Getting to know your audiences better

You know your audience – you probably spend a lot of time thinking about them, working to reach them, and strategizing about how to trigger them into action. But do you know your audience as well as you think you do? 

Think about your primary audience for a moment. Can you describe them in specific terms? And have you made time recently for any of these actions?

·      Review (or create) your primary audience personas.

·      Talk to members of your primary audience to understand their needs and decision process.

·      Evaluate your communication strategy for potential updates based upon market changes.

·      Update your brand strategy based upon primary audience perceptions.

Together, these exercises are not only essential components of a successful marketing program, they’re also tasks that must be repeated and constantly updated as part of your market research strategy. I can guarantee that what you knew about your target audience last year is different than what you might discover about your audience this year – especially in this ever-changing COVID world of ours.

In the Office of Strategic Marketing & Branding we’re currently conducting projects related to all of these topics with various units across campus. The more you learn about your key audience, the more you understand who they are – their wants, their needs, their goals – the more successful you will be in your marketing strategy.

Feel free to reach out to me at if you have any questions about market research or are interested in starting a project this spring.