An attempt to appeal to everyone is a prominent and commonly made mistake in the marketing of a product or a service. The ideal route begins by discovering your specific target audience and appealing only to them.

What is a target audience?

Your target audience consists of different people with shared interests and characteristics, all of which are interested -- or are potentially interested -- in indulging in what you have to offer.

Why is it necessary?

To refine your audience down to a core group permits efficient scaling and more cost-effective marketing. Furthermore, your target audience opens doors for improvement; through this core group, you will receive an accurate analysis of what is working, what isn't working, and what will potentially work. Taking this into consideration will allow you to not only improve the marketing aspect of your company, but the actual product and service as well. On top of that, discovering your target audience aids the process of delivering, proposing, and advertising your product or service. Do not overplay your hand and expect to win; narrow your audience down and play your cards right.

How to find your audience:

Prior to a show, Larry Soffer surveys and researches his audience; this allows him to discover what interests and disinterests his audience and gives him the opportunity to analyse the results after each show. Remember that your audience can be anyone from a single private client to one thousand separate clients.

1) Conceptualize your audience:

Create an outline of your ideal target customer(s) and identify the target demographic. Imagine this customer to be a fictional character and consider different characteristics: age, education level, income, etc. You can "create" different target customers as your target audience will likely consist of different personalities. Now work towards attracting the particular target customer.

2) Research your audience:

Market research -- this is the first thing you should do after you conceptualize your ideal audience. You may believe you've identified your target audience, however an in depth market research might highlight potential issues with your concept of the target audience. Through the market research, you will ensure that the demographics you have selected are indeed the most optimal to move your brand and product forward.

3) Engage with your audience:

Build a relationship with your audience. If you can get to know your clients personally, then great! But chances are that you may have a target audience that is a little too large to know everyone on a first name basis. So, work on understanding them, their needs and desires, and how to serve them successfully. Analyse individual clients as well as your audience as a group. This can be done through surveys, one-on-one conversations, forums, social media, and blog comments. Then, act on what you learn from your audience and use everything you are told to improve the client experience. Moreover, analyse their social media activities: their likes, shares, retweets, and comments. Identify patterns by studying these statistics and over time you will learn a great deal more about your audience.

4) Analyse social trends:

Employ the tactic of social listening: that is, you should explore social media, the web, and local groups to discover what other topics interest your target audience. This provides the opportunity to uncover new trends that may be of interest to your target audience. Implement these trends or use them as an alternate angle to gain a firmer understanding of your audience's needs and wants.

5) Branch out:

Don't just stick with your current target market. Aim to branch out as much as you can. The larger your target market, the more your brand will be recognised. Thus, selling more products and bringing more money in. However, it is important too not let your target market get too broad or you may lose your core audience. Learn about related niches by seeing what captures your audience's (and related audience's) interests. Find the link between audiences in which your product has gauged an interest and the other products they tend to purchase. Find that product and see what you can do to bring that core audience over to your product. With enough facts, research, and statistics, you can walk away with a much larger target audience.

Experiment with your audience:

The same routine grows old fairly quickly. Maintain the same level of quality, but change things up to prevent losing members of your target audience as a result of sheer boredom and continuous repetition.  

At times Larry will experiment with his own crowd during performances. He might throw in a cheeky new effect or jest now and then to test the waters before introducing a major change. This is also an effective way of steering his performance into a new direction without great risk.

 

This is not only a career tip, it can also be implemented into your personal life -- discover how to react to new topics and learn to steer a conversation in a certain direction.

 

Lastly, remember that client feedback is of utmost importance! If it is clear that your audience isn't reacting positively to changes, you should revert back to what worked in the past and try again when the time is right.

 

Without the audience, there is nobody to indulge in your product or service, so consider their comments and criticisms and aim to provide them with something they will enjoy. With time and experience, you will come to know what will work and what won't. Work with your audience. Knowing who your clients are allows you to provide a much greater service.