Defining a target audience is the first step in the sales funnel. Developing an ideal customer in your mind is an important way to focus your marketing resources and save you time and money acquiring a sale.
Once you’ve discovered your audience and began to engage them, it is beneficial to create sub-groups – also known as segmenting your audience – that fine-tune your strategy so you can offer specifically-designed services and products.
If you are in the self-help world and write books, it is important to have sub-groups of the customers to set apart those who are parents, married, or divorced, or empty nesters. Each of these sub-groups has specific needs that you can address through your targeted marketing.
Let’s look at the benefits of segmenting your audience into specific sub-groups:
- Tailor-Made Messaging Being assigned to a sub-group creates the opportunity for tailor-made messaging that speaks crystal clear about your customer’s need and the direct benefit from your goods and services. Selling to motorcycle owners is one thing; selling to Harley owners who ride in clubs and take Poker Runs is even better. Knowing more about the segment means you can use very specific language and a tone of voice that the group identifies with. This increases your credibility and your sales.
- Longstanding Relationships As customers travel through your sales funnel and engage with you, they come to know, like, and trust you and your products. The more you know about them in general, the better you can engage with them and share your genuine interest in their wellbeing. You show care and respect for these relationships when you filter the information you send your segments so it’s the most relevant and important for their needs.
- Establishing Your Credibility and Authority When you engage your audience, you likely have multiple messages that when broken down, share one unifying message. Creating segments allows you to establish your credibility with a wider range of customers on a wider platform. This gives your audience the opportunity to see sides of you that they may not have otherwise. Your audience defines you as the authority in the area as you engage them specifically.
- Easy-Breezy Content Creation Having defined segments makes content creation simple whether you are creating blog posts, emails or sales pages. When you’re developing a class or webinar, you can create content effortlessly with a defined sub-group. If you teach web design and you’ve just taught a webinar titled Web Design 101, you can direct these customers into a segment and teach enhanced skills.
- Repeat Sales Ideally, we are in relationship with our audience with the goal being repeat business. Segmenting your audience creates the opportunity to take customers on a journey or to sell to them in a way that is genuine and authentic. Relationships, credibility, targeted content, and tailored messaging all lead to repeat sales. Marketing decisions can be clear when customers are directed into segments right away and you know exactly what you want to sell to them and why.
Once you have defined your target audience, you can easily create segments that deepen your relationships to help make content and marketing decisions and makes sales easier.
This post is part of a 5-Part series on defining your target audience. Read on for more:
Part 1: What is a Target Audience & How Do You Define Yours?
Part 2: Why It’s Important to Have A Firm Understanding of Who Your Target Audience Is
Part 3: How to Find Your Target Audience (Out of Billions of People)
Part 4: The Benefits Of Segmenting Your Target Audience (this post)
