Why do you need to define your target audience?
There are roughly 8 billion people in the world. Most businesses don’t care about 7.99999 billion of these people; the businesses only care about 0.00001 billion (or fewer) people who will buy or recommend the business’ product or service.
Your content (or proposal) needs to resonate with these people. The others don’t matter.
Before creating content, you should define your target audience. While there are a variety of ways to do this, the important part is to do it. Then you can fine-tune your message to address that audience.
Additional information on target audience
Here is a sampling of what John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket has written on the topic of target audience.
(9/4/2025) Revisiting Brand Archetypes with My Good Buddy Gemini
I’ve been interested in brand archetypes for years. You’ll recall my first post on the topic, after which I used Kaye Putnam’s quiz to determine my archetypes: primarily Sage, with some others.
This morning I attended a webinar, sponsored by Verizon and under the auspices of SCORE and BizHuub, on the topic of budget-friendly branding. It was presented by Warrick and Takicha Roundtree.
After some preliminary discussions, the Roundtrees focused on the topic of the 12 brand archetypes. They then encouraged us to explore our brand archetypes, with the help of our favorite generative AI tool.
So what have I learned from the Roundtrees’ prompts and Google Gemini’s responses?
Well, at least my Sage and Royalty/Ruler archetypes are on, um, target with my audience.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/09/04/revisiting-brand-archetypes-with-my-good-buddy-gemini/
(8/19/2025) How to (Almost) Sell Anything to Anyone
I’ll confess that I’m haunting online conversations about the Kettering Chick-fil-A age assurance issue and adding a technical spin to the conversations.
But I’m not the only one doing this….
While I give the emailer an A+ for effort, the emailer didn’t do his research on his prospect. His prospect, me:
- Focuses his business on the U.S. (with one exception that you may have seen me mention).
- Is a sole proprietor, and therefore does not handle payroll in any country.
Good effort though, even though I’m not one of the emailer’s hungry people (target audience).
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/08/19/how-to-almost-sell-anything-to-anyone/
(8/9/2025) Pharmacy Product Marketing to the Proper Hungry People
Health marketing leaders know that pharmacy product marketing can be complex because of the many stakeholders involved. Depending upon the product or service, your hungry people (target audience) may consist of multiple parties.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/08/09/pharmacy-product-marketing-to-the-proper-hungry-people/
(6/17/2025) Biometric Marketers: What About WRITER Personas?
While there are drawbacks to using personas, they are useful in both content marketing and proposal work when you want to tailor your words to resonate with particular types of readers (target audiences, or hungry people).
I still love my example from 2021 in which a mythical Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by my hometown of Ontario, California for an Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). The proposal manager had to bear the following target audiences (hungry people) in mind for different parts of the proposal.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/06/17/biometric-marketers-what-about-writer-personas/
(5/26/2025) Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet…in the UK
I needed a blog post idea for Monday, when my U.S. “hungry people” will be satiating themselves at Memorial Day cookouts.
So I thought of a 1970s feel-good U.S. commercial that makes no sense to our friends (if they still like us) across the pond.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/05/26/baseball-hot-dogs-apple-pie-and-chevroletin-the-uk/
(5/4/2025) Too Many Trees in the Forrester?
I’m not a client, so I don’t have a login. But Forrester’s PMM Model appears to cover some important topics.
- Proposals.
- Market requirements.
- Dashboards.
- Defining your hungry people, although Forrester uses the legacy term target audience. (Hey, I try.)
- Sales targets.
- Competitive differentiation.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/05/04/too-many-trees-in-the-forrester/
(3/7/2025) Should Thought Leadership Content Adopt a Single Point of View?
Perhaps the best way to attract your hungry people (target audience) is to convey a single message.
In my example, your single message may be that gray balls are so prehistoric, red balls are hot, and you should go red.
Clear. Unencumbered. Persuasive.
Alternatively, your hungry people may want to consider all the facts.
Returning to my example, your thought leadership piece may list all the reasons to switch from gray to red rubber balls, then list all the reasons why NOT to make the switch.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/03/07/should-thought-leadership-content-adopt-a-single-point-of-view/
(2/4/2025) The Wildebeest Speaks All Over The Place
…your “hungry people” (target audience) may be dispersed among several social channels. From my personal experience, I know that some people only read Bredemarket content in my blog, some only read my content on LinkedIn, some only read my content on Facebook (yes, it’s true; one of Bredemarket’s long-term champions primarily engages with me on Facebook), some only on Instagram, and so forth.
What would happen if I decided to can most of my social channels and only post TikTok videos? I’d lose a lot of engagement and business.
Even if I concentrated on LinkedIn only, which seems like a logical tactic for a B2B service provider, I would lose out. Do you know how many people on Threads NEVER read LinkedIn? I don’t want to lose those people.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/02/04/the-wildebeest-speaks-all-over-the-place/
(1/20/2025) Finding and Filtering For Your B2B Firm’s Hungry People
How can B2B companies—mine, or yours—find niche prospects that are “hungry” to do business with them—your target audience?
By marketing their products in ways that attract their hungry people and filter out the others.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/01/20/finding-and-filtering-for-your-b2b-firms-hungry-people/
(1/11/2025) An Eventful Monday
- I start by introducing the subject of “marketing and writing services” and identifying MY hungry people (target audience).
- Then I explain, in detail, what Bredemarket’s “CPA” services are NOT…and what they ARE.
- I briefly touch on the questions I ask my clients. If you’ve read Bredemarket’s “Seven Questions Your Content Creator Will Ask You,” you’re already familiar with these questions.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/01/11/an-eventful-monday/
(1/2/2025) Lack of Differentiation Limits Your Available Talent
So be sure to differentiate…as long as the differentiation resonates with your hungry people (target audience). If your audience is repelled by your differentiation, then that’s a problem with your customer focus.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2025/01/02/lack-of-differentiation-limits-your-available-talent/
(7/19/2024) For Your Reading Pleasure: Rewrite, Shorten, and Simplify
After I had moved through the three steps of rewriting, shortening, and simplifying the original content, I had a repurposed piece of content that was much more attractive to the “hungry people” (target audience) who were going to read it.
These people wouldn’t fall asleep while reading the content, and they wouldn’t be offended by some word that didn’t apply to them (such as “mugshot”).
So don’t be afraid to repurpose—even for a completely different market.
More at: https://bredemarket.com/2024/07/19/for-your-reading-pleasure-rewrite-shorten-and-simplify/
(5/3/2024) Content Marketing and Proposals are Pretty Much the Same
I’m going to list four aspects of a particular document, and you tell me whether I’m talking about a piece of marketing content, or a proposal.
- The document focuses on the customer’s needs.
- The document describes benefits the customer will realize.
- The document targets one or more sets of people hungry for the solution.
- The document shall be in Aptos 12 point, single spaced, with 1 inch margins, and shall not exceed 20 pages.
Guess what? From that description you CAN’T tell if it’s a piece of content or a proposal.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2024/05/03/content-marketing-and-proposals-are-pretty-much-the-same/
(4/9/2024) Video: Differentiating Your Company and Your Products/Services
This video obviously discusses differentiation, but also discusses customer focus as well as the seven questions your content creator should ask you before writing (including benefits and target audience). Not only are the seven questions good for creating content, but they are also good for differentiating content. (For example, why is your product/service so great while all of your competitors’ products/services suck?)
More at https://bredemarket.com/2024/04/09/video-differentiating-your-company-and-your-products-services/
(12/29/2023) I’m Questioning Everything About Target Audiences, Including the Name
As we close out 2023, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things.
Will 2024 be like 2021, in which the new year (2024) offers mimimal improvement over the preceding year (2023)? Reply hazy, try again later. (“And while tech layoffs slowed down in the summer and fall, it appears that cuts are ramping up yet again.”)
What new ways will we develop to better ghost people? Or will the old ways of ghosting continue to dominate the (lack of) conversation? (And if the person who ghosts is the ghoster, and the person who is ghosted is the ghostee…who is the ghost?)
Most importantly for this post, I’ve been thinking about the following: why are target audiences TARGETS, and why are they AUDIENCES? And is the term “target audience” the best description? (TL;DR: No.) If not, what’s a better description? (TL;DR: I don’t know.)
(10/24/2023) You’re Doing It Wrong™: One Piece of Collateral Isn’t Enough
The 31 pieces of content, published both through the Bredemarket channels (see above) and via my personal channels (including my jebredcal blog and my LinkedIn page), all increased the chance that SOMEONE would see the underlying message: “Your prospects don’t care about your technology.” Each piece of content was tuned for the particular channel and its target audience, ensuring that the message would resonate.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/10/24/youre-doing-it-wrong-one-piece-of-collateral-isnt-enough/
(8/17/2023) There’s a Reason Why “Tech” is a Four-Letter Word
Finally, who is the target audience for the technology? I don’t want to read through an entire marketing blurb and order a basic hammer, only to discover later that the product won’t help me keep two diamonds together but is really intended for wood. So don’t send an email to jewelers about your hammer. They have their own tools.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/08/17/theres-a-reason-why-tech-is-a-four-letter-word/
(7/16/2023) Which Words Should Your Marketers Use? My Four Suggestions.
For example, a writer who is writing content for the biometric industry will use different terms than a writer who is writing content for art collectors because of the differences in the two target audiences.
- Biometric readers (the people, not the devices) care about matching accuracy measurements, such as those compiled by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in its Face Recognition Vendor Test, or as measured in agency-managed benchmarks. (Mike French’s example.) They often respond to quantitative things, although more high-level concepts like “keeping citizens safe from repeat offenders” (a public safety-related benefit) also resonate.
- Art collectors care about more qualitative things, such as not being scared of handing over their dream to a commissioned artist whose work will inspire affection. (Well, unless the collector is an art investor and not an art lover; investors use different terminology than lovers.)
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/07/16/which-words/
(7/12/2023) We Don’t Need Customer Focus Because Our Product Is So Great
After all, aren’t the benefits of a great product obvious at first glance?
If we stop with the claptrap of understanding our target audiences and pain points and stuff, and just focus on ourselves and our great product, we’ll have a clearly focused message…
…um…
…that no one will give a hoot about.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/07/12/we-dont-need-customer-focus-because-our-product-is-so-great/
(7/5/2023) Five Truths About Your Target Audiences
In the process of improving my pillar page, I’ve gleaned five truths about target audiences:
- You need to define at least one target audience.
- It’s not illegal to have multiple target audiences.
- Different target audiences get different messages.
- You can create personas, or you can not create personas. Whatever floats your boat.
- Target audience definition focuses your content.
I’ll discuss each of these truths and suggest how they can improve your firm’s content.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/07/05/5-truths-target-audiences/
(6/30/2023) Applying the “Six Questions” to LinkedIn Self-promotion
| Target Audience? | Identity companies hiring Senior Product Marketing Managers and Senior Content Marketing Managers | Identity companies contracting with content marketing consultants |
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/06/30/applying-the-six-questions-to-linkedin-self-promotion/
(4/12/2023) Inbound Marketing for Tech
Inbound marketing is all about creating content that is tailored to the needs and interests of your target audience, and using that content to attract potential customers to your website.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/04/12/inbound-marketing-for-tech/
(3/19/2023) How Bredemarket’s Six Questions Support Strategic Content Marketing
Let me clue you in on a little secret: once your content marketing expert has asked the six questions for the first piece of content, the kickoff is much quicker for subsequent pieces of content.
Chances are the basic “why” and “how” won’t change, although some of the later questions such as the target audience could change for each individual piece of content.
So without explicitly trying to do so, the six questions have created a de facto content marketing strategy. After creating five pieces of content, you’ve essentially defined your company’s mission, purpose, and differentiators, and may have defined as many as five separate vertical markets along the way.
(2/26/2023) 4 Actions for IE Firms Needing Rapid Written Content
(from action 2)
Bredemarket iteratively provides two review copies of the draft content within three days per review. (The number of review cycles and review time must agree with any due dates.) The draft content advances your goal, communicates your benefits, and speaks to your target audience in your preferred tone of voice. Relevant examples and key words/hashtags are included.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/02/26/4-actions-for-ie-firms-needing-rapid-written-content/
(2/1/2023) Sage Advice on the Benefits of Local Content Marketing Services
By providing services that are tailored to the specific needs of a local community, businesses can reach their target audience more effectively. By understanding the unique culture and values of a region, businesses can craft stories that resonate with the people who live there.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/02/01/sage-advice-on-the-benefits-of-local-content-marketing-services/
(12/30/2022) Bredemarket’s Two Step Target Segment (Persona) Definition Process
As professional marketers will tell you, using a real person rather than a constructed persona to define your target audience (or target segment) is an absolutely terrible thing to do.
But be terrible.
For some of you, I recommend that you consider using a real person as a starting point.
Large multi-million dollar businesses can devote the resources to the surveys, interviews, analytics, and other steps necessary for thorough persona creation.
But what if you’re a small business and don’t have the time or resources to do all that?
Don’t tell anyone, but you can cheat.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2022/12/30/bredemarkets-two-step-target-segment-persona-definition-process/
(10/30/2022) Six questions your content creator should ask you
- If you’re a lollipop maker and you’re writing for kids who buy lollipops in convenience stores, you’ll write one way.
- If you’re a lollipop maker and you’re writing to the convenience stores who could carry your lollipops, you’ll write another way.
Now sometimes content creators get fancy and create personas and all that (Jane Smith is a 54 year old single white owner of a convenience store in a rural area with an MBA and a love for Limp Bizkit), but the essential thing is that you understand who you want to read your content.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2022/10/30/six-questions-your-content-creator-should-ask-you/
(5/11/2021) Communicating benefits (not features) to identity customers (Part 2 of 3)
If I am going to sell an ABIS to the city of Ontario, California (sorry Thales), these are the types of customers (or target audiences) that I have to cover with separate benefit statements:
- The field investigators who run across biometric evidence at the scene of a crime, such as a knife with a fingerprint on it or a video feed showing someone breaking into a liquor store.
- The examiners who look at crime scene evidence and use it to identify individuals.
- The people who capture biometrics from arrested individuals at livescan stations.
- The information technologies (IT) people who are responsible for ensuring that Ontario, California’s biometric data is sent to San Bernardino County, the state of California, perhaps other systems such as the Western Identification Network, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- The purchasing agent who has to make sure that all of Ontario’s purchases comply with purchasing laws and regulations.
- The privacy advocate who needs to ensure that the biometric data complies with state and national privacy laws.
- The mayor (Paul Leon as I write this), who has to deal with angry citizens asking why their catalytic converters are being stolen from their vehicles, and demanding to know what the mayor is doing about it.
- Probably a dozen other stakeholders that I haven’t talked about yet, but who are influenced by the city’s purchasing decision.
Bredemarket 