When you first created your business plan, you probably invested a decent amount of time researching the group most likely to buy your products. But, even if you already know your target demographic, the trick is to find out where they are. After all, you cannot just post a link to your blog on Facebook and expect that everyone from teens to retirees will see it. Writing web content and sharing it effectively depends on the group whose patronage you seek. And, thankfully, this is not a situation where you must get out the metal detector and start digging in the sand. With these tips, you can direct your marketing focus to the most effective places.
Define Your Audience
Figuring out your audience takes more than a spin around the beach looking for buried treasure, however. Forbes notes that the process of writing web content for your demographic takes some time to consider and build. You must research where they go for information, what problems they have that need solving, and what you might do that will alienate them. But be careful not to kick sand in the faces of browsers from other groups. Even if you have no interest in targeting kids and teenagers, you must remember that most adults from 30-50 have kids or teens. Having a good sense of a few demographic groups likely to use your products or services allows you to discover how best to talk to them.
Find Them Online
As it turns out, searching for your audience does share some similarities with our beach analogy. Older adults generally stay out of the sun, those with small children are constantly chasing the kids, and teenagers are everywhere. As a general rule, younger groups require a broader approach. If you look at recent studies on teens’ use of the Internet, you will find a lot of conflicting data. Teenagers are fleeing Facebook for Instagram and Snapchat…except that may not be true. The answer is that flighty teenagers change their minds in an instant about where they want to be and they are everywhere at once. Adults tend to stick to a couple of social media outlets, mostly Facebook and Twitter. Older adults will be online to some degree, but they often prefer traditional advertising models.
Focus Your Marketing
Now that you know where on the beach to look, you know in which places you need to pinpoint your marketing. For the young, try to improve your reach in social media to the greatest extent possible. If you target established adults, use social media, but demonstrate quality content. For older groups, stick to simplicity in your online goals and plan to shell out a little more for print media.
In writing web content, your ultimate goal is to increase the throngs of excited fans who are eager to crowd around your cabana for an hour. Whether you must seem amazeballs, cool, or simply delightful depends on your target demographic.
Holly S is a proud typist who asserts that her generation cannot be blamed for the downfall of handwriting. She knows that people have been complaining about it since the invention of the printing press.
