Having a well-defined target audience can set you apart from the crowd. In this episode Julie Gibbons (Brandiwork) and I explore what that means, and the consequences of getting it wrong.

Watch this episode on: YouTube.

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts.

Julie Gibbon’s website: https://brandiwork.com

Transcript:

Why is this important?

Lou: Hello! I have got the wonderful Julie with me here today, and we are going to talk about target markets and why it’s important to get this right. So, yeah, why don’t you tell us about why this is an important area of expertise for you?

Julie: Ah, well, um, like, I’m all about truth in presenting yourself the way you are and being truthful to your course, because I think that people can smell [bleep] a mile away anyway. And I think if you present yourself truthfully, it’s more connecting. Firstly, and I think if you actually try and really dig into the core of who you are, that’s really where your magnetism comes from. That’s when people really see your whole personality. And this is why I know one of the things I love about branding. Well is it’s like we get attracted to it’s like a friendship.

We get attracted to the people who resonate with us, we build up really deep friendships with the people who see eye to eye with us, and it’s the same thing with your brand. And if you can project something that resonates deeply with somebody else, they love you for it, you know, they’ll throw money at you, really. Yeah, because they believe in what you do, they really feel like you understand them, and that’s what the thing is about friendship, you know. If we’re friends, that means I understand you on a particular level, and you know, then that just kind of builds on that connection. Yeah, it makes the whole, yeah.

Lou: So, if you, especially with business-to-business relationships, it makes it so much nicer.

Julie: Yeah, ’cause most of us, um, I’m presuming this is who the podcast is targeted to, to these people who are basically in business for themselves, people who are doing the whole dancing to your own drum kind of thing. Like, this is, you know, we’re not part of a larger business. We don’t have 30, 40, 50 employees. It’s just basically us. Or, you know, us and a VA or an assistant, or there might be a partnership. But it’s really small, very personal business. And therefore, that personal branding particularly is so important because, you know, we’re humans, and humans relate to humans exactly.

So, what does defining your target audience mean?

Julie: All right, so there are a couple of ways you can go about figuring out who your target market is. You’re defining someone really who you can help best because as a business, you’re here to be of service. So, if you can figure out who you can help best, that should be the people that you target.

And then you often, I mean, I often, so very often, people say, I hear people say, “Oh, look, I can help these people and that people, and I can help the people over there, and I really don’t know how to target down.” And I say, really, there are more than one way to, it’s not just a demographic, it’s not, it’s only one very narrow way of defining a target market. Yeah, sure, it might be women in the 35 to 45 age bracket, but that’s only one way of defining them. There are so many other things that tie humans together. It’s our worldview, like, you know, where do you stand on the environment, like, where do you stand on your level of spirituality, and what kind of spirituality does that look like?

Target audience is not just a demographic

There are so many things that tie us together. And it could be, you know, you might start with people who have, uh, the little traumas, like, there’s, I work with so many people who are coaches who don’t actually, like, me, I grew up in a very loving, kind family, you know, in the suburbs, nothing happened to me, nothing bad happened to me. But by the same token, there are still things that I carry from my childhood, you know, just like things like my brother was such a bully, that kind of stuff, you know, that’s little trauma, but it’s there. So those sorts of things that you might want to focus in on as to how you separate your target audience out.

But once you figure out what it is, those things are that tie your audience together, then you’re in a much better place to talk to them because we all talk to different people in different ways. And so, if I understand that you have, you know, that you grew up with this situation, then I know that this is what you’ll be experiencing, so I’ll talk to you in that way. I mean, we talk to little kids differently than we’ll talk to grandparents, we’ll talk to the butcher differently than we’ll talk to the hairdresser.

Lou: Precisely.

Julie: That’s, this is human, we do this anyway. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, figuring out who you’re talking to is the first step.

What are the consequences of not getting your target audience right?

Lou: Yeah, yeah, that’s perfect. And I do feel like there are some people out there who maybe haven’t considered this and are just saying whatever they feel like saying, which was going to bring me to my next question, which would be, what are the, I guess, negatives or consequences of not getting your target audience right?

Julie: Well, it’s like if you don’t get your target right, it’s like going and standing on the street corner and yelling out, “Hey, I’m a website designer, who wants a website?” And like, who’s going to stop and listen to that? If you’re not talking to the right people, you might as well not be saying anything. Like it’s just a complete waste of effort. So that’s basically it, and you put all this effort, you put all this effort and maybe some money into advertising to the wrong people, that’s just, it’s not logical at all. Yeah, so you got to get your target market right. Yeah, there is, yeah.

And another point about target markets is that, you know, if you’re thinking about, um, because there, there are lots of criteria as to how someone, you’ll figure out someone is a good fit for you. Are they the right location? Are they the right gender? Are they, like, this is, it depends on who’s asking the questions. So I’m looking for someone to help me with a particular thing. Are they the right price point?

Are they, there’s like maybe say there’s 10, there’s 10 points of correspondence, and if eight of those points of correspondence fit, I’ll still go to you and get you to work with me, you know, work with you. If there are 10 points of correspondence, obviously you are the perfect fit. But if there are five points of correspondence or less, you, I’m just going to keep looking because, yeah, like, you could probably help me, but no, you’re not the right person for me.

So it’s a sliding scale. It’s not just a clear-cut yes or no ever.

It’s not always about price…

Lou: Yeah, and, and consumers are making those decisions all the time, whether conscious or not.

Julie: Well, absolutely, and so much of our decision-making process is not about the price, like everybody goes, “Oh, this is about the price,” but it’s not about the price ever, really. Um, even when we go into the supermarket, we’re not always buying things on the price. Yes, of course, some price will influence our decision-making to some level, but you know, I buy a particular brand of because I like it. I don’t buy it because it’s the cheapest. Yeah, you know, it’s the same thing, like whatever, you know, there’s so many things, like, you know, I consciously avoid the cheap crap because it’s got, I know, like, it’s been made unethically or like, there’s lots of decisions about what we buy and why we buy particular things. Yeah, it’s never a clear-cut case.

And you know, there’s that whole story about the Tiffany paperclip that’s worth $1,500. They were selling these gold paperclips for $1,500, people were buying them because it was Tiffany. That’s, that’s a freaking paperclip that you could use as a bookmark. Yeah, like it’s just, it’s, it’s, it’s um, uh, that’s, that’s um, you know, living on your brand reputation. Tiffany has this amazing brand reputation. It appeals to the luxury audience, and so they’re the people that they’re marketing to, and people buy it because it’s Tiffany.

Lou: Yep, those die-hard fans will buy anything that’s got that brand name on it.

Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, it’s about status. They’re buying into, they’re not actually buying a paperclip, they’re buying into the status that it affords them. It, they’re buying into the feeling that I can afford to spend $1,500 on a paperclip, like you know, there’s kind of a, you know, the gratification that comes with that. So it’s not, it’s never just a clear-cut case of who got the cheapest thing.

Lou: Yeah, that’s beautiful.

Julie’s work

Lou: So Julie, is this something that you help your clients with, like do you use their branding to help articulate the value?

Julie: Absolutely.

So, my background’s getting close to about 30 years now of design experience in uni. So, um, um, yeah, so all of your visuals are a communication tool. And I see your visual elements as a language. Much like any other language, like English or French or German or whatever. It’s a language, and so you’ve got to figure… Oh, even music! Um, you can communicate ideas with it, um, and it will harmonize or not according to what elements you choose. And there is a whole bunch of psychology, like you know, scientific psychology behind how humans interpret stuff, and yes, our experience comes into it.

You know, like red might mean something a little bit different to you because, um, even though we grew up in the same culture, we have different experiences of the color red.

You know, I actually resisted red for a long time, even though everybody says it’s my best color to wear because when I was like eight or something, there was a boy I had a crush on, and I wore these brand-new red pants that I thought were the fanciest thing. Oh, and he goes, “Ew, red pants,” and it crushed me. And I thought, I am never going to wear red for as long as I live. I mean, I have, but you know, this is the thing, our experiences really feed into how things mean.

But beyond that, there are still fundamental things about how our brains work and how we interpret things because we’re human. And so we associate soft colors with softness, so like pastels. They can be luminous and vibrant, but they’re always soft. We always associate them with soft things, we associate them with femininity, we associate them with babies because that’s the human thing to do.

Toddlers are like rambunctious, they’re all over the place, high energy, so we associate that with bright, clear colors. That’s just basic human psychology.

And the shapes are the same thing, fluid shapes, rounded shapes, we always associate with femininity and soft sounds, and harsh angular shapes we tend to associate with masculinity and harder sounds. Yeah, like angles. And we know uprights will be interpreted as solid and horizontals as resting and diagonals as dynamic. So it’s basic human psychology.

So there’s all of that in my head when I’m going to choose people’s elements for them, and yes, it all feeds in. So yeah, when I approach somebody, or rather, when they approach me to help them with their branding, I really dig down into who they are, what they want to express first, and then I try, well, I don’t try, I actually interpret that. I translate what they say into the elements that suit exactly what it is they’re trying to communicate.

So yeah, the whole process is logical and methodical.

Lou: Yeah, it’s very important work because there’s one point I wanted to touch on with you, like many businesses that I’ve had experiences with want to choose the colors and fonts that they personally like, but that might not be the right thing for them. I know this because one time, very early on in my business journey, five or six years ago, I took some different variations of a logo to an in-person business networking event. And I showed this to the people on the table, and I said, you know, what do you think of these logos? Do you think they’re right for me? And the most common feedback that I got was like, “Oh, is this a kids’ brand?” You know, you don’t want to make mistakes like that with your logo or your branding elements.

So why shouldn’t you pick design elements that you personally like?

Julie: That’s a really good question. You kind of do, but the thing is, if I say blue to you, there is a whole rainbow of blues. Yeah, there is everything from really deep, dark navy blue right through to the palest aqua blue. Like, there’s a rainbow of blues in between that. And the other thing with color, particularly, is that two colors will resonate against each other, just like two notes in music. So you can make a harmony, and it will resonate somehow. It will either feel a little bit uneasy, you know, when you have like a minor chord or something, there’s that clash of sounds, or else they’ll just feel beautiful. And it’s amazing how much the shift of a couple of shades, a couple of hues, will make to the difference of harmony of colors.

So yes, if someone says, “Oh, I really love blue,” I always just work with that because I can come up with a blue that works. In terms of DIY stuff, I mean, I totally get it, in your startup, you’ve got to start somewhere, and please go for it, and there are lots of tools out there to help you.

But if you’re trying to design a logo for yourself, I wouldn’t say the logo is the place to start, by the way. But yeah, you know, there’s a… I really think just forget about a logo when you’re in startup. You start off with a wordmark. A wordmark is just your name in a particular font. Stick with that until you can afford a proper logo because anything else, you know, you can tell, you can really tell, and all it does is really doing yourself a disservice by projecting something about you that you don’t want. Like, you know, you just said, people thought it was like a kids’ thing. You don’t want that, you don’t want that kind of image of your brand, do you?

Practical reasons to design for your target audience

Lou: Yeah, no. And there are other practical reasons why you shouldn’t choose your own colors. Actually, a couple of months ago, I had a business come to me, and they wanted some graphics for their ads, and they sent me this logo, which was white text on a pastel peach-orange background. And immediately, I thought, if I use this color scheme, people are not going to be able to see it, especially when this banner is going to be responsive and different sizes on the web. That’s going to make…

Julie: Yeah, this is where having a skilled designer is worth their weight in gold because the skilled designer will be automatically, always in the back of their head, going, “That’s not contrasty enough. We need… It’s not readable enough.” All of those practical considerations because all your branding is a communication tool.

Like I said before, it’s a language. It’s communicating something about who you are and what you’re about. And if you’re not communicating clearly, then there’s no point in having it. So make sure it’s you, make sure that your branding is right in the first place, and then make sure that it’s actually used in the right way as well. So make sure your message is super clear every time you’re speaking to somebody. You want to make your words heard; otherwise, there’s no point in speaking. It’s the same with all your graphics. Make sure your message is coming through really nice and loud and clear.

Lou: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And it ties in that point ties in pretty well to the work that I do because I work with ads. If there’s something not quite right with the colors or the presentation of your ad, of course, people are going to scroll on by.

Julie: Well, that’s right. Yeah, the whole point is for them to stop the scroll and click on the thing. So whatever you can do, whatever is in your power to make them do that, do it. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

Lou: I’m so glad you agree.

Julie: Yeah, yeah, well, this has been so good, and I really like to keep these episodes short and sweet. So to wrap up, could you tell us about a way that people can work with you?

Working with Julie

Julie: Well, sure. I’m on the socials, Brandwork, so you can find me on Facebook there. I’m not on Instagram terribly much, but I am there. So yeah, just come and find me. I’m Julie Gibbons at Brandwork, or just go to brandwork.com, and all the information is there. And I’ve got a couple of good freebies there if you want to learn more about branding. I’ve got a couple of excellent freebies. One’s The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Standard Brand, so grab that for yourself. It’s got all the things you need.

Resources for branding

Lou: Oh, beautiful. So is that resource helpful to startups or DIY or anyone?

Julie: It’s anyone, really. Like, I think it would be because it is actually fairly comprehensive. It goes into how to assess what you have now and how to improve it. So yes, there’s information on if you’re in a startup and you don’t know where to start. Of course, you can just skip through the assessment bit and just go straight into “do this, do this, do this.” There are step-by-step things to do in there and create your brand that really suits you. If you are a bit beyond that, yeah, it’s definitely still worth going and having a look because it’ll show you exactly how to assess what you have and then how to improve it.

Continuous improvement

Lou: Yeah, oh yeah, that’s really good.

Julie: And especially helps, you know, if you so you don’t get too scared about investing too much time and money into things you might not need right now, I think.

Yeah, yeah. And even if you are planning on going to a designer, having this information, going through it anyway, and assessing what you have, deciding what you like and you don’t like, and then you go to the designer, that is so much better because you’ll get a much clearer… Because the thing is, it’s like so many things in your business, a lot of stuff is never finished. I mean, I still work on my brand. I still work on refining. I was still putting new things out all the time, and your work’s never done. It’s like building a website; you’re always tweaking things. It’s never done.

Yeah, so if you can hone in on that niche and really get clearer and stronger about your true voice, then you know it’s always going to be better. There’s always room for improvement.

Brand evolution

Lou: Yeah, exactly. A website doesn’t have to be a permanent etched-in-stone thing, and neither does your brand. I mean, you know, the major TV networks in Australia, they always tweak their logo just a little bit every year, and it’s so subtle that you don’t notice it. But if you put 1990 next to 2020, you’d see they’ve transformed it.

Julie: Oh, that happens in branding with the major internationals; they do that all the time.

Yeah, yeah, you can see the progression in the Coke logo or the Pepsi logo or whatever it is. It always happens.

Yeah, so again, let’s be… Because as we grow, as our business changes, as our target market slightly changes, everybody shifts. It’s because change is the only constant in our lives. And so everything is changing all the time, and we have different ideas on what looks good, on different ideas on who we are.

Yeah, all of it.

Conclusion

Lou: Yep, yep, exactly. Like you said, when you know, at first, somebody said red pants were disgusting, and now you love red.

Julie: I know, I got over it.

Lou: Yeah, yeah, oh, that’s so good. And I really enjoy seeing you show up across the internet.

Julie: Yeah, yeah, we’ll meet in person one day soon, hopefully.

Lou: Yeah, that would be great. Well, thank you so much. I’m going to close this up now, but it’s been a pleasure talking to you and hearing about your expertise.

Julie: Thanks, Lou. Thank you so much for having me on. It’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

➡️ Where Next? Visit Julie’s Website – Brandiwork for more advice and direction on branding and designing for your target audience.