A target audience is the specific group of people you’re trying to reach with your product, service, or message. They share certain traits—like age, job, location, habits, or problems—that make them more likely to care about what you’re offering. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, you focus on the people most likely to listen, click, or buy. It’s about aiming with intention, not shouting into the void.
There’s a temptation, especially early on, to think the work is about you. Your site. Your business. Your service. And maybe at first it is. The logo matters. The tone, the font, the name. All of it feels important.
But sooner or later, you hit a wall.
You write content that no one reads. You run ads that don’t convert. You post online and wait, and wait, and wait—for what, exactly?
Applause? Bookings? Sales?
It doesn’t come. Not because your product is bad. Not because you didn’t try hard enough. But because you aimed at everyone and hit no one.
You didn’t know who you were speaking to.
It’s not a guess
Your audience is not a fantasy you make up after a glass of wine and a gut feeling.
They are real people. With jobs, frustrations, inboxes full of clutter, and a hundred things to do before lunchtime. If you don’t know what keeps them awake at night, you won’t know what words will stop their scrolling.
So, where do you start?
Talk less. Watch more.
Look at who’s already buying from you or others in your space.
Who are they? What questions are they asking online? What forums do they post in? What brands do they follow? What sort of tone do they respond to? You don’t need a psychology degree. You need to pay attention.
If you’re selling noise-cancelling headphones, your audience might not care about acoustic specs. They might just want some quiet during the school run.
If you’re selling SEO services, your audience probably doesn’t care about algorithms. They care that no one is finding their site. They care that the phone’s not ringing.
So go to where they complain. Reddit. Quora. Blog comment sections. Product reviews. Watch what they say when they’re not being sold to.
There’s your start.
Use what’s already in your hands
You probably have data. Even if it’s basic.
Website traffic. Email open rates. Social media comments. Questions people ask when they call.
Stop skimming. Start reading properly. Read like a novelist, not a marketer.
Why did they click that link? Why did they ignore the others? Why did someone bounce off your homepage after five seconds?
They’re telling you something. All you have to do is listen without filtering it through what you wish were true.
Create a sketch, not a sculpture
Forget the jargon about buyer personas. You don’t need to give your audience a name like “Eco-Conscious Emma” or “Luxury-Seeking Luke.” That stuff is filler. It flatters the boardroom and confuses the writer.
Instead, jot down a few facts. Real ones.
- What problem do they have that you solve?
- How much money are they willing to spend?
- What will make them stop and read your next sentence?
You don’t need a ten-page deck. You need a short, sharp profile that stays in your head while you write.
You’re not writing for the internet. You’re writing for someone specific.
Narrow is better than wide
It feels safer to keep your options open. To try and appeal to everyone just enough to not be ruled out.
But that’s not how people make decisions. They don’t want a bit of everything. They want the thing that sounds like it was written for them.
That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you commit. When you say: this is who we help. This is who we don’t. That second part matters.
You don’t need a crowd. You need a fit.
Use their words, not yours
The biggest mistake? Using your own words for their problem.
You say “visibility.” They say, “Why doesn’t my website show up on Google?”
You say “conversion rate.” They say, “no one’s buying.”
There’s a quiet arrogance in pushing the industry language onto people just trying to solve a basic need. Don’t do it.
Steal their words. From their emails, their searches, and their frustrations. Then put those words in your content.
It feels messy. But it works.
Ask. Then shut up.
If you’ve got an audience, even a small one, ask them what they care about. Why they bought. Why they almost didn’t.
Then stop talking.
Listen to what they say, not what you want to hear. Don’t correct them. Don’t explain.
You have to work with their version of the story, which is the only version that sells.
And finally, be ready to change
Your audience is not a statue. They move. They age. Their problems shift.
So go back to the data. Read the reviews again. Check the search terms. Listen in on the emails and the calls.
Don’t build your whole strategy on last year’s guess. People change. So should your content.
Contact Us
If you’re tired of guessing who your content is for—or why it’s not working—we can help.
We build SEO strategies rooted in real people, not marketing theory. Contact us, and we’ll show you how.
