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Audience targeting and understanding your audience
In digital marketing, success doesn’t come from shouting the loudest or spending the most. It comes from saying the right thing, at the right time, to the right people. To do that, you need a deep understanding of your audience.
This isn’t just about knowing who they are on the surface but also uncovering what drives their behaviour, how they think, and where they spend their time.
Truly understanding your audience turns marketing from a guessing game into a results-driven, impactful strategy.
Did you know?
Companies using advanced customer insights reported a 126% profit growth over competitors who did not. – Mckinsey
Why audience understanding matters
Consider an example of a local bookshop, struggling to compete in the digital market.
Their initial strategy focused entirely on price matching and generic social media promotions. Sales continued to decline despite significant investment in digital advertising. The turning point came when they stopped looking at customers as transaction numbers and started understanding them as people.
Through careful analysis, they uncovered something unexpected, their most valuable customers weren’t price sensitive bargain hunters, they were professionals seeking an escape from their screen dominated lives. This single insight changed their entire approach.
Instead of competing on price, they created an experience that their audience truly valued. They transformed their space into a digital-free sanctuary, complete with comfortable reading nooks and moderated discussion areas. They launched evening book clubs that became networking hubs for local professionals. Most importantly, they developed their social media content to emphasise the therapeutic value of disconnecting with technology and reconnecting with literature.
The results spoke volumes, 40% growth in their customer base, a thriving community of loyal customers, and a business model built on genuine audience understanding.
The two core approaches
In the digital marketing landscape, understanding your audience breaks down into two essential categories: quantitative and qualitative understanding. Think of them as two sides of the same coin, both valuable, both necessary, but each telling a different part of the story.
Quantitative research: the power of numbers
Quantitative understanding focuses on measurable data and statistics. Take our example of the bookshop. They used website analytics to track customer behaviour. They knew precisely how many visitors browsed their online catalogue, which genres attracted the most attention, and at what point customers typically added books to their basket or abandoned their search.
Their data revealed peak browsing times, popular authors, and even which book reviews generated the most engagement. This numerical insight showed that customers spent 45% more time reading reviews for non-fiction books compared to fiction, suggesting different decision making processes for different genres.
Quantitative insights includes:
- Website traffic patterns and user flow
- Conversion rates and sales data
- Engagement metrics on social media
- Time spent on different pages
- Customer purchase history
Qualitative research: the human element
While the bookshop’s numbers showed high website traffic for their reading events and extended evening hours, it was the qualitative research that revealed the true story.
Through customer conversations and social media engagement, they discovered their audience wasn’t just looking for books, they were craving a sanctuary from their digital heavy lives. Professionals would often mention how they missed the feel of physical books and the peaceful atmosphere of a traditional bookshop.
Bringing them together
The bookshop combined both quantitive and qualitative research to gain an edge over their competitors.
Their quantitative data showed that 70% of their website visitors were browsing during lunch breaks and after 6pm, with significant time spent on event pages and book club information. This told them what was happening, but not why.
Through qualitative research, customer conversations and feedback forms, they discovered their core audience were professionals who saw reading as an escape from screen based workdays. These customers weren’t just buying books, they were seeking a complete departure from their digital world. The opportunity to join a community of like minded readers and enjoy quiet reading time was more valuable than online discounts.
This combined understanding led to a complete change in their business model. They created dedicated quiet zones with comfortable seating and launched evening book clubs. They also developed a loyalty programme that rewarded both purchases and time spent in store.
This example shows how numbers and human insight work together. Without the quantitative data, they wouldn’t have spotted the evening browsing patterns. Without the qualitative understanding, they might have missed the true value they were providing. It wasn’t just about books, but more about a much needed escape from the digital world.
The three pillars of audience research
Demographics: the who
Demographic profiling focuses on the who. It’s the measurable, statistical aspects of your audience. These are the basic characteristics that categorise people into groups.
Key features of demographics
- Age: Are they teenagers, millennials, or retirees?
- Gender: Male, female, non-binary, etc.
- Income: Lower-income, middle-class, affluent.
- Education: High school, university, postgraduate.
- Occupation: Job roles, industries.
- Family Structure: Single, married, parents, etc.
- Location: Urban, rural, specific regions or countries.
What it tells you
Demographics give you a high-level view of your audience. For example:
- A clothing retailer might discover their target demographic is women aged 25–34 in urban areas with disposable income.
- A B2B SaaS company might target mid-level managers in the IT sector across the UK.
Demographic data is easy to measure and access through tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and market research reports. It helps with targeting basic advertising, such as location-based campaigns or age-appropriate messaging.
However, demographics don’t reveal why people make decisions. For example, two people of the same age and income might have completely different priorities or interests.
Behavioural Profiling: the what
Behavioural Profiling focuses on what your audience does. This includes their purchase history, browsing habits, and engagement patterns. For instance, are they frequent buyers or first-time visitors? Do they engage with your emails or prefer social media interactions? These behavioural insights allow you to predict future actions and tailor campaigns accordingly.
Key behaviours to track:
- Purchase History: What products or services have they bought? How often?
- Engagement Patterns: Do they open your emails? Click on ads? Watch videos to the end?
- Browsing Habits: What pages do they visit? Do they abandon carts or explore certain categories?
- Timing: Are they most active in the morning, evening, or weekends?
Analysing user behaviour helps you refine your timing and platforms for campaigns. It allows for the personalisation of offers based on past behaviours (e.g., “You might also like…” recommendations). It can also inform retargeting strategies for abandoned carts or previous website visitors.
Psychographics: the why
Psychographic profiling goes beyond who your audience is and what they do. It explores why. This includes their emotions, values, attitudes, and lifestyles.
Key features of psychographics
- Values and Beliefs: What do they care about? (e.g., sustainability, family, achievement)
- Personality Traits: Are they introverted, adventurous, risk-averse?
- Interests: What are their hobbies or passions? (e.g., fitness, travel, tech)
- Lifestyle Choices: Do they prefer luxury experiences or budget-friendly options? Are they career-focused or family-oriented?
- Motivations: What drives them? (e.g., a desire for success, security, creativity)
- Pain Points: What challenges do they face? (e.g., lack of time, need for convenience)
What it tells you
Psychographics dig deeper into why people behave the way they do. For example:
- A fitness brand might learn that one audience segment exercises for health benefits, while another does it to boost confidence.
- A skincare brand might find that its audience values eco-friendly ingredients and ethical sourcing over price.
Psychographics provide insights into how to emotionally connect with your audience. They help shape your messaging, tone, and content so that it resonates deeply with your target market.
However, they are harder to measure and require deeper research, such as surveys, interviews, or studying online behaviours. They are also less straightforward to implement without a solid understanding of your audience.
With the three pillar framework, businesses can create strategies that resonate deeply with their audience.
Uncovering deeper audience insights
The art of audience understanding happens when you move beyond basic data to uncover genuine customer behaviour patterns. A successful digital marketer knows that surface level metrics only tell part of the story.
Observing genuine product interactions can reveal unexpected insights that analytics alone might miss.
Through your website
For example, a software company could discover this by analysing customers using their SaaS platform. While analytics might show how regularly users access the dashboard, direct observation could reveal them taking screenshots of data to share with colleagues. This insight could lead to the development of a collaborative sharing feature that would help increase user satisfaction.
Another example could be a retailer, noticing a pattern in their service team’s chat logs where customers frequently asked about product sizing late at night. Further investigation could reveal that many customers browse during evening hours but are hesitant to purchase due to size uncertainty. This can lead to the introduction of an evening chatbot specifically programmed to handle sizing queries, resulting in a large increase in night time conversions.
Through social media
Social media engagement goes far beyond likes and shares. Active social listening means monitoring conversations, understanding context, and identifying patterns in how your audience discusses their challenges.
Imagine a fitness brand discovers through social listening, that their customers often discussed workout motivation challenges during Monday lunchtimes. They can adjust their content strategy to deliver motivation focused content during these crucial moments, leading to an increase in Monday afternoon class bookings.
Looking at the full picture
To implement deeper audience understanding in your digital marketing strategy, start with careful observation. Watch how customers navigate your website, use your products, or interact with your service. Look for patterns in their behaviour that might not be captured by traditional analytics.
Analyse customer service interactions. Regular reviews of support tickets, chat logs, and phone calls can reveal common pain points and opportunities. Pay particular attention to the language customers use to describe their problems.
Engage meaningfully on social media. Don’t just broadcast messages, but participate in conversations, ask questions, and most importantly, listen to what your audience is saying when they’re not talking directly to you.
Remember, the most valuable insights often come from combining these different sources of information.
The art of persuasion
Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of persuasive digital marketing.
To persuade effectively, you need to connect with people on a personal level, and that starts with truly knowing who they are.
When you understand their desires, fears, challenges, and motivations, you can craft messages that feel tailored specifically to them. This sense of personal relevance makes your message not only compelling but also trustworthy.
Persuasion works best when it taps into emotions because people make decisions emotionally first and then rationalise them logically. If you know what matters most to your audience, you can speak to their aspirations, offer solutions to their problems, and position your product or service as the bridge between where they are and where they want to be. It’s not about manipulation; it’s about showing them you understand their needs and have something valuable to offer.
This understanding also enables you to present your message in a way that feels natural and aligned with their values. It allows you to meet them where they are, whether that’s in their choice of words, the tone of voice they respond to, or the platforms they use.
Persuasion, at its core, is about empathy, and empathy begins with knowing your audience inside and out.
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