How do you discover who your audience is?

[BeytzNet]

Hi All,

In continuous to Rand's latest WBF where he compared content with link building. I specifically loved the circle he draw in regards to the steps of content marketing. The question is about the first step.

I run an e-commerce site for mid to high end luxury jewelry.
It is quite new so we cannot drill down our own stats.

The question is, How do I find out who my audience is? I understand that it all starts here...

Thanks!

[PremioOscar]

Hello there,

I would start by creating personas, it is one of starting point that really helps.

Think about the people that could potentially buy from you, give them names, profession, income, lifestyle, what sort of online behavior they can have online, what sort of engagement and the list goes on and on.

If you sell luxury goods then students may not be your target audience (just a quick example).

Create at least three different personas, with different characteristics and also find relevant information about your market in order to give real data to your assumptions.

Hope it helps.

Oscar

[GeoffKenyon]

This is really a market research project, and you have a few different ways to figure out who your customer is.

You can get market research reports - Here are a few examples that turned up from a Google search:

MarketResearch.com | IBISWorld.com | TrendReports.com | ResearchAndMarkets.com

You could also do your own market research through a site like AYTM.

You could also use a service like Qualaroo to ask your website visitors questions or you could create a survey on a site like AYTM but send it to your previous customers instead of their panel.

With the data that you gather in the above processes, you can begin to build personas as already suggested.

Good luck!

-Geoff