Written By: Shannon Briggs

I’ve heard it so many times before. Each time I begin work with a new client, I sit down to learn more about them, their business, and their goals for marketing. One of the first questions I ask is, “Who is your target audience?” and more times than I’d like to admit, the answer is “well, everyone!”

Let me be clear. Your target audience can be everyone – if you have the budget, time, and resources to manage that. 99.99% of companies do not. If you are not Xfinity, your audience cannot be “well, everyone!”

To break it down, people of different demographics find information in different places. See more on this in my blog on finding your audience.  If your target audience is “well, everyone,” then you are going to need to be in all of the places where “well, everyone” spends their time. You’ll need to have a highly active and engaging social media presence on all platforms, buy print ads in every publication, continually pitch every publication to ever exist, and participate in all events. Here’s how this can affect your business:

Budget

Your budget can only stretch so far, and the broader your target audience - the more your budget will be stretched to reach them all. Honing in on your core customer and the one most likely to support you will make your dollar go further. You’ll get a better ROI on what you spend and not waste your resources  chasing down people who most likely aren’t interested.

Time

Just like budget, your time is a precious resource. Being on every platform to reach every possible audience member sounds like a full-time job for a very large team.

Expertise

As the saying goes, “By trying to please everyone, you please no one.” Finding your niche audience will allow you to become an expert in engaging with those people. You can get to know them, their interests, and what makes them tick. Then, you can tailor your marketing in a way that will resonate with them.

Once you determine your core target audience, develop a marketing strategy based around your budget and time resources. Once you implement that strategy, I guarantee you’ll see more results over time than when attempting to be everything to everyone.