What's the Difference? Ideal Client, Target Market, Audience, and Community, Explained
So what are these? Are they all kind-of the same thing, or are they different? It’s important to know the differences, or you won’t get as much out of the class… or, frankly, your business!
Let’s define them one by one, and discuss why each is important.
#1: Ideal Client
Your Ideal Client is one person, or one business, if you’re a company that serves other businesses.
Having one Ideal Client in mind, real or imagined, when you conceive your business or create a new product can be a very powerful exercise because it helps you create bounds for what you’re doing.
It’s a lot easier to decide what’s essential to include in a product (and what isn’t essential) when you know whom you’re creating your business or product for. This also true of your marketing efforts: If at the end of the day, you know whom your dream client would be, specifically, down to one particular person or business, you can market yourself in places and ways that you are sure will get that individual’s attention.
Having an Ideal Client doesn’t mean you’d turn others away if they approached you, nor that you’d accidentally end up creating something that wouldn’t be right for many people. It simply helps you to get laser-focused and motivated so you end up with something you—and a potential client—will love.
#2: Target MArket
A target market is the overall group of people you’re trying to reach who have a large percentage of things in common. These commonalities are often a mix of what are known as demographics and psychographics, and usually all the demographics and psychographics apply to your Ideal Client, as well:
Demographics include things that are hard-and-fast classifications, such as “between the ages of 25 and 34,” “live within the United States,” “women,” “married,” and “combined income of at least $100,000 per year.”
Psychographics aren’t something that could be classified by a census, but nonetheless are very apparently shared by the people in a group. These often have to do with their values, aspirations, and lifestyle decisions. People who generally do not shop at chain stores, always choose local restaurants, prefer to buy vintage furniture for cheap and then customize it, and who both recycle and compost would have shared psychographics.
Knowing your target market helps you to choose the kind of content you create for your website and social channels, as well as your paid advertising. People are more likely to believe something could be right for them if the way it’s packaged is clearly designed to appeal to them.
A target market also sets you apart from other companies who might be offering similar products/services, but to a different group of people; you can modify your version and offer it to a different group of people by positioning it differently.
#3: Audience
Your audience is the group of people who know you exist and have signed up to hear more about what you offer. Your audience exists in many places, from your email list to your various social media accounts.
Having an audience is important for a couple reasons:
When you have something to announce, such as a new product, an event, or a flash sale, you need to have people you’re speaking to in order for that announcement to have any impact, and
People who have specifically raised a hand to say “I’m interested” are what’s known as warm traffic or warm leads—they’re more likely than any ol’ stranger to buy from you.
More people will be in your audience than will buy from you at any given time. Some people won’t see your offer, others won’t be in the market right now, others might not be able to afford it—so it’s important to always be trying to increase your audience size so that the number of leads you can convert to buyers increases, even if the percentage of conversions stays the same.
#4: Community
A community is similar to a target market, but differs because it’s generally thought of as a group of people who have shared interests and converse about them, rather than a group of people you’re actively trying to sell to.
Some different communities could be:
The toddler-mom community
The DIY home improvement community
The boss-girl community
The clean beauty
The Procreate designer community
The fix-and-flip community
Understanding the community your business is a part of is integral to your success as a business, because it reminds you why what you do matters. It brings you back regularly to provide value that makes you come off as a business that wants to help rather than a faceless corporation that’s only there to sell stuff.
Apply this knowledge inside the Instagram 102 Online Course!
I was so overwhelmed by the number of people who hopped into Instagram 102 on its debut weekend! And my heart swelled so much it almost hurt when I immediately started receiving messages about breakthroughs and blessings students were receiving within the first few lessons. What a humbling and wonderful thing to hear!
So if you are reading this and you’re not already inside that community, I want to extend you a formal invitation right now!
Instagram 102 is all about taking this platform you’re already on, anyway, and turning it into a purposeful, trust-building, brand-growing, and money-making machine.
If you’re a woman in business—whether that means you’re an Etsy maker, a shop owner, a service provider, a freelancer, an educator, or other kind of creative professional—Instagram can be such, such, such a powerful tool in your marketing toolbelt… so much so, it’s almost foolish not to really, deeply learn it!
That’s what I want to help you with inside Instagram 102. Ready to make the leap? Then click here to find out everything you need to know about this Instagram course and to enroll!
Was this post helpful? If so, be sure to pin it to Pinterest so you never lose it! Then leave me a comment below: What breakthrough did you have? And will you be joining us instead Instagram 102? I can’t wait to hear from YOU!
HELLO! MY NAME IS ALEXIS.
Coffee lover, day dreamer, foodie, and creative. I believe in doing what you can with what you have where you are. I blog to help you do more with what you have. I hope you love it here!
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