10 Ways to Appeal to Your Target Audience You Have to Try Now

Let’s face it, even when you know who your target audience is, the process of getting them to become actual customers isn’t always the easiest. In fact, it’s not uncommon for companies to spend tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in marketing trying to figure out the secret formula that gets customers to say, “here’s my money.”

While this can certainly be frustrating, sometimes, all it takes is a fresh set of eyes to figure out exactly WHAT you should be trying to appeal to.

Once you know who your target audience is, you can do the work of appealing to them through your marketing.

In this post, we’re going to do just that by sharing 10 creative ways to appeal to your target audience and start claiming the lion’s share.

1. Appeal to Emotions

Without a doubt, one of the best ways to appeal to your target audience is by tapping into their emotions. In doing this, you’ll not only succeed in pushing the logical brain aside, but you’ll also form a connection with potential customers on a deeper level. For example, if you’re running a pet daycare, having pictures of how happy the animals are is a great way to make customers feel more comfortable about leaving their furry friends for a few days. When you know more about your target audience, such as the problems their facing and how your products can help, you’ll gain a better understanding of their emotional triggers and how you can tap into them when determining the marketing strategies to use for your business.

2. Express Your Brand Values

When there’s not much separating the products and services you offer from those of your competitors, you have to focus on areas where you’re able to differentiate. One of the best ways to do this when up against fierce competition is by making your company values known to consumers. Rather than being the faceless corporation that’s solely interested in taking their money, give customers a peek behind the curtain so they have something else to consider. Going hand in hand with emotion, when your company’s values align with those of your target audience, they’re much more likely to choose you over competitors.

3. Remember that Time is King

While it’s said that money makes the world go round, time is one of the most valuable assets to consumers. With daily life only seeming to get busier, time is the one thing most people can agree they wish they had more of. No matter what product or service you offer, you can always connect it back to how it ultimately saves a person time. Incorporate that into your messaging across all of your marketing channels. Working as an emotional trigger, helping your target audience save time means they can focus more on doing the things they love, whether that be spending time with the family or indulging in leisurely activities.

4. Partner With Influencers

If you’ve been consistently plugging away on the marketing front without seeing the results you want, it may be time to consider partnering with influencers in your market. While it’s possible to build a huge following in a short period of time (very rare), more often than not, it takes a long time. We’re not saying you should give up on your current growth plans, but partnering with a major influencer — or a micro-influencer — can help fast track everything by putting your brand on the map. When popular influencers are seen vouching for your products or services, it has a much stronger impact on consumers than if the message were coming from your brand directly.

5. Revamp Your Marketing Strategy

When’s the last time you evaluated your current marketing strategy? If it’s been a while, it never hurts to change things up. Just as you lose interest in a movie after seeing it in theaters, customers are much less likely to respond to your marketing campaigns if you just keep running the same content. Sometimes, the best way to appeal to your target audience is by doing things in a way that’s different from what they expect. Whether that be coming up with some edgy social media ads, trying out a customer loyalty program, or something else entirely, change is good for business.

6. Publish a Case Study

The way people are buying products and services today is vastly different from the way things were even just 10 short years ago. More than ever before, consumers are regularly conducting research and gathering as much information as possible to help them make purchase decisions. Publishing a case study or success story essentially handles all of the legwork for them by presenting fact-based information that’s backed up by a combination of statistics and customer experiences. In addition to making your brand more credible, this is a great way to quiet many of the objections and questions that come up during the purchase process.

7. Work on Brand Image

Just as you should never stop improving yourself, the same principle applies to your brand image. The way customers perceive your brand has a major impact on whether or not they’re going to become a paying customer. To better appeal to your target audience, take a hard look at your brand’s reputation to figure out what you could be doing differently to improve it. Think about the last time you were researching a company and dug up some bad reviews or press about them. Did you end up buying? Probably not.

8. Stop Trying to Sell

One of the biggest turn-offs for potential customers is a brand that’s way too pushy with their sales message. If you want to appeal to your target audience as much as possible, sticking to the 80/20 rule is a time-tested tactic that rarely fails. When you focus on making 80% of your content genuinely valuable without any kind of sales pitch, consumers are much more likely to pay attention to your brand. That way, when you promote your products or services the other 20% of the time, they’re going to be more receptive to the message.

9. Ask Questions

The more you know about your target audience, the better you’ll be able to appeal to them. By simply asking both existing and potential customers for their feedback, you’ll not only gain invaluable information about their needs, but you’ll also be demonstrating that you value their opinions. This simple tactic can easily be done through email campaigns and even social media to ensure the greatest reach. Remember, the more information you collect, the better your marketing strategies will perform.

Related: Learn more about your audience with these target market examples.

10. Focus on Needs, Not Features

One of the most common mistakes that brands make is that of marketing product or service features rather than focusing on the ways it can meet the needs of their target audience. Only by fully understanding the problems your audience faces will you be able to identify their needs and how your product or service can help meet them. While this may take a little digging and market research, you’ll find it’s well worth the investment once you craft a marketing message that’s fine-tuned to appeal to your audience.