Targeted marketing can be one of the most challenging elements in sales. Determining what messages to put out and where can seem like an impossible task. If you’re not using tools like your CRM and marketing automation to understand what message to put out, you won’t end up with quality leads. You need to take time to understand your audience, using the right tools to gain data, and putting that data to work.
What Audience Data Do You Need?
You need a few essential data pieces to identify your target audience and their needs. Some of those include:
- Geographic location: where do they live (country, region, state, etc.)?
- Product or service preference: what do you sell that interests them most?
- Revenue range: how much can they spend on your offering(s)?
- Decision-maker title/position: who do you need to talk to in a given organization?
How Do You Get Audience Data?
Knowing what you need to discover is half the battle. Next, you need the right tools and processes to gain that valuable audience information. Some of the top tools are:
- Marketing Automation
Marketing automation tracks all your audience interactions. It can tell you who opened an email, clicked on a link, landed on a specific landing page, or even replied to a social media post. With this wealth of interaction data, you can determine who interacts with your content and what content they like best.
- Customer Relationship Management Tool (CRM)
Your CRM houses all your customer and prospect data, so it can tell you a lot about your audience. And when connected with your marketing automation, you can get better, more up-to-date information concentrated in one place. Long-term customers and larger deals can tell you who fits your ideal customer profile: anyone who invests significant time or money into your company likes what you’re doing.
- Website Analytics
While marketing automation can give you a lot of quality website data, analytics can get more granular. With your website analytics, you can see which search terms brought the best traffic to your site and which pages got the most interaction. This tells you what your audience is interested in, which you can use to get them more engaged.
- Market Research
Market research is ideal for quickly gaining audience data on a new market. It’s best to hire an outsourced firm to conduct this research as they have the expertise and skills to get it done fast. With market research, you can understand which untapped industries are an opportunity for you and how to break into these new markets.
What Should You Do with Your Audience Data?
Once you understand your basic customer profile, the next step is to segment your audience into different buyer personas. Buyer personas are generic profiles of real people you should target with your marketing. With these personas created, you better understand who your audience is, where to find them, and how to talk to them. Elements of a buyer persona include:
- Position title and duties
- Pain points (what are their biggest professional problems)
- Value props needed (what things are essential to them in your product/service)
- Top questions to ask (to gain more specific information on their individual problems and ideal solutions)
Need help getting started? Download our Buyer Persona template here.
Who Can Help You Define Your Audience?
At NuGrowth, we know a lot about defining and targeting your audience because that’s what we do. Our expert team conducts market research, manages CRM and marketing automation, and crafts detailed buyer personas for our clients to help them dial in to high-quality outreach and the best-qualified leads.
Let us help you discover your audience, improve your outreach, and grow your pipeline. Schedule a call with us to get started today.
