What you're neglecting in your target audience analysis
- Wisdom Ukpeh
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
Have you ever considered your target audience as two sides of the same coin?
I started thinking about primary and secondary audiences when I applied for a copywriting position on LinkedIn. The company told me to create a content strategy using their template. So when I went through the template and developed the strategy
While creating the strategy, I pondered, “We may be getting this all wrong. How well do we know our audience?”
Business consultants tell us to know our audience. But they never told us how. Social media gurus made us chase impressions. But they never told us what it meant.
I have a concept to share on knowing your audience and content impressions. What do they really mean?
Act 1 Scene 1
While scrolling through LinkedIn, I stumbled on a post that read: Spontaneous LinkedIn Live — Let’s goo!
“Spontaneous?” I thought. “Well, Justin Oberman is one of my favorite LinkedIn creators; what does he have to say?”
The LinkedIn Live was about building a personal brand. Usually, Justin loves to challenge the status quo. So in this live, he discussed the misconception of building a personal brand with Aaron Zakowski.
Justin did most of the talking, while Aaron mainly listened – sometimes he’d chip in when necessary to clarify Justin’s thoughts. After spending three-quarters of an hour listening, these were what stuck with me:
Not everyone who likes, comments, or shares your post is your primary audience.
Your primary audience isn’t hanging out on social media, liking and commenting on posts.
Justin's opinions on the primary audience opened a loop in my thought process, which made me ask these questions:
“So, why do you chase social media impressions?”
“Also, where do you find your primary audience?”
Act 2, Scene 1
It was 8:43 am on Tuesday. I was in my room working out and listening to What Now by Trevor Noah. In this podcast episode, he featured billionaire Mark Cuban, a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a member of Shark Tank.
During the podcast, Trevor asked Mark about his daily routine as a billionaire. Mark replied that he valued his health and family time more than his business, but what stood out was his handling of business.
After his morning routine, Mark handled his business through email. He also expressed that a cold email inspired his latest startup called Cost Plus Drugs. Thus, Mark's business approach answers the open loop on where your primary audience hangs out.
So, what about social media impressions? How do you make the most from them?
Act 3, Final Scene
The best ways to target your primary and secondary audience:
A primary audience is the decision maker in your niche, for instance, CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, founders, etc.
A secondary audience influences the decision-maker, such as industry influencers or marketing directors.
Now, let’s zoom out a bit.
How do you properly target your primary audience?
Matt created a paid copywriting course for aspiring writers and ran ads on social media to promote it. The ads generated some leads but weren’t enough to scale his brand. Why?
Matt attracted more secondary audiences than his primary audiences. Running ads on social media is good. But sometimes you won’t get better-qualified leads. So Matt should have done this instead:
Search for companies that hire full-time writers.
Build an email list of decision-makers from these companies.
Pitch his copywriting course to these companies using direct marketing.
A direct marketing approach that Matt can use is cold emailing. Cold emailing is more precise and personal than social media ads, giving Matt a better chance of converting his primary audience.
So, are you neglecting your secondary audience?
I’ll give you a straightforward answer: no. Remember, your secondary audience is like your brand advocate. They influence your primary audience to buy your service. So how do you make the most of this audience?
Matt saw that his social media ads attracted more secondary audiences to his brand. So, he decided to use bond marketing to relate to this audience. He created content and gave free guides to help his audience hone their writing skills.
Your secondary audiences are those who like, comment, and share your post. You can build a strong community with your secondary audience. Also, they become your brand advocate or raving fan in the long run.
Your post impressions on social media determine the size of your brand’s community. It doesn’t determine how much you could make annually. So instead of selling to these impressions, offer more value and build your community. When you create your community, you can scale your business with ease.
A use case: Audience analysis
After a target audience analysis, Matt’s primary audiences were CMOs, CWOs, and CGOs. Also, his secondary audiences were aspiring writers, marketing influencers, and marketing directors. Why aren’t aspiring writers Matt’s primary audience?
Most writers don’t have the financial means to buy Matt’s course, but they can influence the decision-makers in their careers.
Matt’s primary audience features more people with the finance to buy his product.
Matt’s primary audience is mostly high-ticket clients.
Primary vs. secondary audience marketing strategy
Use direct marketing to convert your primary audience.
Use bond marketing to relate with your secondary audience.
Marketing to your primary audience is a short-term approach to scaling your brand.
Marketing to your secondary audience is a long-term approach to scaling your brand.
Both audiences are vital to your brand's growth. Don’t neglect either of them!
Comments