Understanding your audience can be the weak point in building your creative business. As creative soulpreneurs it’s easy for us to create products and in fact, that’s probably the easiest part of building a business for us. Marketing said products and understanding your audience, not so much. The hard work is figuring out your audience, who they are, and where they hang out online. And that’s the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating amazing, engaging, and useful content.  

Here are 6 key points for understanding your audience, so that you know exactly who you’re creating for.

1. Understanding Your Audience Demographics

This is the very basic knowledge you need to determine your audiences needs – Male, female, non-binary, gender fluid – Who are you creating your content for?

Other things you’ll want to know are how much they earn, where do they live, relationship status, likes and dislikes. What you need to know will depend on your niche, but you need a basic starting point to develop a customer avatar for your business.

Tip: If you already have sold products and or services then look at your analytics get a handle on your audience demographics.

2. Understanding Your Audience’s Values

This can be harder to determine but it’s an important question because it will determine the type of people your target market wants to buy from. You don’t want to be fake, but if you want to attract a certain demographic you’ll need to ensure that you share their values and that it’s demonstrated by the content you share.

3. Understanding Where They Get Information

This is sort of a “where do they hang out” question. Which publications do they read? What groups do they hang out in? Who do they look up to and follow on social media? This can help you find your audience faster by going straight to where they are to distribute the content you create rather than simply waiting for them to find you.

4. Understanding What Type of Content They Prefer

Does your audience like written content, video, podcasts a combo of the above? Do they love infographics or something else? You may not be sure right away, therefore, you want to repurpose the content you create into different formats so that you can collect information on which types of content your audience resonates with the most.

5. Understanding the Problems They Need Solved

If you know what problems your audience is trying to solve, you’ll have an easier time creating products, content, and solutions for them. You’ll be able to connect with them and talk to them as individuals and not just a faceless collective audience.

6. Understanding Where They Hang Out

It’s easy to assume that your audience is everywhere. That’s not exactly true. As you narrow down your target market and hone in on the demographic you want to serve, you’ll need to know where to find them online. Here are a few places you might want to look for your ideal audience:

• Social Media Platforms – There are many different social platforms that you can become involved with. However, you don’t need to be everywhere, and you shouldn’t even try to be. You should be where your audience hangs out. Which social platforms do they use?
• Groups & Forums – Today, online is all about groups and forums, and Facebook Groups are especially popular right now. If you know where your audience is hanging out on Facebook you should be there. Don’t spam groups, but do join groups that your target market joins and become an open resource.
• Podcasts – Who do they love to listen to? Can you become a guest on that show? If you can become a guest you’ll end up on their radar. This will work especially well if you can also offer a gift via a special landing page for that audience.
• Video Channels – Video is especially popular with many people. Just look at the success of TikTok and YouTube these days. Who does your audience watch? Can you develop of relationship with these channel owners, or advertise on their channels?
• Influencers – When you can find out who the influencers are in your niche, you’ll be able to get an idea of who your audience respects and follows. Watch their shows, subscribe to their newsletters and channels, and develop a relationship with the influencers your audience follows.

Final Thoughts

This might seem like a lot, but when you can put this information together, you’ll have a good understanding of who your target market is. This is the audience you’re going to create all your content, products, and services for. You’ll also eventually create subsets of this audience (segmenting) which will make content creation even easier.

*Note: This post includes affiliate links, for which I will receive a small commission should you make a purchase.