Why is it important to know your target audience?
Clarke Ricks
School of Business, Liberty University
BUSI 690: Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
Dr. Hicks
April 6, 2022
Why is it important to know your target audience?
You can’t market to everyone, and you shouldn’t. Trying to do so will only waste your
time and money. Use your marketing efforts effectively by creating a target market strategy.
That’s why it’s so important to know as much as possible about your target market. You
need to break down exactly who your customers are and where to find them. This
breakdown is called target market segmentation. Once you know those things, you can put
out the proper bait to lure them in and reap the benefits of target marketing.
Target market example
For example, if you sell lawnmowers and maintenance, only a certain portion of the
population will actually be interested in your products. They’ll probably be adult
homeowners. But to be sure, you’ll want to find out as much as possible about your
potential customers: age, living situation, place of residence. And to market to those
potential customers, you’ll also want to know things like when they shop, other places they
go, and what kinds of media they consume.
What is a target market analysis?
A target market analysis is a study you do of your potential customers. Knowing how to
do a market analysis will enable you to figure out exactly who you will market and sell to.
When you conduct your target market analysis, focus on the five W’s and H of your
potential customers.
Who: You first want to find out who your potential customers are. What are their ages,
genders, education levels, occupations, etc.?
What: You should ask your potential customers what rouses them. What are their
interests, hobbies, and needs? Based on that, what types of products, services, and features
are your potential customers interested in buying?
When: Find out when your customers are most likely to buy your products or services.
Perhaps they purchase once, seasonally, or on a subscription-based pattern. Or, your
customers might buy only when something breaks or when they have a spontaneous desire
for whatever you sell.
You should also learn when your customers are most likely to view your marketing
materials. Are there certain times of day that work best? Or, are there locations or mediums
that are more likely to catch your customers’ attentions?
Where: You need to know where your customers are located. Where do they live?
Where do they work? What is the size of the area where customers are at? What is the
population in that area? Depending on what you sell, you should consider the climate as
well.
Why: If you can, find out why customers purchase from you. Also, find out why people
buy from you instead of from one of your competitors.
How: You’ll want to consider how your customers behave. How do they act? What are
their lifestyles or purchasing habits like?
How to do a target market analysis
Once you know what you want to find out, you need to get the information.
Depending on what you’re looking for, conducting a target market analysis can be
difficult. But, you have many tools at your disposal.
You can interview your customers and potential customers. Get as much information as
possible from them. If you need to, offer some type of reward for their time.
If you have active social media accounts, you can get some demographic information
from your accounts’ stats. Social media marketing for small business gives you direct access
to some of your most influential customers and potential customers. View information
about your followers’ ages, genders, and locations.
If you know where your customers live or work, you can use zip codes to your
advantage. You can use the U.S. Census Bureau data for zip code areas to gather
demographic information on the population where you are trying to sell.
You can also use your business’s past sales information. Look at the average purchase
price, the busiest and slowest times of day and week, and seasonal spikes and drops.
Once you’ve gathered all the information you can about your customers, you can then
make a plan to market to them. Consider your new insights while pricing a product. You
could use the market data to adjust your products or services to suit your potential
customers better. And, find out why your current customers stick around, and what would
cause new customers to show up.
If there was any doubt that climate change is an enduring part of the business agenda,
2022 should have put it to rest. Around the globe, we experienced a growing number of
weather-related events that impacted people, businesses, and economies. At the same
time, we saw increasing alignment across the business community around the need to
address climate change and share a responsible path toward a decarbonized economy.
According to Deloitte’s 2023 CxO Sustainability Report, while CxOs faced a number of
challenges over the last year—including economic uncertainty, geopolitical conflict, supply
chain disruptions, and talent shortages—concern over climate change continues to be a top
priority for their organizations. And they are taking action to address it.
In Deloitte’s survey of more than 2,000 CxOs across 24 countries, almost all
respondents indicated their organizations were negatively impacted by climate change in
some way over the last year. More than 80% of CxOs said they have been personally
impacted, and 62% said they feel concerned about climate change all or most of the time.
Many CxOs rated climate change as a “top three issue,” ahead of seven others, including
innovation, competition for talent, and supply chain challenges. In fact, only economic
outlook ranked slightly higher.
Optimism endures despite heightened concern around climate impact
Consistent with conversations we’ve had with business leaders, the majority of CxOs
(78% of those surveyed) remain optimistic that the world will take sufficient steps to avoid
the worst impacts of climate change. They also share a sense of urgency to take action. The
good news is that even as we look ahead to an uncertain economic cycle in the year to
come, C-suite leaders remain committed to investing in sustainability and climate change
initiatives.
Many CxOs (61%) said climate change will have a high/very high impact on their
organization’s strategy and operations over the next three years. In addition, 75% said their
organizations increased their sustainability investments over the past year. There is also
broad recognition that progress towards solutions will require collaboration across the
entire ecosystem of private, public, and non-profit organizations.
According to Deloitte’s survey, organizations are feeling pressure to act from across
their stakeholder groups, including the board and management, customers, and employees.
More than half of CxOs said employee activism on climate matters has led their
organizations to increase sustainability actions over the last year. Regulation is also
influential, with 65% of CxOs saying that the changing regulatory environment has led their
organization to increase climate action.
Climate action continues, but challenges remain
Organizations are taking action: 59% are using more sustainable materials, 59% are
increasing the efficiency of energy use, 50% are training employees on climate change, and
49% are developing new climate-friendly products or services. They are also ramping up
climate adaptation efforts: 43% are updating or relocating facilities to make them more
climate change resistant; 40% are purchasing insurance coverage against extreme weather
risks; and 36% are offering financial assistance to employees who have been impacted by
extreme weather.
However, as we saw in last year’s report, while organizations are taking action,
inconsistencies and gaps remain. For example, 21% of CxOs indicate their organizations have
no plans to tie senior leader compensation to environmental sustainability performance,
and 30% say they have no plans to lobby government for climate initiatives.
Additionally, when asked their views on how serious certain groups are about
addressing climate change, only 29% of CxOs said they believe the private sector is “very”
serious. And only 46% say that ensuring a “just transition”* is “extremely important” to their
organizations, and the view of its importance differs greatly by region and country.
Recommendations to accelerate the green transition
Deloitte’s 2023 survey shows that CxOs believe that both their organizations and the
global economy can continue to grow while reaching climate goals and reducing greenhouse
gas emissions. However, there continues to be a gap between actions and impact, as
organizations are slower to implement the “needle-moving” actions that embed
sustainability into the core of their strategies, operations, and cultures.
So, how can CxOs help close the gap between ambition and impact, break through the
barriers to greater action, and start to balance the near-term costs of climate initiatives with
the long-term benefits?
Deloitte’s report offers several recommendations to help C-suite executives get started,
including embedding climate goals into their business’s overall strategy and purpose,
building trust by taking credible climate actions, empowering the board, encouraging
stakeholder action, investing in today’s (and tomorrow’s) technologies, and collaborating to
drive systems-level change.
Business leaders have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reorient the global
economy for more resilient long-term prosperity. It is promising to see that C-suite leaders
are making sustainability a priority and increasing their investments to help lead the way.
Together, we can build vibrant economies that are sustainable well into the future.
