It is the case more often than not, that a client comes to us and does not understand how important it is for their designs to target a specific group of people. We are asked to make changes to appeal to the client, with no consideration of how those changes will affect the design’s ability to carry out its mission, which most of the time is: To effectively bring in new business.
Of course, there are some who understand their target audience inside and out and ask for changes based on the knowledge of their target audience’s preferences and needs. The target audience of this article is obviously not those people.
More often than not, the provider of a product or service is NOT part of their own target audience. This means that research must be done to determine the target audience’s needs and desires. It also means that a design and its elements may not particularly appeal to the client.
This is not to say that the designs for the business should not reflect the owner. But it should, above all else, be appealing to its target audience and solve their problems.
What is a Target Audience, anyway?
Every bit of marketing that your company does must be focused toward a specific set of people, or it will be unsuccessful. Your target audience is comprised of the people who will be most likely to purchase your product or service.
When asked about the importance of a Target Audience, Angela Rohner (@rohner, owner of thebestdesigns.com) had this to say:
I have been a professional web designer since 1999, and I also run a CSS/Flash Gallery that I launched in 2001. Throughout the years of working for different firms on many different types of projects and running some of my own websites, I learned that one of the most crucial parts of an effective website is to understand your audience and to keep learning about your audience. It’s important that you keep up with the needs of your visitors and strive to make your website the best it can be. The user interface and content of your website should be tailored to best fit their needs.
If you start a business or a new website or service, it is usually started because you see a need for it. Somewhere in the world, there are people that may need or want your service or product. You need to find out who these people are and why they want to use your product or service. Are they an older or younger audience – or an even mix of the two? What part of the world are you targeting? Only a certain area or all over the world? What are they interested in? What types of industries do they work in? As time goes on, you will start to learn more about your audience – through polls on your website or feedback from your visitors – so that you can keep your website on track. You should always keep an open mind to change and listen to their feedback.
When I started TheBestDesigns.com, it was important to have smaller thumbnails of featured websites so that load times were a little faster and so that visitors could see more websites on a page at once. Since then, times have changed. Many visitors seem to like the larger thumbnails now. A couple of years ago, I added category tags so that my visitors could browse through websites based on their design style or design elements used. In recent months, I have been taking notes about some things that I am going to change and enhance during my next revamp. I also started a Twitter account for the site recently and have enjoyed interacting with my visitors. I have been listening to my visitors because I know how important they are, and I appreciate their feedback.
So how does one determine their Target Audience?
For some it may be simple: If you sell fishing lures, your target audience would be people who like to fish. However, this isn’t always the case, and for some, pinning down their target audience may be a difficult task. There is also something to be said for finding a niche. Maybe you sell fishing lures, but maybe there is something very special about these lures. For example, perhaps they only attract a certain type of fish. Then you will only want to target people who fish in a specific area that has that specific type of fish.
1. Make a list of attributes and benefits of your product or service. List those who would benefit most from it and from there make a list of attributes of those people.
- Where do they live?
- How old are they?
- What gender are they?
- What do they do for a living?
- What is their income level?
- What is their education level?
- What is their computer usage level? How much do they use the internet?
- Are they married?
- Do they have kids?
2. Do your research. Talk to people who fall within the parameters of your presumed target audience and find out what their needs are, and if your product or service fits with them or not.
3. Ask around. Talk to friends and family to find out who they think would be a good fit for your product or service. Talk to others online, on Twitter or on discussion boards. Many times there are people willing and eager to help.
I know who they are – now what?
When you have determined your target audience, get to know them. Find out how your product or service most benefits your target audience and make a note to focus on those benefits.
You also need to understand the size of your audience. A marketing plan for a small group of people is much different than that of a large group of people.
Do research to find out what is appealing to them and how to leverage your marketing and design to appeal to them.
Let’s say you want to create a community website like myspace, only it is geared toward teenage girls – allowing them a place to collect their thoughts and share with their girlfriends without the worry of having their teenage counterparts seeing what they are talking about.
Some may feel that the best color for this website would be pink. But would it? Many girls get irritated at the fact that the color pink is always instantly assumed as a girl’s color, and, especially at this age, teenagers are looking for some independence. This may not be the color that appeals to the most teenage girls. Ask around in that age range and find out what colors are liked and disliked. Something like this may change every few years. Can you make your identity something that will be able to easily evolve with it?
Now that you know who your target audience is and understand them a little better, you are one step closer to an effective marketing and design campaign. Once you have a better idea of your target audience, you will be able to understand why your designer may have designed something a certain way.
You should also include information about your target audience in Requests for Proposals to potential designers to aid them in crafting a better design and giving you a more accurate price. A good designer will do their research, but any information that you can provide makes their job easier, and also what they provide more effective for your business.
Written by Sarah Camp
Sarah's passion for design built Camp Creative Group. Educated in design, she has applied and evolved her knowledge for 10+ years. You can chat with her on twitter or view more posts that she has written.
