UNDERSTANDING THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

 

Defining Audiences as “a targeTarget audience refers to the specific group of consumers most likely to want our product or service, and therefore, the group of people who should see our ad campaigns.

Target audience may be dictated by age, gender, income, location, interests or a myriad of other factors. Target audiences center around a specific group or  segment of people

A target audience is a group of consumers within a predefined target market that has been identified as the best recipients for a particular marketing message.

Examples of a Target Audience

 When thinking about who might be in our audience, we must consider who are the people who identify with our brand.

They may be men, women, teenagers, or children.  For example, if need  running shoes advertisement better to publish through sports magazines. 

 

 

One way to find out is to monitor who follows, likes, shares, and comments on our posts on social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

If someone is willing to engage with our product, then chances are they are our target.

A brand might also leverage business segmentation, taking into consideration things like industry, company size, or annual revenue.

Through market segmentation, brands get more specific about their target market. They can focus on a small group of customers who will be most likely to benefit from and enjoy their products.

For example, a brand that sells day planners may decide to focus on a smaller, specific target market. Instead of marketing to the masses, they may focus solely on selling planners to female business owners. Or they could choose to exclusively market to high school teachers. Both examples are smaller, more specific segments of the day planner’s potential market.

 

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF TARGET AUDIENCES?

AUDIENCE AS A PRODUCT AND AUDIENCE AS A CONSUMER.

A target audience is the group or segment within that target market that is being served advertisements. This makes the target audience a more specific subset of a target market.

A target audience is the person or group of people a piece of writing is intended to reach. In other words, it is important for a writer to know who will be reading his or her writing. This audience is the person or group of people the writer is aiming for or trying to reach. When a writer knows the target audience, he or she will shape both the purpose and tone of the writing to match the audience's needs and, sometimes, expectations.

 In a business organization when a manufacturer produces a good or a service (product) for consumers who are likely to buy it, the audience means consumer who is a potential buyer. So, in this case audience is the consumer.

 Now consider the case of a TV channel, here the TV channel produces the audiences by using its programmes for the advertisers. The advertisers buy the audiences of the TV channel and the channel gets the revenue. The TV channel must satisfy its consumers i.e. the advertisers in this case.

 DEMOGRAPHICs: Demographics such as a film intended to appeal to a particular age group.

LOCATIONS: Locations such as information about a festival aimed at residents of a Tamilnadu

PURCHASE INTENTION: Define groups of people who are looking for a specific product, such as a new entertainment system or car.

NEEDS: Information that targets a set of needs such as a video channel that helps people with common do-it-yourself home improvement projects.

ATITUDES & OPINION: Target audiences based on how people feel about a particular topic. For example, a charity may seek communication channels that reach people who are concerned about an environmental problem.

PERSONALITY: Personality traits such as a movie for people with a certain sense of humor.

LIFESTYLE: A lifestyle is how people spend their time. For example, an audio book collection that targets people who have a long commute and would like to use the time to improve knowledge and skills.

FANS: Communications aimed at fans of a media or entertainment series.

Interest

SEPARATE GROUPS OUT BASED ON THEIR VARIOUS INTERESTS, including hobbies and entertainment preferences. This can help you make data-driven, highly personalized messaging that allows you to connect with your audience in meaningful ways that can help drive brand loyalty.

SUBCULTURES: Subcultures refer to groups of people who share a common experience, such as music genres or entertainment fandoms. By understanding some of your target audience’s motivations, you can better understand who you’re trying to connect with.

Subcultures are spontaneously formed groups that identify with a shared experience such as a music scene. In many cases, media and entertainment is targeted to a subculture.

SUPER CULTURES: Super cultures are large groups that share elements of culture that span multiple nations such as classical music fans or sailing enthusiasts.

 THE SUBSCRIBERS ARE THE AUDIENCE: Now consider an OTT platform (Netflix, Amazon prime etc.). It produces or distributes programming for the subscribers. The subscribers are the audience who watch these programmes and the OTT generates revenue. Schramm in his model of mass communication refers to mass audience as a composite of many receivers involved in the process of decoding, interpreting and encoding.

 

ROLE OF TARGET AUDIENCE

The Decision Maker: This is the person who ultimately makes the purchase decision. 

The Supporter: The supporter may will have a  heavy influence on whether or not an item gets bought. For example, a child may not directly make a purchase, but if they want something for Deepawali, they influence that decision. This is why it is important to develop messaging that speaks to consumers in both of these roles.