Who is the Target? Defining Your Audience

Defining your audience is important. Try asking yourself who is your brand trying to reach? When you start answering that, you may make different choices depending on your desired target.

Why defining your target audience is important

For example, Dr. Phil, a famous television psychologist, is trying to reach averages Americans. He has created a brand that is clear, approachable, and “tells it like it is.” He speaks about things in an easy-to-understand way while at the same time maintaining his knowledge and expertise. Imagine if Dr. Phil wanted to reach doctors instead. He would probably choose a different style and alter almost every aspect of his personal brand.

Big Idea:
Know who you want to reach with your personal brand and think about what they will respond to. It may be different from other audiences.

How to define your target audience

Defining your audience will help you make better choices about your personal branding execution.

Based on your objectives, who is your target audience? You may have more than one, but the fewer and more specific they are the better.

Who is your target audience?

• Clients
• Prospects
• Superiors at work
• Industry though-leaders
• The target of your business/product
• Media
• People in a specific role/industry

When I started building my personal brand, I wanted to position myself as a social media expert, and my target audience was “marketing people.” My objective wasn’t clear, neither was my target audience.

When I choose a clear objective of gaining paid speaking engagements, I focused in on meeting and event planners and was able to create a clear social media plan for myself using only two channels. By having a clear idea of my goal and my target audience, I went from a broad idea about my personal brand to a clear and specific focus that generated results – I now have a solid speaking calendar and a multimillion-dollar company.

The is taken from an excerpt of “Launch Yourself”, by Krista Neher. For your free action planner and bonus resources, visit www.LaunchYourself.com/book.