO your customers NEED & WANT?

I WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A VERY CLEAR PICTURE of exactly who your target audience is, so it becomes second nature to you when you come to updating existing offerings, creating new offerings, and in all your communication. I want to make sure all your hard work is entirely worthwhile, for you to be able to shout loud and clear, to an audience who know you, feel connected and are excited to hear more.

I was listening to a Podcast recently, where two business founders were talking about this exact subject. One asked what she thought it costs our businesses, when we don’t accurately work out what our customers need and what our customers want? And she replied by saying that marketing is the foundation to our business, and our marketing comes from really understanding who our target audience is, understanding them deeply, where we base all our marketing and communication, and the details of our carefully created products and services around that. When we don’t have that right, there is a disconnect. It doesn’t matter how hard you work, how phenomenal your offerings are and how much you want to help, if you don’t have the foundational understanding about your target audience, then you won’t reach them, and they won’t hear you.

I will give you a perfect example, when I first started my business, I created an offering around a luxury gift. I had worked so hard on the product, it was unique and beautiful, the packaging was incredible, my website was clean and easy to navigate, and I knew that my customer service was going to be exceptional. I was willing to work as hard as it took, to make sure my customers were happy, and yet, it just didn’t sell in the way I had hoped and initially planned, even after receiving quite a bit of PR. It was a unique and clever product, which worked for the press pages, they were excited to share and support my new idea and offerings, but I had failed to understand and place important focus on who my exact target audience was. It was such an important learning, it took me a while to understand the mistake I had made, and once I did, and began really refining my target audience, and fully understanding them, it changed everything within my business, and my products finally began to sell.

If you know that you have a brilliant set of offerings, and you know there is demand, but you are somewhat banging your head against the wall because your offerings are not selling as you imagined, the very first step is to work out whether you are focussed on the right market and then in turn, whether you really do understand who that market is.

There are so many different exercises that we can follow to help us to understand and define exactly who our target market is, but I feel so many of them are flawed and focus on things that just don’t matter.

YOUR MARKET niche

FOR ME, THE FIRST STEP IS TO REALLY NARROW YOUR MARKET. There are billions of people out there, so please don’t think that by narrowing your market you are reducing the number of people you can sell to, the opposite is happening, you are widening the pool of your customers. You will have heard the saying, if you're selling to everyone, you're selling to no one, and this is so so true. If you are trying to sell to everyone, you will never have a voice that will appeal to anyone. We all have different needs, desires and wants, we all have different budgets and we all live our lives in different ways, but as much as we all feel we are unique, we do all fall into large groups of relatively similar people. You know when you meet someone who has many similarities to you, you enjoy their company, you love sharing ideas with them, you often form a quick friendship, and you trust each other.

The exact same is true when you come across a brand that seemingly “get’s you”, the brands that do it well, it’s almost as if they are speaking to just you.

I remember a few years into my business, I was working directly with leading creatives, and I knew my clients inside out. By this point I had clearly identified my target audience. They were all relatively similar, I had a very clear brand and my communication was very specific. To the point, when I was suggesting ideas, my clients would often say that it was as if I was inside their heads. I had got to a stage where I knew my target audience so well, and that made them feel incredibly comfortable, they knew they could trust me and in turn, it made my role incredibly easy. With them feeling comfortable, and fully trusting me, they knew I would make the best decisions for them, and often these were quite big decisions I would make on their behalf, this in turn made my role much easier and having this level of control, made my day-to-day more efficient and enjoyable, there was no second guessing or an unnecessary number of meetings or questions. During the lead up to their projects and events, often busy and relatively stressful times for them, I had the easiest, most wonderful clients you could ever ask for. It wasn’t because I was lucky, it was because I knew them so well, that they trusted me implicitly.

So how do you know what your niche target market is? How do you define your audience and ensure you are communicating and selling to the right people?

I suggest that you spend a few hours, creating a comprehensive profile of your ideal customer. Delve into their lifestyle, habits, interests, and challenges. Think about your customers’ demographics, their motivations, their goals, and the problems they face that your brand can help overcome.

You might be solving a problem for them, helping to make their lives easier or you might be bringing something positive to their day-to-day. It doesn’t have to be life changing solutions. Your brand may simply be making their lives easier or more enjoyable in some way. Going back to my first offerings, if you remember, I was simply solving a gifting solution for my customers … well, I was once I finally realised how important it was to have a defined audience!

The deeper you dive and the more comprehensive your description, the better you will understand your customers, which will later enable you to tailor your brand message to meet their needs effectively.

UNDERSTAND THEIR PAIN POINTS

THIS IS JUST THE START, it’s so important that we really understand our customers’ pain points and their needs and their desires, and that not only should this piece of work be highly specific, it’s also an ongoing process. Your clients will change slightly, their needs and desires will evolve, and you must evolve with them. You must throughout your years, constantly keep in touch and remain in tune with your customers.

SPEAK WITH AUTHENTICITY

WHEN IT COMES TO ALL YOUR COMMUNICATION, from your product descriptions and general marketing to the way you reply to emails and what caption you put under your social media posts, you will by now know the words you should be using and the tone to express, because you know how your audience will respond, and what will resonate with them the most.

You are in a position where you not only know their problems and what they want, but you have also by now tailored your offerings to ensure they will solve those exact needs, to the point they are almost bespoke. There are so many parts of your business that become easier, once you know exactly who it is you are talking to, and in turn, once you have got it right, people will start buying, your revenue and profit will increase and you are on your way to growing a highly viable business, with a long term focus on continued growth, at whatever rate you are focussed on.

Once you understand your audience, and you know they are aligned to both your brand and offerings, you can speak to them with genuine authenticity. This can only happen once you know your audience. When it’s clear, you can then speak confidently and from the heart. We have all seen those cheesy sales and marketing pitches, and they make us recoil, yet, when we come across any form of communication that speaks to us from the heart, we know it is genuine, that there is a real person behind the brand and offerings, and you begin to build a crucial feeling of trust.

This focus should become part of everything we do, let’s take Instagram as an example - if you are on the platform, I am sure you fully resonate when I say we often find ourselves trying to work out what to post, what to say, wondering if the carousel of images or video is OK, yet when we know our target audience, this becomes much, much easier. If you follow me on Instagram, you will see that I share parts of my life. I openly share business hacks and insights, and I often talk about exercise and being out in nature, but there is a huge amount of my life that I don’t generally share, partly because it’s important to keep a balance and I purposefully keep my family life separate from work, but also these aspects of my life won’t necessarily resonate with my target audience. I’m very specific about what I share, I share what resonates most with my audience, so it makes managing something like Instagram very easy and straightforward, it’s an important part of my marketing strategy, yet it only takes a few minutes to manage each day, and wonderfully, I don’t have to second guess myself. I can happily post, reply to comments and DMs, and then get on with the rest of my day.

HOW TO DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

AFTER SPENDING A COUPLE OF HOURS WRITING as many notes as you can about your target audience, whether this is in a few sentences or multiple paragraphs, wherever you are, this is a perfect start … because this will and should be an ongoing exercise.

Beyond sitting with a pad of paper, you can proactively research online, to see what people are looking for. You can join multiple groups, there are many on Facebook for example, but not just social media, you can find thousands of different forums online, dedicated to so many different types of people and industries, to see the types of questions people are asking and to really understand their pain points, frustrations, needs and desires. You can also research keywords people are searching for. There are a number of different tools and platforms that you can use for free, including Moz Keyword Explore, Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner.

You are typically looking for between three and five core problems that you can investigate further, to begin to understand your target audience better. As you begin to fully understand your target audience’s problems, this is when we can really begin to connect with them on an emotional level, and we all know that when we connect with people at this level, our brand and selling power becomes so hugely effective. So, this is what you are looking for, the real core problems that your ideal customer have, and understanding how our brand and offerings can support and help them. And please remember that these don’t need to be lifechanging solutions, it’s wonderful if you can support on that level, but not all our brands are there to do that. They can be very simple solutions.

LIST THE CORE PROBLEMS

GOING BACK TO YOUR LIST, make a note of these core problems as you come across them. Perhaps for example, through your research, you learn that your target audience are short on time, they are concerned that they are not able to take care of themselves in some way as they are juggling multiple roles, from a busy job to looking after their family, and the time left within their day to day, to look after themselves, is scarce, they don’t have practical solutions that fit in with their lives. Learning this, we have identified a series of clear problems, that we can use, to really help and support them.

Let’s say your brand is within hair care, if this is your target audience, then all your messaging and communication will be around how easy and quick your products are to use, how they will fit seamlessly within their busy lives and make them feel special in that moment. Your entire communication will be around how easy and quick they are to use, that the products will do all the hard work for them, and in just a few minutes.

If your target audience are individuals with plenty of leisure time on their hands, for them, taking care of themselves is an important part of their daily or weekly routine. They may be seeking affirmation and assurance, and perhaps looking for confidence in their choices. In such cases, your hair care messaging would pivot.

It would emphasise the transformative power of your products, underscored by relatable testimonials, and highlight the indulgence of dedicating time to oneself. Naturally, any claims made must be genuine and verified.

You can see here how easily, even with an identical product, depending on who your target audience is, how your messaging will change completely, to solve the problem for your specific, niche customer. You are tailoring your offerings, to solve your customers exact needs. And this is then communicated through all your messaging.

I don’t want this to sound at all disingenuous, it’s essential your offerings do actually do everything you say, as otherwise that will quickly be figured out and you will falter. It’s essential you are completely transparent and truthful, my point is, you may have multiple positives and messages you could share about your incredible products, with the key ones being those that truly resonate with your target audience. Keep your messaging simple, concise and clear.

UNDERSTANDING ON AN EMOTIONAL LEVEL

YOU CAN SEE THAT BY UNDERSTANDING your audience on emotional levels, you can really help them. And this applies to every single industry and offering. You need to figure out who your audience is and how you can effectively communicate with them, by solving their problems.

I find it becomes quite an emotional process, particularly as I am sure you have huge levels of empathy, and you have created your brand and offerings ultimately because you want to help people. When you begin to delve into this process, you can see that your brand has the power to help in so many different ways, it’s incredibly powerful stuff.

By now I hope you’ll have started to mull all this information over in relation to your own business or business idea. But, please, please don’t get at all overwhelmed by this. Start small, start simply with two to three hours, block that time out, spend that time initially thinking about your target audience, who they are, thinking about their lifestyle, habits, interests, and possible challenges, their motivations, their goals, and the problems they face that specifically relates to your offerings and how you can help them overcome them. This is your very first step.

But also make sure this is an ongoing process, come back to it when you have time, and begin to delve deeper, next time researching online and begin to look at some of the forums and groups that you can use to further your access, understanding and knowledge.

AS YOU PROGRESS WITH UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE, take any opportunity you have to speak to them directly, whether it is via DMs on social media, during a pop up, an exhibition, or an industry event. It might be you have a retail space, so you can speak directly to your customers every day, or it might be over the phone or even by email. Use every possible opportunity to understand your customers more. This is definitely not something that will happen overnight, it’s important that it is very much an ongoing process.

Another option is creating surveys. I personally don’t find surveys as useful, as you are missing a chance to delve deeper and to really understand the answers, but a carefully created survey, can be helpful and does have a place. And you will be surprised how many people are willing to complete surveys. Just be careful you are asking the right questions and the questions are not weighted, so you are almost directing people into answering the way you would like people to answer.

There is a skill in pulling together effective surveys, and I feel in that time, you can often gain so much more from a group forum or simply speaking with people. Even for the most introvert amongst us, when you know you are doing this to genuinely help people, it definitely makes this process easier, and there is so much research you can do quietly online, ahead of speaking directly to someone, and by the time you reach that point, you will have so much knowledge, that you will know what you are talking about, so your confidence will grow.

INCREDIBLE FREE GUIDE

Once you begin to really understand your audience, you can then really begin to feel their needs, desires and wants. You can put yourself into their shoes and really feel what it is they want.

Within the free guide that I share, where understanding your audience is step one of five to help you develop the foundations for creating and building a strong and loyal brand community, I share tips with you about how to action this plan.

It’s great when we come across a resource that we find helpful, but it is entirely different when we begin to take action, it goes from being an idea, to actually becoming a reality and then in turn, having a significant impact on our business. Below you can access and download your copy of the guide, so you can take action and you can ensure that you have made the very most of the time you have just spent with me.

I VERY MUCH HOPE that you have gained the importance of understanding your audience is one of the most important things within your business. By having a crystal-clear picture of who you are serving and what they need, you can create products and services that not only meet but exceed your customers’ expectations.

Building a successful and enjoyable to manage business is about addressing the needs, desires, and pain points of your specific target market. It's an ongoing process, one that evolves as your customers' needs and desires change over time.

It’s not about reaching everyone—it's about reaching the right people. Through careful research, listening, and genuine communication, you can create a business that serves, engages, and resonates deeply with your target audience. This, in turn, fosters long-term customer loyalty, setting the stage for continued growth and business success.

Thank you for being here with me, and I can’t wait for our next episode. Please do rate and leave a review on the platform you are listening on. We read every single one, and each one makes an enormous difference to us, it means we can continue creating more and more valuable content, to help you directly as you launch and grow your business.

Warmest,
Philippa x