Before we do too much, we need a better understanding of our audience. While it primarily involves your customers, it also needs considerations for your vision alignment, AKA future customers. It should also include your partners and employees, too.
Please reference our syllabus here. You can find the brand audit template here.
If you’re focused on brand development, you should already have some customer data. Their company size, industry, the title of your internal champion, the title of your economic buyer, the educational and experiential background of both, and some other basics like time from opportunity to customer. From hard metrics, your cost of acquisition and customer churn rates are going to be directly impacted by brand efforts, so let’s loop those in, too.
So, how do we get alignment between our current and future customers? We talk to them, of course. Throughout this course, you’re going to see the word validate come up often. That’s because you can use assumptions to create a hypothesis, but you should always validate it with data and direct conversations.
Here’s a better look at what you should be doing for audience development. And if someone tells you to consider building personas, toss that notion out the window. Debby from enterprise company A is rarely the same as Debby from enterprise company B. Instead, we’re going to find common threads that connect your brand to people, do this through use cases and understand what drives them. To be clear, there is value in persona building, but let’s not stereotype the things they may like or dislike to influence your brand strategy. Yes, everyone is a unique butterfly.
Here’s how we narrow down your audience (which really your product marketing team should have locked in, hopefully, maybe?):
Market research
Customer surveys and interviews
Demographics
Psychographics
Competitive Intel
Test, validate, test, validate, and on and on and on…
Market Research: Gather information about your industry, competitors, and potential customers. This will help you understand the market landscape and identify any gaps or opportunities.
Customer Surveys and Interviews: Conduct surveys and interviews with your existing customers or potential customers to gather insights about their needs, preferences, and pain points. This direct feedback can provide valuable information for shaping your brand and messaging. Again, this should already be done via product marketing.
Demographics: Analyze the demographics of your potential customers, such as age, gender, location, income level, education level, and occupation. This will give you a general idea of who your target audience might be.
Psychographics: Psychographics include their interests, values, attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyle choices. This will help you understand their motivations and preferences.
Competitive Intel: Study your competitors and their target audience. Identify what makes your brand unique and how it can resonate with a specific segment of the market that is currently underserved or has different preferences. You can always go head-to-head, too, but you should consider what the total addressable market or TAM is. The reality is that not every cybersec company will become a unicorn and have the resources to saturate the market out of the gate.
Testing and Refinement: Continuously test and refine your target audience assumptions by monitoring customer behavior, conducting A/B testing, and collecting feedback. This will help you make data-driven decisions and ensure that your brand resonates with your intended audience.
Keep in mind that identifying your target audience is an ongoing process, and it's important to regularly revisit and update your understanding of your audience as market dynamics and customer preferences may change over time. Especially since you will get more data points as your company grows.
You’ve got some initial data and research, so let’s look at a few final considerations you’ll want to keep in the back of your mind before we get to the fun part: defining your brand personality.
Know Your Customers: Conduct thorough market research and gather insights about your target audience. Analyze their demographics, psychographics, interests, values, behaviors, and preferences. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of who your customers are and what resonates with them. AKA what we just covered.
Identify Audience Preferences: Use the insights from your market research to identify the preferences and expectations of your target audience. Understand what appeals to them, what they value in a brand, and how they perceive different personality traits.
Bridge the Gap: Analyze the gap between your current brand personality and your audience preferences. Identify areas where your brand personality aligns well with your customers and areas where adjustments may be needed.
Tailor Your Messaging and Tone: Adapt your brand messaging and communication style to align with your target audience. Use language, tone, and visuals that resonate with their preferences and values. Ensure that your messaging reflects the personality traits that are important to your customers.
Consistency is Key: Maintain consistency in your brand personality across all touchpoints and interactions with your customers. This includes your website, social media presence, customer support, advertising, and any other brand communication. Consistency builds trust and reinforces your brand identity.
Listen and Adapt: Continuously listen to feedback from your customers and adapt your brand personality as needed. Pay attention to their reactions, engagement, and preferences. Stay agile and responsive to ensure that your brand personality remains relevant and resonates with your evolving customer base.
Future Proof(ish) Your Brand by Knowing Your Audience of Today and Tomorrow