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Writer's pictureZoë Bishop

Why segmenting your audience is crucial to your marketing

9 headings to help you build a picture of your ideal clients


Whenever I work with a new client whether it’s for any of my Pinterest services, helping with content writing or as part of ongoing marketing management I always start with a buyer persona exercise. It really helps to identify right from the start who it is we’re wanting to engage with.


My aim is to finish up with a working document that gives a picture of who you are targeting in terms of these 9 headings.


#1 THE KEYWORDS THEY WILL BE SEARCHING FOR


What are the key terms your audience will search under to find the solution to their problem?


#2 ARE THEY IN THE B2B OR B2C SPACE?


How will this affect how you communicate with them? Could be helpful to know when scheduling emails for example.


#3 THEIR ATTRIBUTES


What are they like as a person?


🔸Are they very budget conscious?

🔸Are they time poor?

🔸What is their background?

🔸What stage of their career are they in?


#4 THE SPACES THEY HANG OUT IN


Where are you likely to find them?


🔸Are they in niched Facebook Groups?

🔸Do they have hundreds of Pinterest boards to save all their ideas?

🔸Do they attend virtual networking events?

🔸Do they get all their answers to everything on YouTube?

🔸 Is there a specific trade publication they read without fail every month?

🔸Is Instagram the first thing they check as soon as they wake up?


#5 THE TYPES OF CONTENT THEY'D BE INTERESTED IN SEEING AND USING


How do they like to consume content and what should it contain?

🔸Would they like a video to explain a key point or feature?

🔸Would a checklist work for them?

🔸Do they like to listen to a podcast?

🔸Are they interested in doing a FB live tutorial?


#6 THE DESIRED OUTCOMES THEY'D WANT TO SEE


What is it they want to achieve?


🔸Do they want to look amazing but not pay designer prices?

🔸Do they want to increase the amount of email names on their email marketing list?

🔸Are they scaling up their business so need additional administration support?


#7 THEIR OBJECTIONS


What are their main set of objections to not wanting to purchase your product or service?

🔸Is it budget?

🔸Is to do with not knowing enough about the benefits of your product or service?

🔸Is it because they don’t think they need it?


#8 THEIR MINDSET


What is their current way of thinking and what opinions do they hold about themselves?

🔸Are they feeling overwhelmed in business and need direction?

🔸Have they realised their business will never grown and improve if things just stay the same?

🔸Do they think marketing is a waste of money if it doesn’t deliver results immediately?

🔸Do they feel they will be left behind in their social circles if they don’t have the latest techy gadget?


#9 AND MOST IMPORTANTLY HOW THE SERVICE OR PRODUCT YOU PROVIDE CAN SPECIFICALLY HELP TO ACHIEVE THEIR DESIRED OUTCOME.


This should directly match the outcomes you’ve highlighted previously. Using the above examples your copy should look to illustrate:


🔸 How you can achieve the same look for half the cost using images and testimonials from happy customers.

🔸How you've helped similar businesses to grow their email lists using infographics, statistics and testimonials.

🔸How your services have helped businesses scale up their operation by providing much needed administration support using a case study.




If you’re able to create a document that pulls out all of the above it’s a fantastic reference point to help guide your marketing activities and messages.


Building a visual picture of the person who you’re communicating with is a great way to ensure your messaging stays consistent and on track.


It’s important to carry out this exercise for all the different audiences you communicate with so you can shape your messaging around their key pain points and objections. You can also pull out how your service or product helps them to achieve the desired outcome they are searching for which could look very different for each target segment that you serve.





I’ve rarely seen a one size fits all approach work especially with email. (Trust me I’ve seen it first hand in a previous life!) In fact it’s the opposite as you actually end up resonating with no-one, so you get zero responses.


This exercise can also help identify which platforms you should really focus on. If your ideal clients aren’t in the Instagram space it’s not worth the effort of being on that platform.


I hope this article has given you an insight into what you should know about your ideal customers.


Now you’ve read it, ask yourself the following questions:

1) Are you tailoring your own communications to the audience you are trying to engage with?

2) Are you visualising your target client and making sure you are including the types of keywords they’ll want to see?

3) Does your current messaging answer the objections you are often faced with?

4) Are you demonstrating how your product or service can help achieve the outcome your potential clients are looking for?


This is something I work on with you for all of my services.


Content writing: we start with this exercise to make sure your content will resonate with your target audience.


Pinterest management: I use it specifically to help with keyword research, and it helps drive the pin design and pin description process


Marketing management: to maintain all activities are communicating with their ideal clients and answering the potential objections.


Marketing review: a basic version is also included in my marketing review as it’s your ideal customers that drive your marketing strategy and activities.


Want to know more and work together on communicating effectively with your specific audiences?


Give me a call or send me an email zoe.bishop@torchlightmarketing.co.uk so we can discuss how Torchlight Marketing can help your business.



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