When you first start out as a small business owner, chances are that you have one main thing at the forefront of your mind: profit. Sure, you may simply have had a great idea that you think could sell to the consumer market and that you are genuinely looking forward to developing.
Coming up with an innovative idea is invigorating and rewarding! Sure, your business idea may have alternative interests and motives, such as helping others or pushing your field of specialism forward into the future. But when it comes down to it, every business relies on profit to keep itself afloat.
You will also inevitably want to lead a comfortable lifestyle at the same time as running your business. This is why profit becomes so important! Without it, everything would fall through! So, how can you ensure that your business is bringing in a profit at all times?
Well, there are, of course, several things that you have to do to generate consistent profit. But one of the most important is always going to be knowing your target demographic and catering to their wants and needs. Your target demographic is the group of individuals who you intend to sell your product to. You might also refer to this group as your “target audience”.
Now, every business has a demographic, no matter how wide spanning or eclectic it may be. But the majority of small businesses tend to benefit from having a relatively niche demographic.
This allows the small business to offer some unique and that is unavailable elsewhere from major manufacturers and brands who can afford to offer lower prices. Your target demographic are likely to be linked together by factors such as age range, income, or gender. So, how can you ensure that you’re always ticking your demographic’s boxes? Here are just a few steps that you can take!
Identifying Your Demographic
Identifying your demographic should be the first step of any business process. If you have started a business because you already have a product concept, consider who is going to want to buy it. If you haven’t yet got a product concept, start with demographic identification first. Consider a group and what they might like to buy if it were available. This part of the process largely falls down to your individual product, so you will have to figure your demographic out for yourself.
Conduct Market Research
Market research benefits your small business in various different ways. It allows you to see current market trends, scope out your competition, and figure out a competitive pricing plan. However, perhaps most importantly, it allows you to get to know your demographic. It will help you to work out whether your demographic is showing sufficient levels of interest in your products to make actually developing your products worthwhile. It gives you an honest and reliable picture of your concept’s potential in the current market climate. It lets you know how much disposable income your target audience has. It lets you know how they like their products packaged and presented to them. It gives you all sorts of information that can help you to appeal to your demographic. So, make sure that your market research is thorough!
Know What Terms Your Audience Are Searching For
Once you’ve identified your product and have conducted market research, you can start selling your product. But how will you ensure that your target demographic know that it exists? Most small businesses now start out online, but the web is full to the brim of information and you are going to have to make sure that you take active steps to introduce your brand and its products to the consumers you have targeted. The best way to do this is to engage with SEO.
SEO stands for search engine optimisation and is a process that helps to place your website as high in search engine results as possible. When consumers search for something online, they will type keywords into the search bar and then browse one of the first few sites that appear. So, you need to know what they’re searching for by conducting strategic keyword research. Once you know what they’re searching for, incorporate these words into various aspects of your webpage. Include them in product titles, product descriptions, blog posts, linked social media posts and more. Search engines will pick up on this and will start to display your page in the list of results presented to your demographic! They can then click the link, be directed to your page, and be exposed to your brand.
Make Use of Social Media
Ranking highly in search engine results is one great way to help your target demographic to find your products. But another way is to make use of social media in a professional way. Nowadays, people are using social media for extended periods of time each day.
The most popular platforms tend to be Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Instagram is perhaps best for business. This is because it is a largely visual platform so is a great space to showcase your goods in their best light. Finding your target demographic on Instagram is also extremely simple. You just need to find a social media influencer who is popular amongst your demographic and collaborate with them. Some will expect payment. Others will accept payment in the form of free products.
When they post on their feed, their followers (your demographic) will see their use of your brand, their recommendation of your brand, or whatever else you have agreed. This is a great way of getting people to see you and be aware of you.
It’s extremely important to be aware of and to understand your target demographic. Hopefully, the above information has helped you to see this! Try to incorporate the recommended steps into your business plan as soon as possible. This will help you to introduce your brand to your target demographic and increase sales as a result as soon as possible!
