Speak to your Target Audience, Not Yourself

I have a confession to make…You may not like it… but here goes…

You are NOT your target audience.

You are the person solving the problem FOR your target audience.

OK. I said it. It’s out there in the open. Now we can speak more freely… Can I speak freely. Great! (Cause I was going to do it anyway)

Why are you telling me this?

Well, cause if you’re going to run a business or are currently running a business, you have to remember that everything you put out for your business can’t be too personal to you (your personal style, your favorite colors, your favorite sayings). Yes, you can incorporate SOME of those things, but you’re really not trying to sell yourself, you’re selling a solution, and your solution coated in PINK may not resonate with the people you’re trying to sell it to.

When you’re branding your business (or when you hire me to help you brand your business 😉) here are some things I’m going to ask you about & have you think about so we can ensure you’re actually going to speak to your target audience:

1. Who is your demographic (ethnicity, age, location)
2. What do they like to do (where do they normally spend their money so you can meet them where they are)
3. What does your ideal customer value (what is important to them)
4. What position to you want to have in your buyer/seller relationship (are you an authority, a friend, are we having conversations or are you telling them what to do)
5. What colors have you chosen for your brand & what do they mean (Yes, colors have meanings.. it’s a thing)
6. Do you want customers to feel like they can speak with you directly?
7. What does your ideal customer like to do to clear their mind
8. Is your ideal customer a person with children?
9. What problem does your product or service solve?

I’ll use A. Louise Creative as an example:

1. Who is my demographic: Millennial & Gen X Business Owners who have already established their business or are starting out but have a marketing budget, located in primarily in the united states.
2. What do they like to do: They like to watch Netflix, Waste time on Facebook, they like to eat seafood (most if not all of my customers have some affinity for seafood) they like to go to live concerts, they enjoy Starbucks, Smoothies, and light hearted comedy.
3. What do they value: My ideal customer values effective communication, self care, taking the time to actually learn their craft, free weekends, and hard (smart) work.
4. The position I hold in my buyer/seller relationship is an open door authority, I’ll give you my professional advice, show you the pros & cons of your decisions, but ultimately you’re the client & my job is to provide you with what you asked for. If the overall project is not going to be effective or if believe that you’re not going to get out what you put in, it’s my job to let you know this & show you why before we move forward. This builds the trust in our relationship.
5. Colors I have chosen in my brand are Peach ( a variation of Orange) meaning confidence, passion, and happiness; White – clean, peace, and Light Grey, everything isn’t Black & White or immediately defined. My job is to help you navigate the grey areas in your business marketing & communication so that what ever we put out to represent your business is most effective.
6. Do I want customers to feel like they can speak with me directly: YES!!
7. What does my ideal customer like to do to clear their mind: They like to work on their hobby, have a glass of wine, listen to music, or meditate (i just started to get into yoga & It’s AH-MAZING)
8. Is your ideal customer a person with children? Believe it or not, YES, a customer with children can understand the craziness of my everyday life & i can understand theirs. it makes us more connected & easier to communicate with each other.
9. The problem that my services solve are:
   • I provide the visual communication your business needs to gain more customers & increase your bottom line.
   • I provide guidance in branding and positioning your business so that your marketing is most effective and speaks to your correct audience
   • I offer overall advice in effectively running a business so that new business owners don’t waste a lot of money on tactics that don’t work for their particular business just because of the “fad”

With these few questions answered, I know who I’m talking to, I know who I’m designing my graphics & advertising for, and I know what colors, designs, and phrases will resonate with the correct people so that they’ll like me & work with me. I know where I need to advertise, I know HOW I need to advertise, and I know what my people will want to hear me talk about and or discuss. I know that my audience doesn’t mind texting, but they prefer video chatting, & speaking on the phone & so i adjust my business model to match my people! I was able to sprinkle a little bit of myself in my branding by using my conversational tone, But honestly – My favorite colors are Teal & Orange if I can text you or email you all day; I’d prefer that method of communication.

So NO, I’m not saying you have to completely take yourself out of your branding, but you do have to keep in mind that in marketing, You’re speaking to a specific group of people because you want them to purchase from you. You have to speak to your target audience, Not yourself.