Target audiences — your posses of raving fans and eager buyers — can be elusive or fickle creatures. In this post, you’ll get some ideas for drawing your target audience in, getting them to engage with you, and enticing them to stick around for a while.
Let’s start with a serious question for you.
In your biz, do you ever feel like:
- You’re screaming into an empty void?
- Everything you’re sending out is getting lost either in the crowd or an empty abyss?
- You’re talking to the ether?
- No one’s at the other end listening, caring, or responding?
- You aren’t connecting with anyone?
OK, it may also feel like you’re having a biz existential crisis. Like, what’s the point if no one’s responding?!
I hear ya.
And I have two things to say.
#1 You Bring Something Unique to the Table
Nobody else has your exact combo of background, experience, training, interests, personality, approach, etc. This singular perspective, your individuality, is your magic. It’s the raison d’être of your biz. And it’s a great fit for *someone* out there.
If you can find them….
Which brings me to:
#2 Finding & Engaging Your Tribe Can Be F*n Hard
Yeah. It’s a crowded marketplace. People’s time and attention are limited and fractured. Maybe you aren’t sure what the heck you’re doing. Yada yada yada you’re feeling like you’ve showed up to the dance stag.
BUT…
…You Have Agency. You’re the boss of your biz. There is stuff under your control. There’s always something you can do to improve the sitch.
With that mindset shift in place, how about some ways you might try to tap into those people that actually do want/need you and your offers?
Target Audience, Finders Keepers
This is sort of a laundry list, certainly not an exhaustive one, though.
Take what serves you and leave what doesn’t. (Geez, can you hear the yoga teacher in me?)
Trial and error (and tracking and evaluation) are going to be your BFFs.
- Experiment with different marketing channels and media. If you normally promo via demo videos on social, maybe try telling a story via email. Explore your options and run some proofs of concept to see which spaghetti sticks. A/B (split) testing is fantastic for this!
. - Borrow ideas from others. Look at brands that you admire and see if there are interesting approaches from their playbooks that you can adapt and use.
. - Incorporate emerging trends and tech. Maybe avoid the bleeding edge and gimmicks, but draw inspiration and best practices from cultural, commercial, and technological advances. Maybe your audience will appreciate “fresh.”
. - Create interactive experiences. Maybe what your audience craves is to have a two-way convo with you or your network. Leveraging things like polls, scavenger hunts, challenges, and contests may do the trick. People seem to love to share their opinions, experiences, etc. — you just need to ask.
. - Mix it up. Could boredom or complacency be setting in? By rotating through different kinds of audience building and nurturing methods, you might keep your peeps interest piqued and create lead-attracting buzz.
. - Combine and conquer. Layering approaches could yield positive outcomes for you. This might look like using one strategy in one place (like doing YouTube Live Q&As for Segment A) and something different elsewhere (like a game on your website for Segment B). Each technique would speak to a slice of your audience in a particular way and would possible capture their love and engagement in ways that they appreciate.
. - Refine your offerings. It could be that your product/service, messaging, delivery, pricing, promotion or other aspect of your offer is…off. Sometimes all it takes is simple tweaking for it to click (and get clicks).
. - Find new markets. Maybe it’s not your offer but who you’re trying to share it with. A new demographic may appear if you shift your gaze in a new direction. A group of eager soon-to-be fans who you totally resonate with!
. - Leverage affiliates, referral, and strategic partners. Other people’s audiences (OPA) can be a goldmine. This approach is awesome because you’re forging a strong alliance with another biz that’s aligned to yours and you’re gaining access to folx you may not otherwise have reached.
. - Give more than you get. Not every encounter with your people should be sales-forward. It’s important to honor the gift of their time and attention to you by sharing some knowledge, stories, etc. Inform, entertain, support, collaborate, inspire, encourage — don’t just constantly sell.
. - Get pro help. Maybe for your biz it makes sense to outsource or delegate business development, sales, and/or marketing. By letting experts handle those pieces of you pipeline, you’ll be able to more results with less struggle and stress.
. - Play by the numbers. Don’t read tea leaves! See what the stats are actually telling you. This doesn’t have to be too complicated or require an advance math degree. Even a quick glance at things like Open Rates or Site Traffic data over a period of time can reveal what’s working (better).
. - Keep trying. “If at first you don’t succeed, try again.” Or, maybe you just haven’t been at it long enough or trying frequently enough to really be able to tell if your campaigns are flopping…. If you truly believe in yourself and your mission — don’t give up.
From Idea to Action ⚡
Now, take a few minutes to ponder these different pathways and pitstops.
- Which ideas strike a chord with you? Why? How would you go about implementing them?
. - What other approaches do you use to attract, convert, and keep your audience? How are they performing? Why? How could they be refined to work better?
Keep fighting the good fight, friend. Whether you recognize it or not — you’re a biz warrior bad@ss!
