You must know who your target audience is to best market your product or service. The key demographics that make up your ideal customer may vary from time to time, which is why it’s important to identify what you can and choose a business model supporting their needs. You can always tweak your methods as your customer base shifts and changes. You must remain flexible, as you never know what might shift in the marketplace. For example, Statista surveyed 452 marketers in the United States and found the pandemic had a big impact on marketing methods. Around 43% of respondents said their target audiences’ needs changed due to COVID-19. Every year might not bring such dramatic changes, but the world shifts, and your clients’ needs change. Be aware and ready to seek the key demographics and how you can support them at any given time. Here are some things to keep in mind as you identify information about your customers and refine your business model.

1. Study Your Analytics

Your first step on your journey toward better understanding your target audience is to pull all your data and run reports. Start with your website. Where do your visitors come from? Do you have any information on what browsers they use, their country of origin and times they access your site? Next, look at internal measures, such as your customer databases. You may have information such as average age, gender and household income. You might also have to invest in some third-party databases to get a general understanding of the typical person who buys from you. Create graphs and look for patterns in buying behavior. You can also survey your customers and ask if you are meeting their needs. Look for underserved segments with good profit potential. You can meet their expectations while increasing the dollar amount of each order.

2. Map Your Competitors

Do you know which segments your competitors serve? How is your own sales territory laid out? Once you have the information, it’s much easier to make tweaks and improve your support of local clients. You can also create demographic maps to share with your sales team or other researchers. These maps can be broken down by ZIP codes, state or county layers and include U.S. Census Bureau information to really hone in on target audiences. Not every segment of your local sales territory is a good match for your brand. You have to know who your typical buyer is and whether the new areas are worth your time and marketing efforts. If another brand has a firm foothold in the area, it might be better to reach out to a location without service.

3. Find the Pain Point

Identify the reasons a customer would want to buy your product or service. What is the issue they seek to resolve? Once you understand the pain point, it’s easier to tap into the emotions behind it and speak in language the customer understands. There’s no need to waste time when you know what the issue is. You simply present your solution and reassure the customer you’ll fix whatever they’re facing. How can you make the user’s life better or easier? What underlying emotions come into play with the pain point? For example, if you sell golf tees, an avid golfer might struggle with distance. How does your product improve their initial tee? What emotion can you tap into? Pride in an improved golf score or making sure they drive the ball farther than their friends could tie into their desire to improve. How does your product give them what they want? Your audience may have multiple pain points. Ensure you understand each situation and use language to address it. For example, if someone has a broken table and can’t afford a new one, you might offer the solution of a repair kit. In your marketing, you’d address the issue of a budget and broken furniture. Then, you’d present the answer in the form of the kit you sell.

4. Outsource Your Marketing

Third parties may have information you don’t. Outsource some of your marketing work to firms experienced in reaching new audiences for you. According to research, the digital outsourcing market equals around $85.6 billion a year. Look at the things you do that aren’t garnering you the best results. Could an outside firm step in and ramp up your efforts? How can they best reach your ideal audience in ways you can’t? Hire out those areas. You can always scale back on your spending if you don’t see results. Make sure you build in tracking, such as offering unique landing pages for the work the outsourced team completes. This allows you to see if you’re getting results. The only way utilizing demographic data works is if your message resonates with the appropriate audience. Lose any marketing efforts that don’t bring results and ramp up the ones generating qualified leads.

5. Include Psychographic Data

In the quest to seek demographic data, it’s easy to overlook the things encouraging your customers to buy from you. Take a bit of time to research the psychological factors driving consumers. Once you understand the emotions behind why your buyers behave the way they do, you’ll be better able to meet their needs. For example, if a customer wants an immediate solution, your business operations must focus on the fastest delivery possible. Look for ways to ramp up your efforts and create an amazing experience.

6. Keep Your Best Customers

One issue nearly every small business runs into is customer churn. Someone else offers the same thing at a better price, or their customer service model is off the charts. However, if you focus on keeping your customers happy, you’ll reduce your losses. A recent industry report showed around 93% of small-business owners felt customer retention was as important as new client acquisition. Spend time surveying your shoppers and asking for feedback on how to keep them happy. The payoff is in the loyal fans you create.

7. Invest in CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps ensure you track your customers and their buying patterns. You can set it to remind you if someone hasn’t ordered in a while, has a birthday or placed a large order. You can use those reports to follow up with your clients and make sure they feel valued. CRM software also allows you to run reports on inventory models and see what types of products customers respond best to. Paying attention to trends helps with product selection and keeps your clients happy with the available selection.

8. Segment Your Audience

According to HubSpot’s 2021 State of Marketing report, around 77% of companies surveyed saw increased engagement in the past year. Around 20% of businesses cite subscriber segmentation as one of their top email marketing tactics. Use demographics to separate your audience and create more personalized campaigns for each group. You can divide via age , gender, occupation, and even how long they’ve been your customers.

9. Refine Your Message

The better you know your customers, the easier it is to refine your message and show you’re ready to meet their specific needs. Basic demographics include age, location, and occupation, but if you begin digging deeper, you’ll create a buyer persona you can reach on an emotional level. For example, if you sell mostly to single professional women between the ages of 25 and 35, their pain point might be quite different than a 40-year-old married woman. If you sell power tools, you might tap into how easy it is to learn to use the item via videos you offer on your website. The user’s pain point is lack of knowledge, so your go-to marketing tactic and help for your customers becomes training videos and information.

10. Utilize Remarketing

Once you’ve identified your target audience, you may need to get your brand in front of them several times before they respond. Consumers often consider the pros and cons, read reviews, discuss an idea with their family and friends, and think things over carefully before making a purchase. The more your product costs, the longer it may take for them to decide. Remarketing takes people who’ve already seen your message and perhaps visited your site and puts the message in front of them in a new way. You use the information you already have about them and tap into objections they might have, pointing out the pros of buying from you today.

Tweak Your Demographics and Keep Your Customers

Tracking demographic data on your customers is a great start, but what you do with the data makes you a success. Hold regular scrum meetings and ask your employees to brainstorm ways to reach out to your particular buyer base. Consistently strive to make the user experience better each time a customer interacts with your brand. That way, you can better draw people in and retain them.