The deep understanding of your target audience is the linchpin of success. For entrepreneurs and small business owners, this isn’t just a marketing strategy; it’s the heartbeat of your brand’s connection with its audience. 90% of the job is knowing your target audience and how they feel about everything related to your product. The other 10% is just creating product and putting it out there. This 90/10 rule of marketing asserts that 90% of your success hinges on intimately understanding your audience, while the remaining 10% focuses on product creation and distribution. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into how you can unlock loyalty and elevate your brand by gaining a nuanced understanding of the people you aim to reach.
Table of Contents
1. Essence of Understand a Target Audience
At the core of any successful video marketing or video production effort lies the target audience – the group of people most likely to respond to your content, product, or service. Seth Godin, the famous marketing expert, elaborates on the minimum viable audience, which he defines as, “the smallest group that could possibly sustain you in your work.” This can tie in with Kevin Kelly’s iconic strategy, that 1000 true fans are enough to support you and your work in the world.
Understanding this specific group of people goes beyond superficial demographics. It’s about grasping their motivations, challenges, preferences, and behaviors. This intimate understanding forms the foundation upon which successful video ads, social media content, and marketing campaigns are built. This deeper understanding guides the tone, style, message, and even the social platforms used to circulate your video content.
2. Marketing Strategy in Audience Analysis
To truly understand your audience, it’s essential to delve into advanced marketing strategies that provide a deeper insight into consumer behavior. Concepts such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be instrumental in understanding what drives your audience at different levels. In a paper titled, “A Theory of Human Motivation” Maslow categorized human needs into five levels: physiological, safety, belonging and love, social need, esteem, self-actualization, and transcendence. According to his theory, individuals must satisfy each stage in order before feeling motivation to advance to the next level.
90% of the job is knowing your target audience and how they feel about everything related to your product. The other 10% is just creating product and putting it out there.
Another helpful concept is the Buyer’s Journey, which maps out the process that potential customers go through before making a purchase decision. This is often supported with the “online sales funnel” in an internet marketing strategy. By understanding where your audience lies on this journey, you can tailor your video content to meet them at the right moment with the right message and call-to-action (CTA). For example, a video advertisement targeting customers at the “awareness” stage should focus on introducing your brand and values, while content targeting the “decision” stage should showcase your product’s unique features and benefits, nudging the audience towards making a purchase.
3. Successfully Understanding Audiences: Real-World Examples
Learning from successful examples is invaluable. Take, for instance, Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign. Dove understood that their target audience, women worldwide, craved a more authentic representation of beauty. By focusing on this insight, Dove created a series of video ads that resonated deeply, fostering a strong emotional connection and loyalty. This campaign not only boosted sales but also positioned Dove as a brand that genuinely understood and cared about its audience.
Another example is the “Share a Coke” campaign by Coca-Cola. By simply adding popular names to their bottles and creating ads that depicted diverse people enjoying their product, Coca-Cola made their product personally relevant to a wide audience. This marketing campaign showed an intimate understanding of the desire for personalization among consumers, leading to increased customer engagement and brand loyalty.
4. Gaining Deep Audience Insight
Understanding your audience intimately requires a blend of research and empathy. Start with data analytics to gather empirical insights. Tools like Google Trends can reveal what topics are currently capturing your audience’s interest. Try looking beyond the numbers to understand the ‘why’ behind the trends. The goal is to know what your audience is talking about, their pain points, and their aspirations.
Next, focus on building customer personas by defining a target audience. These detailed representations of different segments of your target audience can guide not only what kind of video content you produce but also how you edit a video and present it. For example, a persona based on a tech-savvy young adult might lead to creating snappy, visually rich video content, while a persona of a middle-aged professional might prefer more detailed, informative video presentations.
5. Evolve With Time Without Losing Essence
The key to maintaining an intimate connection with your audience is to evolve with them. As their preferences and behaviors change, so should your video content. However, it’s crucial to maintain the essence of your brand. For instance, if your brand is known for humor, keep this element consistent even as you adapt your content to new trends or platforms.
One way to achieve this is by regularly revisiting and updating your customer understanding. Pay attention to feedback, both direct (such as comments or surveys) and indirect (like engagement metrics on videos). Use these insights to fine-tune future content and also the video editing style in your marketing campaign strategies.
6. Audience Habits, Trends, and Emotional Triggers
To intimately understand your audience, it’s essential to grasp their habits, trends, and the emotional triggers that drive their responses. This understanding is pivotal in crafting compelling storytelling in your video content.
Audience Habits and Trends
Today’s consumers are increasingly leaning towards authentic, value-driven content. They prefer brands that tell stories and don’t just sell products. This shift is evident in the rise of documentary-style ads and behind-the-scenes content that humanizes brands. Additionally, the surge in mobile video consumption has led to shorter attention spans, necessitating concise, engaging content that delivers value quickly.
Monitor these trends closely to keep ahead. Tools like Google Trends can provide invaluable insights into the evolving interests and preferences of your target audience. For example, a rising interest in sustainability can guide you to create content that highlights your brand’s eco-friendly initiatives.
Emotional Triggers in Storytelling
Emotional triggers such as joy, surprise, sadness, or trust can significantly impact how your audience interacts with your content. For instance, humor can be a powerful tool to create a memorable and shareable experience, while evoking empathy can help forge a deeper connection with your audience.
Incorporating these emotional elements into your video storytelling requires a nuanced understanding of your audience’s values and cultural context. For instance, video ads tapping into a sense of community and belonging might resonate well with an audience that values social connections.
7. Continuously Learning and Adapting
The landscape of audience preferences is not static; it’s a constantly evolving puzzle that demands continuous learning and adaptation. Regularly engaging with your audience through surveys, social media interactions, and feedback mechanisms can provide fresh insights into their changing needs and preferences.
If analytics indicate a shift in your audience demographics, it may be time to revisit your content strategy. Perhaps your video ads need to be more mobile-friendly, or your storytelling approach needs tweaking to align with the interests of a younger audience.
8. Build Lasting Connections
In conclusion, understanding your target audience intimately is not just about data and demographics; it’s about connecting on a human level. It’s about understanding their dreams, fears, aspirations, and what makes them tick. This deep understanding is what will enable you to create video content that not only captures attention but also fosters loyalty and trust.
Remember, the most successful video marketing strategies are those that are flexible and responsive to audience needs while staying true to the brand’s core values. As you venture forth in your journey of intimately understanding your audience, keep in mind that every piece of video content is an opportunity to deepen this understanding and strengthen the bond with your audience.
Feel free to reach out to Asheville Video Production with any questions about targeted advertising. Here’s some samples of our video ads from marketing campaigns:
