Wednesday 13 May 2015

Developing Your Target Audience for a Direct Marketing Automation Platform

There are expected benefits when implementing a direct marketing automation platform.  One of the key benefits is to increase conversion rates.  To convert visitors to customers requires a solid foundation built around your target audience.

What is a Target Audience?

Marketing’s key focus is communicating a message to a specified group.  For most businesses this group is the target audience.  The target audience can consist of individuals or other businesses depending on the company’s marketing plan.  In any case, there are certain tasks to accomplish in order to create an effective target audience profile.

Steps to Develop Your Target Audience

Some of the key steps to create a target audience profile include:

Review your existing customers – rank your existing customers based on your preferences and note the common traits of your best customers
Examine the competition – take a look at your competitors and the types of customers that frequent their web sites and storefronts. While examining consider the option of catering to a different clientele or differentiating your business as “faster”, “better quality”, “greater value” or other distinguishing characteristics to attract your preferred customers
Check social media – there are numerous sites on social media where you can find groups or audiences that could use your company’s products or services.  Note the dominant needs for the audience and determine if your business can meet those needs
Perform a survey or launch a contest – leveraging information from a survey can be invaluable to develop a target audience profile.  Ask questions but also get as much demographic information as possible without intruding too far into personal data

Your target audience profile should include basic demographic information such as location area, income levels, and purchase frequency.  The profile should also include particular needs and common sites to leverage.  When executing your marketing campaign consider using an affiliate microsite platform to boost traffic and reach the right audience. Fyoosion’s direct marketing automation platform can help you achieve your marketing goals.