JTBD is an excellent tool for determining what you can do for your customer and developing a product (or feature set). The challenge with JTBD when developing your Go-to-Market strategy is that target marketing can be more complex than traditional approaches, but this challenge is where the opportunity lies.

Assume you’re creating a tool for team members to communicate about work. Using a persona-based approach, you could describe your customers as “knowledge workers, likely aged 22-45”. You can easily visualize and target this group. Most marketing channels allow this type of targeting, from ads to outbound call campaigns. Magazines, websites, and email newsletters will provide you with demographic information about their audience. When purchasing a call list, you will be asked for demographic information such as where the companies you are targeting are located and what the decision maker’s role title is.

What is the target audience?

A target audience is a person or group within a market segment you want to reach with your marketing message. They have things in common like occupation, location, age, or other demographic factors. They also have similar goals, challenges, and needs that your product or service can address.

Why should you define the target audience?

You may be wondering, “Who is my target audience?” at this point. If you respond, “We’ll provide our services to anyone who wants them” or “I serve small businesses in my area,” you don’t have a target audience. You’re attempting to reach the broadest possible audience, which is as effective as targeting no one in particular.

The foundation for effective marketing is defining your target audience. It will assist you in engaging key decision makers and stakeholders, ultimately converting them into loyal customers. Bypassing this step will result in an unclear message that does not resonate with key decision makers, a website that does not appear in search results, ads that do not convert, and, eventually, a depleted marketing budget with too little show-off.

Steps to define the target audience

Step 1: Identify critical market segments

Customers for B2B companies include the person who uses the SaaS product, the teams that support it, and the executives who make the purchasing decision. The JTDB framework effectively describes these three types of customers.

Identifying the market segments you serve is a good place to start. Many people, however, make the mistake of attempting to market to an entire industry. To craft a compelling marketing message, go deeper by emphasising the specific industries and types of businesses you serve in each market sector. Because there are approximately 90 industries across all market sectors, it is critical to understand which ones you do.

• Company Size: Although exact figures are not required, a headcount range is helpful. Small businesses typically have fewer than 100 employees, while mid-sized businesses have 100 to 999 employees. Smaller organisations, on average, require a different set of solutions than larger enterprises.

• Industry sub-specialties: Avoid categorising your customers. A commercial vehicle and machinery manufacturer that relies on government contracts will face very different problems than an automotive manufacturer that sells directly to consumers.

• Location: Understanding your customers’ locations will allow you to assess market competitiveness and determine whether additional opportunities are nearby.

• Revenue: Understanding your customers’ financial resources will help you determine whether or not they can afford your services.

Marketers should work to identify which job roles fall into which customer category and investigate JTBD and desired outcomes for each type of customer.

While demographic and firmographic segmentation can still be effective in some situations, segmenting your customers based on the jobs they’re trying to accomplish is most likely the most effective way to optimise your messaging.

Step 2: Create buyer personas based on existing customer

Now that you’ve identified your long-term market segments, it’s time to uncover the needs, expectations, and problems you solve for customers in each segment. We create profiles of imaginary but realistic people who match the target characteristics to define this target audience. Buyer personas are profiles that are typically based on existing customers.

The simplest way to get started is to put yourself in the shoes of actual customers — the people you currently serve. If you have many customers to choose from, prioritise your “favourite” customers — those with a high NPS (net promoter score) or CSAT rating. These people will benefit the most from your products or services.

Include demographics information

• What are their ages?
• What gender are they?
• Where can I find them?
• What is their level of income?
• What is the status of their marriage?
• Do they have any kids?
• What are their interests and hobbies?

Determine your customers’ needs and issues.

The challenges and pains reveal the problems that your product or service should solve for your customers:

• What prompted them to purchase from you in the first place?
• What was the main issue you solved for them?
• What would happen if they didn’t solve the problem?

Consider your target customers’ psychographics.

Psychographics provide a more personalised view of an individual and include the following:

• Personality
• Attitude 
• Values
• Interest/hobbies
• Lifestyle 
• Behaviour

Step 3: Analyse your competitor’s marketing and messaging.

What better way to learn about your target audience than to look at what your competitors are doing? Examine competitor websites and keep the following in mind in consideration to JTBD:

• Is their content aimed at the same demographic as yours?
• What is the pain mentioned above points or desired outcomes?
• Are there any assurances or guarantees? They are most likely attempting to appeal to their target audience while minimising any risks they may be concerned about.
• Is there a FAQ section? Prospects’ conversion-critical questions may be addressed here.
• What are their pricing levels, and how do they stack up against yours?
• What are their online reviews like? You can position yourself as an expert in areas where your competitors are lacking.

Investigating your competitors’ websites will help you better understand what other challenges your target audience faces and how to market to them. It’s an efficient way to identify market trends and plan proactive service rollouts and marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

It’s now your turn to define and segment your target audience. Doing this correctly can assist you in finding good podcast ideas, creating compelling narratives for your podcast or blog, writing better website copy, starting a podcast, and building a community around your business or brand, among other things.

A well-defined target audience is critical for the success of your marketing and the growth of your company. By defining it, you’ve taken the first step toward becoming more visible and relevant to your target audience.

Author’s Bio:

Shweta Milan is a content writer, studying Journalism from Delhi University. She writes on marketing, health related and business related topics and good in other parameters of technology, Photography and editing. She has written for Thrv – Jobs to be done.