How To Identify Your Video Marketing’s Target Customer

Welcome to the second installment of our Video Marketing Toolkit series! We’re looking at essential elements in your video marketing strategy. Got a question or suggestion? Shoot us an email! “The odds of hitting your target go up dramatically when you aim at it.”  Mal Pancoast Marketing tactics vary. There are always a wide variety of opinions on the best way to go about selling your product or service. Throughout all marketing philosophies, though, there is one who is always heralded above all the rest:

The Target Customer.

While marketers may differ on how to go about finding your target audience, most will tell you to be specific. It can seem like a daunting task (you want me to shave my customer base down to ONE person?!) but the more specific you are, the more direct your messaging will be. In video marketing, this is incredibly important to the process of creating your video. Have you ever watched a video or ad for a product and thought, “Dang, that commercial seems like it was made just for me!” Whether it’s the colors used, the tone taken or the way it addressed all the objections that popped up in your head, effective video marketing that makes you feel special is a good indicator that you are exactly that brand’s target customer. Let’s take Dollar Shave Club for example. For young, millennial men, who are obsessed with the Internet and silly Internet humor, this commercial probably hits all of the marks they need before entering a subscription service.   The Dollar Shave Club ad is always used in video marketing discussions, and for good reason. It’s simple, smart and funny — and it addresses its target customer head-on. To help you get specific and create great video content marketing like Dollar Shave Club, here are our top tips for identifying your own target customer.

1. Find Out Who’s Buying Now

The simplest indicator of who is interested in your product or service is who is purchasing it now. Look at your customer base as it exists today, and identify key demographics:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Occupation
• Income bracket
• Education

Understanding your customers as they exist now will help you find commonalities that will lead you to where to focus your attention later. If you’re a startup, you may have to look more at interest than sales. Try collecting leads in the form of email addresses, or check out the demographics of your organic followings on sites like Facebook or Instagram. These will give you a heads-up as to where your business should be headed.

2. Evaluate The Lifestyle Of Your Target Customer

Sure, knowing all about who they are and where they live is great, but sales isn’t just about appealing to someone based on their income level. Sales requires a deep understanding of human psychology, and part of that is understanding the interests and lifestyles of your target audience. Our recommendation at this step is to be forward: ask. Consider contacting a few previous clients and interviewing them about their lifestyle as it relates to your brand. See if you can connect any dots like common motivators, personalities or objections. A knowledge of the background of your target audience will help you to create a specifically tailored ad or video content.

3. Create A Specific Target Customer Persona

Now that you understand your customer base and what makes them tick, the best thing to do is create a specific, named persona that will help you when making all marketing decisions moving forward. For example, Dollar Shave Club’s target persona might be named Jake. He could be a 25-year-old working in finance living comfortably in the $50,000-$75,000 income bracket. He would be someone who is digitally native, which means he grew up online and is extremely comfortable navigating an online space. Jake may be motivated by things like humor, corporate personality and supporting start-up businesses. Dollar Shave Club’s monthly payment model might appeal strongly to someone like Jake, who needs to look professional at work but isn’t ready to settle into a corporate, “boring” routine. He certainly responds well to profanity. Now take a look at your own business, those interviews from before and construct a specific target persona. Moving forward with your video marketing, how can you appeal directly to them? Is it in the style of voice used, or the emotional motivators applied during the video or ad? As usual, if you need extra guidance (or just want to chat about video!) you can reach out to us at any time. Just schedule a call with our expert sales team by clicking here. Want to learn more from our video marketing toolkit? Check out how to nail down your unique selling proposition here!