You have probably heard of Target Markets and Target Audiences and often these words are used interchangeably but they are in fact slightly different.
Target Market vs Target Audiences
To create any sort of meaningful marketing you will first want to work out who your target audience is. Without this information, you will be creating adverts to connect with everyone, and if you are trying to connect with everyone, you will probably not connect with anyone!
If you know the kind of people you’re talking to, you’ll know how to speak to them
First of all, let’s look at the difference between target markets and target audiences
Target Markets
The broader range of people who use your products and services.
Target Audiences
A specific set within your market or those who purchase on behalf of your target market.
An example could be that your business sells Jewellery
Your target market may be pretty varied and includes those aged 25-75, male and female, both local to your shop and also online who are looking for either a new jewellery piece or a repair
Within this, however, you will have some target audiences that can be used for advertising such as:
Newly engaged couples looking for wedding rings
Collectors of Gentleman’s watches
Those who already have jewellery but require a stone being fixed.
You may also produce advertising for a 4th audience which is someone who isn’t the end-users. An example would be someone buying for their partners birthday or Christmas.
All of these need a different marketing message
The 4th example here, an audience who is not the end-user, you will notice fairly regularly. Kids activity or food items often fall into this category. The child may be the market but the audience for the advertising is their parents as it is them who has the purchasing power.
Hopefully, that gives you some insight into why even if your target market is very varied you should still break it down into lots of individual audiences.
