How can you accurately identify your core target audience?

Truly understanding your core target audience is essential because it is at the very heart of your marketing strategy. 

Having an overview of your buyers’ profiles, your website traffic, or regularly tracking interactions on your social networks gives you a general idea of your audience. However, it’s a structured and organised approach that will help you define it precisely. 

What is the core target audience?

The core target refers to the identification of a highly specific audience profile. For example, women aged 25 to 35, living in cities, with high purchasing power.

Moreover, there are different types of audiences: primary, secondary, and tertiary. 

What is the difference between a primary, secondary, and tertiary target? 

Your primary target is the audience for whom your product or service is designed. They include consumers who meet criteria likely to turn them into buyers.The secondary target, meanwhile, refers to people who can influence other consumers thanks to their social status or reputation (e.g. influencers).Finally, the tertiary target comprises people with communication abilities between the brand and the primary target. This helps encourage them to make a purchase.

The core target audience: a complement to your overall target

Defining your core target does not mean you have to neglect your broader audience. This might be appropriate if your positioning is ultra-luxury, but not if you operate in themass market. 

The core target is the group thatis the focus of specific marketing actions, such as: 

• SEA campaigns (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, etc.)
• A registration pop-up for your newsletter
• A landing page

These actions complement your overall online marketing strategy. 

How do you define your core target audience?

Clarify your offer

Defining your offer allows you tobetter understand your market position, as well asidentify the actions and strategies to implement.

TheSWOT tool is an effective method to help you define your offer by analysing market factors that may represent opportunities or threats (for instance, in the cosmetics market, the growth of men’s skincare can be an opportunity, while high competition may represent a threat).

It also gives you a clearer picture of your internal strengths and weaknesses to determine the best targeting approach for your e-commerce.

Competitor analysis is also an excellent way to examine your sector and emerging trends.

Identify your audience’s needs

You need to make sure you meet your audience’s needs, so it’s essential to identify them. 

Analysing your offer and competitors helps pinpoint your audience’s needs, butcreating a personacan be just as effective. 

In addition, it’s crucial to carry out a market study, develop personas and conduct customer surveys. 

A customer survey provides direct contact with your audience, allowing you to ask questions that reveal their needs and expectations. 

A persona is like a typical CV for a profile in your core target audience. It should be tailored to your industry and branding. Of course, if you have several different customer profiles, you can create several personas.

A persona should include various details: 

• Family, financial and work situation
• Values (e.g. eco-conscious, member of a charity, etc.)
• Needs
• Purchase motivations (e.g. seeking a new experience, buying at low prices, choosing organic products, etc.)
• Habits (e.g. regular fitness, only using public transport, etc.)
• Location
• Interests
• Personality (e.g. enjoys family time, self-care, going to the gym, etc.)

By following these steps, you’ll be able to answer a whole host of key questions. You’ll gain insight into who is likely to use your product or service, the characteristics of these consumers, the prices they’re willing to pay, and much more.

Examples of core target audiences

Luxury perfume brand: the core target could be women aged 30 to 40, with high purchasing power, stylish and seeking purpose. 

Online shop for trendy accessories for dogs and cats: here, the core target is dog and/or cat owners with a passion for fashion and active on social media. This target group can include both men and women aged 25 to 35 with high purchasing power and who regularly shop online. 

French-made baby clothing boutique: unsurprisingly, these are parents of children aged 0 to 2, who have a particular interest in responsible consumption. The core target here could be men and women aged 30 to 45, with higher income and eco-friendly habits. 

Online shop selling organic laundry detergent: the target can be women and men aged 30 to 45, with high purchasing power. They are usually environmentally conscious and experienced online shoppers. 

What next? What should you do once you have identified your core target audience?

Once you fully understand your core target’s needs and expectations, you need to choose the right communication channels, as well ascraft impactful messages for this audience. 

When it comes to choosing your communication channels, look for those withthe audience that best matches your core target andanalyse the KPIsto discover the times whenthis audience is most likely to open your messages.

You can also runA/B Testswith different messages, colours, or the layout of your elements. Depending on the KPIs, you’ll then be able toidentify the best-performing versionto reach your core target audience. 

Conclusion

Identifying your core target audience is crucial to ensurea well-designed marketing strategy. 

Various approaches are available to help you analyse your core target’s needs and expectations, includinga market study, customer survey, and one or more personas.

Finally, this will allow you toadapt all your actionsto the information you have gathered.

Now it’s your turn!