Identifying your Target Public

A lot goes in to identifying your target public. What this means is that there is a specific group to mold your message for and there are certain characteristics that go into breaking it down. Based on the goal you’re trying to accomplish, you will also need to filter into one type of individual.

First step is to decide whether you want to make aware, persuade/change opinions, or encourage a behavior. This relates to the types of publics. Latent is a public most don’t want to focus on because they are a group that will never change their opinion no matter what you tell them. But it is important to identify this group in order to not waste resources when they could have much more beneficial purposes. The next public is apathetic, this group is not aware of what the message or brand but has a neutral opinion that won’t change until they are introduced. This is seen a lot in new product or brand launches but also in audiences that haven’t been targeted prior. The aware public will already have an opinion formed but there is not enough importance to them to make them act a certain way with the information they have. This is a good place to start and where other groups like advertising can come into play as well. Efforts are made to put substance and more connections between the public and the brand. The last public is active, they will already have an opinion on the subject at hand and will have made certain decisions based on it. This group is similar to latent but their opinion can be swayed either way.

After identifying which public you are target you must break down what individuals are in a certain one and why they are and what shift do they need to take and translate that into the message aimed toward them.

These are broken down with psychographics and demographics. Most are aware that demographics are things like age, ethnicity, region, culture, and gender. Psychographics are things people chose like their lifestyle, what they like to do and what things they don’t like as much or believe in.

All of these will lead you to an analyzed and specific target public, making it easier to know what message they need to hear to get the goal you are aiming for.