Are You Marketing to the Right Audience?
Does your brand pass the Gen Z vibe check? Here’s a better question to ask: does it need to pass the Gen Z vibe check?
In today’s digital marketing world, you have access to all types of audiences from all over the world. While this is a superpower when it comes to brand reach and community-building, it can also become problematic. When you start marketing to every possible audience, you risk losing the opportunity to resonate with a key demographic and can potentially miss out on building a valuable connection with your brand’s consumers.
If your brand’s target audience doesn’t include a buzz-worthy, tech-native demographic like Gen Z, that’s completely fine. In fact, there’s great power in finding your target audience and crafting a personalized approach to speak to their values and needs. Here, we’ll discuss the myth of a universal audience, finding your target audience, and the importance of staying authentic. Let’s dive in.
The myth of a universal audience
It sounds like a founder’s dream come true – having your brand’s product or service appeal to everybody from every place in every age group and every background. Sadly, this isn’t a reality for 99% of businesses.
Every audience comes with its own set of customs, values, communication styles, and preferences. It’s virtually impossible to craft one generalized message or run one campaign that will capture the attention and loyalty of every one of these audiences. That’s why it’s key to find your brand’s target audience and hone in on building trust and genuine connections with those most likely to support your brand.
It can be tempting to try to market your product to trendy, sought-after demographics such as Gen Z, but if your brand isn’t going to impact or resonate with a 20-something TikToker, it’s not worth pushing it. Doing so can actually be harmful to your brand identity and hurt aspects of your consumer engagement, retention, and loyalty.
If you pass the Gen Z vibe check by creating a product or service they align with and rally around, that’s wonderful. But it’s also not the end of the world if you don’t. There are many other audiences online with their own set of needs and preferences, and we still need businesses to connect with them. So how do you know which audience you should target in your brand’s marketing?
Finding your target audience
Identifying your niche audience is key to growing and sustaining your brand’s community. Finding a specific group to target with your marketing materials and content can not only improve your conversion rate and drive sales, but also give you a source of helpful feedback and support as your brand evolves and grows.
If you’re not sure where to start with finding your brand’s target audience, a great way to get the ball rolling is to conduct in-depth market research. Look at your competitors and evaluate where they’re posting, what tone they’re using, and who they’re targeting. You can also start by describing the ideal persona for your product or service and answering the following questions:
How old are they?
Where do they live?
Where do they hang out online?
What motivates them?
What discourages them?
How will your business give them value?
Once you have a better sense of the type of person most likely to engage with your product, you can experiment by running various campaigns across a few key segments. Leverage the resulting data to understand any shared characteristics and interests among those that support your brand.
During this process, it’s completely normal (and encouraged) to adapt your strategy. As times and technologies change, it’s likely that your marketing tactics and target audience will shift as well. Remember to regularly revisit your data and stay flexible in your approach.
Authenticity > Trend-chasing
After you’ve done the research and testing to find your brand’s target audience, you might be surprised to find it’s not a highly sought-after demographic in today’s digital world. Audiences like Gen Z are tech-native and tech-savvy – and they make their online presence known. But just because they’re the trendy group to market to doesn’t necessarily mean that going after Gen Z is right for your brand, especially when it means twisting your brand’s identity and tone to match what you think a certain consumer will want to hear.
Many of the long-standing brands around today have stayed true to their identities and core values, even while embracing change and adapting to meet shifting consumer preferences. While staying on top of the latest trends is an important part of any marketing strategy, it’s crucial to note that you should never uproot your brand’s foundations to align with the latest fad. Brand authenticity is something that builds trust, reliability, and long-term loyalty with your consumers. Avoid being insincere or opportunistic by shifting your entire narrative around one trend or one audience.
Conclusion
In today’s digital marketing landscape, it can be tempting to shift your positioning to match the vibes of trending audiences like Gen Z. While it’s important to consider if your brand can resonate with different groups, don’t force it. With the right research, find your target audience and craft materials to further hone in on this group and build out a loyal brand following. There is power in authentically speaking to your niche audience – find it and use it.
If you’re not sure where to start with finding your target audience, I have over a decade of experience working with brands on consumer research and strategy. Fill out the form to get the conversation going.
