To find your target audience, start with the people who already buy from you, not the ones you imagine. Gather information from customers, enquiries, reviews and searches, find what they have in common and write it down on one page. That page is your buyer persona: a short, realistic portrait of the customer you want most.
“Women aged 25 to 45 in Athens” is not an audience. It is an ad targeting filter. Your audience is defined by the need, by the moment they start looking for a solution and by the reasons they hesitate, and you only find these in real data.
Where to find data about your audience
Most businesses already have plenty of information. It is just scattered. Look in six places:
- Your customers: who bought in recent months, what they bought, how often and from which area. If you sell to businesses, what size and sector they are and which role made the first contact.
- Enquiries: what people write in forms, emails and messages. The words they use are the words you should use too.
- Reviews, both your own and your competitors'. The positive ones tell you what people value, the negative ones what they fear.
- Searches: the terms in Search Console and in your search campaigns show the words people search with and which stage they are at.
- Statistics: Analytics, social media insights and Google Business Profile statistics show device, area and times of day.
- Your front-line people: those who answer the phone, sell in the store or handle customer service know the questions that are never written down anywhere.
If you can, also have five to ten short conversations with customers. Ask what they were looking for before they found you, what else they considered, what made them decide and what nearly stopped them. Do not ask whether they like the product: they will politely say yes. Work with aggregated data and do not copy customers' personal data into documents that get passed around.
A simple buyer persona template
A persona does not need a stock photo and a list of hobbies. It needs whatever affects the decision. A template in eight fields:
- Who they are: their role or stage of life, not just their age. For example “owner of a small hotel” or “parent looking for a gift”.
- What they want to achieve: the need, written in their own words.
- The moment: what is happening when they start looking. A breakdown, a celebration, a new store, a bad experience with their previous provider.
- How they search: which words they type, who they ask, where they look.
- What makes them hesitate: price, time, risk, lack of trust or the fact that they have to convince someone else.
- What convinces them: samples of work, reviews, a clear price, a guarantee, a quick reply.
- Who decides: the person themselves, their partner, their manager, the accounts department.
- The source: where each field comes from. If something is an assumption, write it down as an assumption.
Most small and medium-sized businesses need two or three personas, not ten. If you have many, half of them usually differ only in age, not in need.
Example: the persona of a hypothetical e-shop
The following is a hypothetical example, to show you how the template is filled in, and it does not relate to a real client. An e-shop selling handmade candles looks at its orders, messages and reviews and sees that a large share of purchases are gifts.
- Who: an office worker buying a gift for a colleague or a friend.
- Moment: a few days before a name day or a birthday, usually on their phone.
- How they search: “handmade gift”, “gift for a woman” with a price limit, ideas on Instagram.
- Hesitation: will it arrive on time? Will it look nice when it is unwrapped?
- What convinces them: a clear delivery date, a photo of the gift packaging, a card with a message.
This persona immediately changes three things. The message moves from “natural soy candle” to “a gift that arrives on time, ready to give”. The product photos gain a shot with the gift packaging. And the advertising intensifies before the holidays, with messages for people looking for a gift.
How your audience changes messages and channels
A persona is only valuable if it changes decisions. Before every campaign, piece of copy or photo shoot, check four points:
- Message: does it answer the persona's need and hesitation, in the words the persona uses?
- Channel: if the persona is already looking for a solution, Google search comes first. If they do not yet know they need it, you reach them on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.
- Content: what do they need to see in order to trust you? Samples, behind the scenes, reviews, instructions.
- Landing page: can they find the answers to their hesitations without searching?
Review your personas every six to twelve months, or sooner if something big changes, such as a new product, a new price or a new market. Keep them in a shared document that everyone who writes, designs or advertises for you can see. In THPAUL's marketing strategy work, the audience, messages and positioning are defined at the start, before the channels, budget and calendar.
Frequently asked questions
What is a target audience?+
A target audience is the group of people who have the need you meet and whom you want to reach first. It is defined not only by age and location, but by the need, the moment they look for a solution and whatever makes them hesitate. You define it best from the data of the customers you already have.
What is a buyer persona?+
A buyer persona is a short portrait of the typical customer you want, written from real data. It describes who they are, what they want to achieve, how they search, what makes them hesitate and what convinces them. It gives you a shared basis for writing messages and choosing channels.
How do I find my audience if I am just starting out?+
If you do not have customers yet, start with assumptions and test them quickly. Talk to people who fit your assumption, read competitors' reviews and see what searches exist for your solution. Once you have your first customers, correct the persona with real data.
How many buyer personas do I need?+
For most small and medium-sized businesses, two or three buyer personas are enough. Each persona should differ in its need or in the way it decides, not just in age. If nothing changes in the message or the channel, you do not need a separate persona.