Who is Your Audience?

By Suzanne Huggins

Suzanne Huggins reminds us that knowing your audience is essential to successful communication campaigns in a post-pandemic world.

The pandemic years have been an opportunity to devote more attention to professional development. I recently completed the 6-week Business Design Thinking program through the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. The time and financial investment were worth it if you are considering professional development in 2022 – I acquired new knowledge and skills to apply in my organizational change management role.

The program also re-affirmed the irreplaceable value professional communicators can contribute to project teams in understanding target audiences and their needs – especially in this rapidly-changing, post-pandemic environment. One of my big “ah-hah” moments during the program was the tremendous advantage communicators have in planning and executing organizational change. The training and experience we bring in understanding target audiences is invaluable, and it is being recognized in MBA-level programs as necessary to realize successful business transformation.

Project managers and product owners want to understand every detail of their target audience (“who”), plus why, how, and when their target audience will need and want new products being developed. Professional communicators are uniquely qualified to provide these details. Our observational and field research skills, our knowledge of current tools and trends, natural curiosity to ask questions and notice details – all are essential to fill in the gaps for project stakeholders to deliver relevant end products.

Here are some key questions you should keep in mind when conducting audience analysis:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are their priorities? What motivates their behaviours?
• What data is available about your target audience (e.g., demographics, urban or suburban, shopping preferences, drivers vs. walking vs. public transit, etc.)?
• How do they prefer to receive information? What data is available to validate findings?

You can collect this data through a combination of behaviour analysis, targeted surveys, interviewing and field research. Online research and document reviews will add supporting data to your research, and either validate your initial findings or reveal gaps or discrepancies where more observation and research is needed to complete the picture.

In a great blog post from AdRoll, they offer the following avenues to explore and learn more about your target audience.

1: Social Media Analytics
2: Website Analytics
3: Your Own CRM Platform
4: Surveys
5: Advertising Platform Look-Alike Tools
6: Social Listening
7: Your Competition

Based on your findings, you may adjust your communication plan to better suit your audience’s preferences, and increase the likelihood your audience will digest key messages and adopt new behaviours.

Communication professionals can deliver not only metrics about the target audience, but also a deeper understanding about what drives audience behaviour. We understand and can demonstrate a target is everything – not everyone.