Understanding Your Audience

As we saw in the Marketing Mix, all of the Ps are dependent on you understanding your target audience. You can’t effectively meet the needs of your audience unless you know who they are. This isn’t to say that you won’t reach people outside your target audience, but your energy and efforts will be focused on your target audience.

We can adapt strategies from marketing in a business setting to help us understand how to reach students:

1. Research: What does existing research say about specific demographics of your audience?
2. Comparison: Look at people doing similar work, whether that’s another program at Highline or a similar program at another institution. What do they seem to be doing, and how does it reflect their audience?
3. Create a persona: Conceptualize someone who fits in your target audience. What do they care about? What do they need? We want to be careful about stereotyping or making too broad generalizations, but you can do this visualization in a respectful way.
   1. For example, if you are thinking about students who are parents, you might conceptualize a student who is balancing studies, working, and taking care of their kids. This person needs flexibility in accessing resources, support staff who are responsive, and a space where their kids would be welcome if they accompany the student.
4. Get to know your audience personally: You’re of course already doing this! What lessons can you take from actual students that you know and their concerns, hopes, or needs?
5. Monitor social media: If you’re already using social media for your program, pay attention to how people are interacting with your accounts. Are there particular posts that get a lot of responses? What kinds of things do people comment? If you don’t have accounts for your program, take a look at relevant accounts, such as the main Highline College accounts or profiles for organizations related to your program.
   1. Related to this is to pay attention to what your audience is interested in on social media. Are a lot of students sharing posts from a particular account? Consider following that account for yourself to stay informed on what interests them.
6. Ask them: Perhaps the simplest way to find out more about your audience is to ask them! This can be done with periodic surveys that ask the exact questions you want to know. You can also be creative with this, especially to avoid survey fatigue. Instead of sending out a lengthy survey, ask your audience a single question on social media, using a poll on Facebook or in an Instagram story.
7. Experiment with your content: Make an educated guess on a strategy to reach your audience and try it out. Then observe and see how the audience reacts and make adjustments to future strategies.

Sources:

https://marketingland.com/7-ways-get-know-audience-better-181862
https://blog.hubspot.com/service/know-your-audience

More from the Marketing Toolkit

What is Marketing?
The Marketing Mix
>Understanding Your Audience
Media Options
Basics of Graphic Design
Social Media