• 28th September 2023

Lucky Shrub is a one-stop shop for garden design and maintenance. It has a nursery that offers local delivery, and a website that sells plants and gardening supplies. Karen, the owner, is eager to find more customers who are replanting home gardens. She also wants to make sure that she invests her marketing efforts and money wisely.

Why define a target audience?

It’s important for Lucky Shrub to reach the people most likely to become customers. Defining Lucky Shrub’s target audience will help Karen do just that.

Target audience

What is a target audience?

target audience is the group of people you want to reach with your marketing message, because they may be likely to take action as a result of seeing it.

People in your target audience will have certain characteristics in common. These characteristics fall into three broad categories:

Demographics

Demographics:

They may have the same:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Household income
  • Occupation
  • Education
  • Location
Interests

Interests:

They may share interests in certain products, topics or activities.

Behaviours

Behaviours:

They may read the same publications, visit the same online destinations, have certain hobbies or play the same sports.

Types of audiences

It’s possible for a company to have more than one target audience.

Primary target audience

Primary target audience

Your primary target audience will typically get most of your attention, as you expect them to become your most valuable group of customers.

Secondary target audience

Secondary target audience

Your secondary target audiences are other groups of people with common characteristics who may be interested in your products or services but are unlikely to become your most valuable customers. Secondary target audiences can help you structure your marketing efforts. Especially if you sell more than one product or service, or if you feel your products or services may appeal to distinctly different groups of people.

Define Lucky Shrub’s target audience

Using the definitions of the different audiences, let’s try to define Lucky Shrub’s audiences.

 

Primary audience

Primary audience

People interested in planting and maintaining their garden.

Karen knows that a lot of people are planning or planting home gardens this time of year. Lucky Shrub’s online selection of plants and gardening tools could be attractive to them.

Secondary audience 1

Secondary audience 1

People who may be interested in design and maintenance services.

Karen knows that these larger garden projects bring in a great deal of revenue, and Lucky Shrub’s maintenance services help keep customers long term. So Karen would also like to attract these customers.

Secondary audience 2

Secondary audience 2

People who want to spruce up their apartments with houseplants.

Karen has noticed an increased interest in houseplants among millennials. So she decided that Lucky Shrub should offer a selection of houseplants in its nursery and on its website.

Key takeaways

  • A target audience will help you to focus your marketing efforts on the people most likely to be interested in your business.
  • A target audience is the group of people you want to reach with your marketing message. Decide on your primary and secondary target audiences, as necessary.