Determining What Your Target Audience Wants and Needs

Target Audience
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When it comes to your target audience members, it is not always easy to determine exactly what they want and need. However, you probably agree that it must always be your main focus. Your needs (as a business owner) should come second to what the other person wants and needs. If you can give them what they are asking for, you will, in turn, get what you need from them as well. Find out what they want and do your best to give it to them.

How do you determine what your target audience wants and needs?

There are many different approaches that you can take when it comes to determining the needs of your target audience members and the one that you ultimately choose will be the one that is best suited for your particular business. One thing that you should keep in mind is that your relationship with each of your target audience members begins with a human/emotional connection. In other words, you need to relate to them as people before you can consider doing any business with them at all.

Here is one of the possible approaches that you can take to figure out what your target audience wants and needs.

Meet them on their own territory

Well, it is a really good thing that you have an office. That is where you do some of your finest work. However, when it comes to building relationships with your target audience members, your office is not always the best choice for venue. The truth is that, before you have had a chance to know the other  person at all, it is a good idea to do everything possible to make him or her as comfortable as possible. That may mean meeting the person at his or her office (or, at least, in some neutral place). You want the person to feel at ease. You want to engage the other person and you want your interactions to be as easy as possible. 

Listen more than you speak

Your listening skills are extremely important when it comes to meeting the needs of your existing and prospective clients. If all you do is talk, you can’t possibly hear what they are saying. There will be plenty of time for you to get your “two cents” in. Listening intently gives you a lot of advantages. In addition to listening to the needs and wants of your target audience, you will also pick up a lot of potentially valuable information that you may be able to use to become more and more successful. It is very important that you embrace the idea that you can learn a great deal from other people who have had different professional experiences than you have. You can use that information to improve upon what you have and upon what you are doing. Another extremely positive side effect is the fact that if you really listen to the other person, you will be making that person feel really valued and respected. That is a wonderful way to build the foundation of your relationship together.

If you want to know something, ask

Nobody expects you to be a mind reader. Of course, it is always possible that you actually have that gift. However, for the rest of the people in the world, there is a way around it that will still allow you to obtain the information that you need in order for you  to do your job effectively. It may be a really effective approach for you to ask your existing and prospective clients what they need and want. It certainly is the quickest way to get some idea, in any case. Once you have gotten some response to your question, it will be time for you to get to work on making it happen for them. At the very least, they will recognize and respect the effort that you have made. At most, you will succeed in giving them what they want and need and your relationship together will flourish.

Ask yourself if you find what you are giving to others valuable to you 

If you look at what you are trying to give to other from an objective perspective and you determine that it is something that you also want and need, you are are on the right track. On the other hand, if you don’t see the value in it from an objective perspective, you will have to shift gears and come up with a new, more effective strategy. The analogy that applies here is about gift giving. When you give a gift, the object should be one that you would like to receive as well. If it isn’t, you should rethink whether that gift is appropriate and/or meaningful to the other person. 

Conclusion

From the moment that you launched your business until now (and to the end of time), you need to dedicate all of your time and energy to giving the other person what he or she wants and needs. If you succeed at that, your business will also succeed. You should not think about that in terms of your taking a back seat to the other person. Your wants and needs will be satisfied simultaneously. The answers that you are seeking are determining what you can do to make the target audience member’s life more manageable, saving that person time, and saving that person money.

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Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.