Know Your Target Audience

Congrats! You’ve decided on the product or service you would like to promote! You are finding your niche. 

One of your steps in the process should be defining your target audience.  Defining your target audience is vital if you want to dabble in affiliate marketing.  To be an affiliate for products that fit within your niche, you must understand your target audience.  

The first mistake beginners make is thinking they can market to everyone. They “cast their net too wide”. Unfortunately, you will be limiting yourself. How is that possible? Isn’t it better to promote to everyone? No. Your product or service will become washed out with all the other products or services on the market.

If you reach those that are only interested in your product you will have better success. You will be able to focus your attention and your money on advertising to those who will benefit from what you have to offer. 

This means you need to determine your “target audience”.  The target audience will be a specific group of people who would be interested in your product or service specifically.

Steps to Determining Your Audience

Step 1 – Defining Your Target Audience

Narrow down your target audience or your niche. 

If you are a personal trainer, you don’t want to target the whole population.  What do you specialize in? Do you focus on weight loss or strength training? Do you teach aerobic classes or boot camps? It is best to get specific. If you focus on strength training, your audience will be different than those who focus on weight loss. You will probably want to focus on mostly men from 18-45 who use barbells at their local gym. You can begin doing your research on that group. 

Look for common characteristics and interests of your audience. What other things do they do to occupy their time?

It is essential to take an in-depth look at your competition. Who are your competitors targeting? What questions, issues, or problems are they trying to answer for their customers. You can focus on something different. Find something they have overlooked and address the issue.

Write out each feature of what you have to offer. What are the benefits it provides? For example, you can help men increase their strength, thus providing them with a healthier way of life. Now look for those within your target audience who could benefit from what you have to offer.  

Choose specific demographics to target like these: 

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Income level
• Education level
• Marital or family status
• Occupation

Choose two primary indicators and then 1 – 3 secondary indicators. For example, If you are a strength trainer, you would most likely choose males from 18-45. Your main indicators are gender and age. Maybe you will want to look at their income level or where they live as well.

Psychographics is also essential to analyze.  You can determine it from the media they use:

• Personality
• Attitudes
• Values
• Interests/Hobbies
• Lifestyle
• Behavior

How will your product or service fit into your target’s life? How and when will it be used? What is it about your product or service that is most appealing?

Step 2 – Find Your Target Audience

When you have determined who your target audience is, you can decide which media your audience turns to get information. 

You can find your target audience in FaceBook groups. You can look at forums, like Reddit. If you can see where they are looking for information, you can then understand what problems and issues they may be having. We encourage you to questions and provide answers.

Gauge how you are doing. Are you targeting enough people that fit within your niche? Will your target benefit from your product or service? Do you understand what motivates your audience to make decisions? Can your target audience afford it? Can you easily reach them?

Look online for research others have done about your target audience. Search for articles and content that discusses the issues of your target market. Analyze their feedback and communication.

Test your product or service among your audience without spending a lot of money. Provide an opportunity for your audience to trial your product or service. Offer a free mini-seminar, a copy of your newsletter, or a free personal training session.

Step 3 – Building Your Website

After a target audience is found and chosen, you’re at a point where you should start building your website in a manner that would be pleasing to your audience. You’ll want to catch the attention of them immediately.

Design your website in a way that makes your purpose clear.  

Make it easy for people to tell that they are in the right place. Make the website appealing. If your website does not appeal to the customer, likely, they will quickly leave the site before even reading the information.

Make your website easy to navigate. Make it easy for your customers to find what they need or want.  Use Title Cards and other “Road Markers” to provide ease of use. If it is too difficult to find the information they are looking for, customers will likely leave.

Build your website using exciting themes.  Nobody likes a boring black and white website. Don’t make it monotone, use inviting styles and colors that make your website fun to use.  

Take a look at our “Resources” page under Themes.  There are many options out there.

Wrapping Things Up

Remember that finding a target audience is a crucial step in the success of your website and for an affiliate marketer.  Your target audience is the foundation of your website and sales. The last thing you want to do is skip a vital step early on, and pay for it later down the road.

Narrow down your audience using the steps above and concentrate on their needs and wants. Focus on solving their problems or pains.  Create an engaging and appealing website where your audience will want to land.  You will get to your goal sooner rather than later!

How have you been successful in finding your target audience? Has it helped in your affiliate marketing journey? Let us know.  We would love to hear from you!

Want to learn more, check out another article on  Understand Your User Experience. This