As a self-entitled entrepreneur, I constantly think of new ideas. Having started a business, I quickly got the bug of entrepreneurship (albeit still in its infant stage. Because of this, I have started to view things in a different way.
My main focus right now is to grow my Digital Marketing Agency. Because it’s marketing, the way I look at pretty much everything when I’m making the commute into Central London has changed. Because it’s business, the way I look at the world has changed.
Any form of advertising is now broken down and analysed, this includes online and offline ads. Even watching movies (sadly) has become an educational and analytical experience.
Now, this certainly is not a memoir of despair, lamenting over the good old days when an advert made me want to actually buy something. No, I’m going to be talking about the very simple concept of defining your target audience + buyer personas and the incredibly positive impact it can have.
Sometimes I would see similarities on adverts (more so online) that had two completely different products. Not just standard advertising devices like urgency or sales. But something more specific, an underlying narrative, similar colours, call to actions...the list goes on.
What I was picking up on was specific messaging to specific audiences. When advertising in the digital space, this is one of the very first things you need to start with. Identifying who you are going to target with your product and messaging.
What is a Target Audience?
Since we are talking about marketing, this is the group of customers that your brand, product or service is aimed at.
In my opinion, this should be (or evolve into, if you're just starting out) the group of people who can benefit the most from your product (there is a discussion here on ethics, capitalism and some other fat cat "stuff").
What is a Buyer Persona?
Hubspot put it best: “A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”