PART 2 - Target Audience – Identification and Understanding

Introduction

This is Part 2 of a 9 part series on the planning and steps required to build a successful Sponsored Search Engine Marketing Campaign. In Part 1, we explored the power of a clear, measurable PPC campaign goal. We started by looking closely at the main reason you are contemplating a PPC campaign (your goal) and then by identifying the features and benefits of your company’s products/services, as well as the ‘big picture’ intangible you are marketing.

In Part 2, we will identify and begin to understand who your target market is and what your target market wants from your products/services.

Identifying Your Target Market

It is very tempting for some marketers to say that their target market is “everyone.” It isn’t, and if you market as if everyone will buy your product, it is unlikely that your marketing message will be as successful as it could be. Correctly identifying your target market is one of the most important steps you will take towards Sponsored Search Success.

Obviously, this one article cannot cover identifying and understanding target markets in full, but it can help you to begin the process, and to appreciate the identification of your target market as an essential element of your Sponsored Search success.

““Correctly identifying your target market is one of the most important steps you will take towards Sponsored Search success.”

If your company does not currently have a formalized target market identified, an excellent method of identifying your target market and their wants is to ask for information directly from your existing customers. If that is not an immediate possibility you can start by looking at the demographics of your current ‘average’ customer. Unless you are trying to target a whole new customer base, then your online target market is your current customer.

If you do not deal directly with your customers, take the time to talk to those in your organization who do. Dig deep, and think hard – it is amazing just how much your Sales people will know about your ‘average’ customer. Here is a simple list of possible demographic information to get you started:

• Country:
  --Urban or Rural:

• Gender:

• Age:

• Marital Status:

• Number of Children:
  --Age of Children:

• Education:

• Occupation/Profession:

• Hours worked per week:

• Estimated Annual Household Income:

Much of this information may have to be the ‘best guess’ of your Sales people, but it will still be a valuable starting point. Include relevant specifics to your company. For instance, if you are a bricks and mortar store and your customers must visit your store to purchase your products/services, then your target will have to be within a specific geographical location. It is possible that you may have two types of target customers. For instance, if yours is a product for girls aged 7-9 then you will want to target both the girls and their parents (usually the Mother). However, if you feel that you have more than two types of targets, you will have to verify that with your actual sales records and dig a little deeper to make certain. Splitting your marketing efforts among secondary and tertiary targets will diminish the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

If you are selling Business to Business there may be additional information you will require:

• Type of Company target works for (manufacturing, retail, service sector, etc)
  --Size of Company
  --Size of Department

• Position with Company
  --Influence on Corporate Purchases

• Corporate budget directly responsible for

• Will the customer be using the product directly?
  --If not, will they be supervising its use?

• What training / education is needed to use the product/service?

• What training / education is needed to purchase the product/service?

Understanding Your Target Market

Once you have a firm understanding of who your target market is, you will need to look at the features and benefits of your products/services (identified in Part 1 of this series) through the eyes of your target. This is how you will begin to understand what your target market wants from your products/services and what will attract them to your business.

For example if your company product is:
software design tools for the development of gaming software and hardware integration
and you have identified your target market as:
• single men between the ages of 20 and 25, with a
• degree in computer sciences,
• working in a small software company as software developers

Take a moment to put yourself into the position of the above target – What are you looking for in a software design tool? What features do you want to see? What benefits?

If your company product is:
a full-service, day spa in Chicago
and you have identified your target market as:
• professional women between the ages of 40 and 55, with
• annual household incomes in excess of $150,000, and
• living in the Chicago area

Put yourself in this target’s mind. What are you looking for in a day spa? What features and benefits do you want to find?

Focus

Now, put yourself into the mind of the target market you have identified for your company. Write down their wants and needs from your product/services. Then take a look at what you identified in Part 1 as the ‘big picture’ intangible of your products/services – is it consistent with the wants of your target customer? Are the features and benefits identified in Part 1 consistent with what your target market wants? If not, you may want to revisit your initial analysis of your products/services and you may also want to ensure you have correctly identified your target market.

As you can see, the better you know your products and customers, the better you understand what your target market wants from your company. You will never be finished identifying your target and their wants. The more in tune you are with your customer, the better equipped you will be to market to them. As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to get to know your target market is to ask them directly – take every reasonable opportunity you can to get feed back from your customers and potential customers. In addition, there are many online and offline resources you can use to obtain information about your target market - including professional associations, research services and articles.

Summary

We have now identified your main Sponsored Search Engine Marketing Campaign goal, the features and benefits of your product/services, and your target market. As a result of your research, you have gathered some of the information that will assist you in developing your initial PPC/Sponsored campaign objective into a clear, measurable goal. We have also identified some of the tools and information you will need to make your goal achievable.

Before we can create a truly clear and measurable PPC/Sponsored campaign goal, there are two more essential areas of data that we need to identify and analyze: your online Sponsored Search Engine Competition, and your company’s unique selling feature. Both these areas will be covered in Part 3 of this series

**PART 1 - Campaign Goal Building, Focus and Product Identification
**PART 2 - Target Audience – Identification and Understanding
**PART 3 - Online Competition & Your Unique Selling Feature
**PART 4 - Setting Campaign Goals & Success Metrics
**PART 5 - ‘Best’ Keywords for Your Campaign
**PART 6 - Campaign Strategy
**PART 7 - Successful Landing Pages
**PART 8 - Successful Sponsored/PPC Ad Creation
**PART 9 - Campaign Management - Monitoring Your Success