So, you’ve decided to wade into the murky waters of the business world. As you’ve slowly set yourself up for providing your product or service, you’ve been bombarded with a number of words & acronyms that have confused you, with one of the more confusing being the idea of audience definition.
On the surface, the idea of audience definition doesn’t seem like such a difficult term to breakdown. In essence, you, the business owner, are taking steps to defining your audience, right? Well, as your English teacher would say, you can’t define a term by using the actual term, and as such, audience definition is a bigger deal than one would think.
If you’re taking your inaugural plunge into the business world, and you’re trying to make sure you don’t make too many mistakes at first, it might be a good idea to have a working guide for what audience definition is & could mean for you.
Here is a basic look at audience definition for the uninitiated:
Understand Who You’re Trying to Reach – You may start out thinking that you want to reach everyone with your product or service, but unless you are able to really peg down who it is that would benefit most from your business’s offerings, you’re not really reaching anyone & wasting resources (i.e., time & money).
You Need to Go Beyond the “Shot-gun” Approach – Narrowing your scope in trying to find the right audience for your product or service is vital toward your success. You need to try to create a profile of the ideal customer. Said profile can then guide you in terms of how to market your business.
Understand the Purpose of Your Product or Service – Though a bit “meta”, one of the key point of basic audience definition has to do with you actually understanding what the purpose of your product or service is in the first place. What are you doing/making? What problems is it solving? What service is it providing? If you can’t fully understand why your business exists & why that’s important in both the short- & long-term, you’re in some real trouble.
Understand Tone & Content When Making Connections – Connecting with your audience mean building relationships. You’re meeting someone somewhere that makes sense to them in a way that they appreciate. Think about a regular relationship with a significant other. If one person has a particular interest, the other tries to get into the same things.
Dynamic Over Static – Finally, always aim to be a dynamic business owner rather than a static one. The last thing you want to do is be caught staying in one place for the wrong length of time. As time goes on, the business environment will change, and you want to be sure that your ability to define your audience can adapt to the new climate.
Audience definition, as with most things in the business world, has many layers. While all of them might not be readily visible at the start, it’s important to be able to adapt to the changes that effective audience definition can bring to your business.