Simon Jenner
Thursday, 31 December 2020
How much do you really know about your target audience?
Posted in:
Startups
Long gone are the days when if you launched a product into the world, consumers would come naturally. In the 21st century, to build your startup's MVP and develop the perfect startup app, you really need to know who you are creating it for and who you will be advertising to - your target audience, if you will.
As easy as it would make things, this isn’t as simple as deciding on an age range or gender as a target demographic. With big data available at our fingertips, we now have access to much more, including psychographics and geographics, personality traits and interests, and values and opinions. And you need to know how to apply all of that information while building your startup's MVP and creating marketing campaigns.
That may seem overwhelming at first, but we’ve narrowed the process down to 3 easy steps that will enable you to learn your audience inside and out in order to achieve startup success.
Step 1: Market Research
Market research may seem mundane and basic to some, but it will truly lay the foundation for building an MVP for your startup. Your ultimate goal is to learn as many details about your target consumer as possible prior to building an MVP for them.
In order to gain a comprehensive picture of your consumer, we suggest you gather both qualitative and quantitative information from measures such as surveys and interviews. We also now have a brilliant tool at our disposal for this process: social media. Utilise social listening to find profiles of your target consumer and see what brands they are (or aren’t) following and how they are interacting with them.
Even after building your startup's MVP, never stop gathering this information. Just as markets evolve, your consumers’ preferences will as well, making consistent market research necessary for your startup’s growth.
Step 2: Consumer Personas
A consumer persona is essentially a profile for your target consumer, though containing detailed information that is supported by your market research. This persona should continue to evolve as you grow your consumer base.
A trick that we like to use when creating these consumer personas is to give them each a name, personality traits, and even add in a picture of what this individual would look like. You should also include their pain points, their motivation behind using your product, and what problems it solves for them.
You may eventually have multiple personas for the different types of consumers you are targeting; these defining features will help you to differentiate them. However, bear in mind that you will need to establish different marketing efforts for each of these different personas.
Step 3: Influencers
Once you have conducted your initial market research and created your consumer personas, identify a few individuals who influence your target market.
No, we don’t necessarily mean officially verified social media influencers, but any individual who has become a natural leader among your target audience and engages with them regularly. These are the individuals who can directly influence your target audience’s purchase decisions.
Now that you’ve identified them, you can begin to contact and interact with them. Talk to them about their interests and what is important to them - essentially, conduct a miniature version of market research about them. Introduce them to your product, explain why you have chosen to create it, and lay out the problems it will fill for your target audience. Lastly, when asking them to promote your product, don’t shy away from their expectations from you and your brand as compensation.
Once you’ve completed these 3 steps, you’ve truly gained an understanding of your target consumer. You’ve identified who they are, tapped into their motivations and desires, and connected with individuals who have direct influence over them. You’re now in a place to build your startup's MVP and design marketing campaigns that will speak to them directly.
If you would like some assistance with narrowing the resulting information about your target consumer down and building your startup's MVP, grab a spot in our Founders No-Code Bootcamp. Not only will you have the opportunity to work with our startup experts, but you’ll be granted access to our exclusive Founders Slack channel to collaborate with other non-technical founders, creatives, and entrepreneurs.
As easy as it would make things, this isn’t as simple as deciding on an age range or gender as a target demographic. With big data available at our fingertips, we now have access to much more, including psychographics and geographics, personality traits and interests, and values and opinions. And you need to know how to apply all of that information while building your startup's MVP and creating marketing campaigns.
That may seem overwhelming at first, but we’ve narrowed the process down to 3 easy steps that will enable you to learn your audience inside and out in order to achieve startup success.
Step 1: Market Research
Market research may seem mundane and basic to some, but it will truly lay the foundation for building an MVP for your startup. Your ultimate goal is to learn as many details about your target consumer as possible prior to building an MVP for them.
In order to gain a comprehensive picture of your consumer, we suggest you gather both qualitative and quantitative information from measures such as surveys and interviews. We also now have a brilliant tool at our disposal for this process: social media. Utilise social listening to find profiles of your target consumer and see what brands they are (or aren’t) following and how they are interacting with them.
Even after building your startup's MVP, never stop gathering this information. Just as markets evolve, your consumers’ preferences will as well, making consistent market research necessary for your startup’s growth.
Step 2: Consumer Personas
A consumer persona is essentially a profile for your target consumer, though containing detailed information that is supported by your market research. This persona should continue to evolve as you grow your consumer base.
A trick that we like to use when creating these consumer personas is to give them each a name, personality traits, and even add in a picture of what this individual would look like. You should also include their pain points, their motivation behind using your product, and what problems it solves for them.
You may eventually have multiple personas for the different types of consumers you are targeting; these defining features will help you to differentiate them. However, bear in mind that you will need to establish different marketing efforts for each of these different personas.
Step 3: Influencers
Once you have conducted your initial market research and created your consumer personas, identify a few individuals who influence your target market.
No, we don’t necessarily mean officially verified social media influencers, but any individual who has become a natural leader among your target audience and engages with them regularly. These are the individuals who can directly influence your target audience’s purchase decisions.
Now that you’ve identified them, you can begin to contact and interact with them. Talk to them about their interests and what is important to them - essentially, conduct a miniature version of market research about them. Introduce them to your product, explain why you have chosen to create it, and lay out the problems it will fill for your target audience. Lastly, when asking them to promote your product, don’t shy away from their expectations from you and your brand as compensation.
Once you’ve completed these 3 steps, you’ve truly gained an understanding of your target consumer. You’ve identified who they are, tapped into their motivations and desires, and connected with individuals who have direct influence over them. You’re now in a place to build your startup's MVP and design marketing campaigns that will speak to them directly.
If you would like some assistance with narrowing the resulting information about your target consumer down and building your startup's MVP, grab a spot in our Founders No-Code Bootcamp. Not only will you have the opportunity to work with our startup experts, but you’ll be granted access to our exclusive Founders Slack channel to collaborate with other non-technical founders, creatives, and entrepreneurs.
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