1. Market research

Marketing research is a very broad topic, it can be done using various tools and it can be very complex or very simple, depending on what is your marketing goal, budget, product, or service.
Since we are not talking about Marketing research for a multi-millionaire company, let’s simplify this topic for any small to the average business.

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing data about a target market. It’s essential for marketers to conduct market research to understand their audience’s needs, behaviors, preferences, and pain points. To conduct market research you can use surveys, social media listening tools, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Surveys can be conducted online, in person, or through phone interviews to gather quantitative data about your target audience. Social media listening tools can help you gather insights about your audience’s sentiments, interests, and behaviors online. Focus groups and in-depth interviews can provide qualitative data and deeper insights into your target audience’s thoughts and feelings about your product or service. By conducting extensive market research, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your target audience and create campaigns that resonate with them.

The simplest way to do marketing research is to start gathering all the information that you can find about your competitors. Here is what I usually do:

• Make a list of your competitors (at least 10 different companies)
• Check their websites, their landing pages, and their product and service descriptions.
• Check their social media platforms, and see what kind of language they use for their content, and what kind of creatives do they use.
• Check their social proof – see who is following, liking, and commenting on any social media content. Check what kind of questions or reviews they have.

All of these can give you a pretty good idea about audience reaction or even what mistakes you can avoid with your marketing strategy.

2. Develop detailed buyer personas

A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. It includes information on their demographics, behavior, preferences, and pain points. Creating detailed buyer personas can help you understand your audience’s needs and create targeted campaigns that speak directly to their specific pain points. By using buyer personas, you can also guide your product development and customer service strategies. When creating buyer personas, it’s important to use data from your market research to ensure that they are based on real insights rather than assumptions.

Here are some questions that you may use to create a buyer persona:

• Location
• Gender
• Age
• Relationship or family status
• Where do they work
• What do they do in their free time
• What kind of products/services do they use already

3. Analyze customer data

Analyzing customer data is essential for understanding your audience’s behaviors and preferences. This can include data on purchase history, website analytics, and social media engagement. By analyzing this data, you can identify patterns and trends that can inform future campaigns.

For example, you may find that your target audience is more likely to engage with your brand on social media than through email marketing. By using customer data to inform your campaigns, you can create content and messaging that is tailored to your audience’s interests.

This could work only if you’ve been running advertising already, if not, you simply need to test it out. Once you’ve collected the audience analyze them and see how to improve your performance by excluding the factors that do not work, like increasing or decreasing the age group, excluding specific locations,s and so on.

There is an important factor, however, you need to be able to track all of your advertising across each platform in order to collect the data and be able to analyze it.

4. Identify psychographics

While demographics are important, understanding your target audience’s psychographics can help you create messaging that resonates with them on a deeper level. Psychographics include personality traits, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. By understanding your audience’s psychographics, you can create campaigns that appeal to their emotions and values. For example, if your audience values sustainability, you can create campaigns that highlight your brand’s eco-friendly practices. You can gather psychographic data through surveys and quizzes or by analyzing social media behavior and engagement.

5. Continuously refine your targeting

Don’t assume that your initial targeting will be perfect. Instead, refining your targeting is essential for optimizing your campaigns for engagement and conversions. Use A/B testing to see what works best and make changes as needed. While doing A/B testing, keep in mind that your creative and copy should be absolutely the same, the only thing that changes is your targeting audience.

Keep track of your results and use this information to inform future campaigns. You can also use retargeting ads to reach people who have already shown interest in your brand. Retargeting is actually a huge topic, and everyone who is running advertising campaigns should be familiar with it. You can check it out in this article.

By continuously refining your targeting, you can ensure that your campaigns are always optimized for maximum impact.

By following these expert tips, you’ll not only gain a deeper understanding of your target audience but also be able to create campaigns that resonate with them on a personal level. Remember, a well-defined target audience is the foundation of any successful marketing campaign

If you are still not sure where to start or have a few questions about your targeting, let’s schedule a quick call with me.

A little bit about me, my name is Rita, I am a Digital Marketing expert with 12 years of experience, think of me as your digital tour guide.