‘Target Audience’ sounds pretty scary and intense, doesn’t it?
Very ‘business-y’, uninspiring, and like you need an entire marketing team to help you figure this out…
But here’s the good news – You don’t!
And it can actually be pretty fun once you get into it!
It can almost be like making a new best friend…
So, in today’s post, I’m going to be sharing the non-jargon deal on what an ‘Ideal Customer’ actually is, what you need to get clear on, and how this clarity can be the best thing for you and your art business!
Tackling Target Audiences: What actually is an Ideal Customer?
FIRST UP – Let’s tackle the phrase ‘Target Audiences’.
What do we mean by ‘Target Audiences’? 🤷♀️
As human beings (unique in our own weird and wonderful ways), we are all incredibly different, so no singular message would resonate with every one of us.
Therefore, to truly ensure that a message is as engaging as possible, it is best to focus on little niche groups of people that are connected through either their common values, interests, or habits etc. However, you choose!
Let me give you a little example… 👇
Let’s say, I see an ad pop up on a social media platform for Jackson’s Art Supplies or Cass Art, telling me that there is a sale on. I am interested as I am an artist, it could be useful, but there are lots of supplies on there, I could take it or leave it.
Then, just after, I see an advert for Liquitex, similarly telling me that there is a sale on, but this time it is specifically for their ‘Heavy Body Acrylics’.
Now, I hear you say, ‘Art supply stores are already pretty niche’ – and yes, they are! I have to be an artist to be interested, however, as an artist whose main medium is painting with Heavy Body Liquitex Acrylics, I feel like the second ad was written personally for me!
Therefore, I am ten-times more likely to click on the second advert.
In the place of the ad creator, I will have a much higher success-rate by writing ads specifically to a niche group of people who paint, use acrylics and love Liquitex, as it will be more personalised, then if I just create an ad to a much larger group where their only commonality is being an artist.
Any one little niche group can be called a ‘target audience’ – they are a specific audience that we would like to reach and serve!
A privately owned little business (like yourself if you have just started out as a professional artist) or large corporation, could have one singular target audience, or they could have multiple.
But, whoever said ‘Less is more’, in my opinion hit the nail on the head.👌
It’s much better to start small and then grow.
So, the first step is always thinking, researching and deciding who your target audience is going to be!
Start out with just one and go from there.
Build out your target audience with elements such as: Location, age range, maybe their occupation or education, then their lifestyle, interests, values, and purchasing habits.
You should end up with something like…
“Corporate women between the ages of 30 to 40, who live in London and who have a passion for interior design.”
👍
Not sure if you’ve missed something before figuring out your Target Audience and Ideal Customer? (check these out..)
- The Top 7 Mistakes that Artists Make When Going Professional
- The 10 Things You Need to be Doing to Make a Living from Your Artwork
- 5 Key Things to Know About Your Ideal Customer
NEXT UP – So, what actually is an ‘Ideal Customer’?
Okay, so you’ve decided upon your initial niche group of people that you would like to reach and you are super excited about serving them and showing (and selling!) them your artwork, and/or art services…
Firstly, congratulations! That is one MAJOR task accomplished! (I am sending you a round of applause 👏)
The next step is to bring this audience into a very tangible, personable reality so that you can make sure that they are always forefront of your marketing with 100% clarity! (and so that they do not turn into an abstract concept that you wrote out and promptly forgot about, just because you read a blog one day that said you should…)
Trust me – We’ve all been there! 🤦♀️
So, let’s make sure that once we have done the work of creating our target audience (group of people we are excited to serve) we will not forget and that we will be able to craft messages that REALLY engage, and sound as if they were personally tailored to them.
We do this by creating an Ideal Customer Avatar (some call this a ‘profile’ instead, but the gist is the same).
Grab my free Ideal Customer Avatar Worksheet to fill in here! 👇
You create one fictional person that is your absolute DREAM of an Ideal Customer from your Target Audience, the one that you just cannot wait to sell, work with or communicate with again.
Describe them in as much detail as possible, give them a name, list their age, profession, family, lifestyle, interests, hobbies, values, where they shop, purchasing habits, things they read, social media they use etc. The more detail, the better.
I even suggest (especially as we are creatives) to DRAW THEM! (or sketch, paint, or collage them, however you like!) ✏️
One of my own Ideal Customer Avatars for my artwork is Carol, and I know everything about her. What she likes, dislikes, and the things she values most about collecting art.
Every time I am crafting a marketing message or piece of content for that target audience, I just imagine that I am writing it directly to Carol, so that she will see it and think “that is EXACTLY what I was looking for.”
Quick Note: I should also mention that if you have created your Target Audience group from existing customers, which works just as well if not better obviously as they have already bought from you, then just choose one current customer who you think really embodies that Target Audience and its commonalities.
So that is the difference between a Target Audience and an Ideal Customer!
I promise you, it is so worth the initial work – but to try to make this even easier for you, I created a FREE Ideal Customer Avatar Worksheet for you where all you have to do is to fill in!
Get the Ideal Customer Avatar Worksheet here.
5 Key Things to Know About Your Ideal Customer
(check out the video below)
