The online marketing strategy must be based – as we say every time – on quality content, on blog articles, and on distribution through social networks, and not only. And, as happens in marketing, regardless of the environment in which it takes place, you need to know who you are addressing, who the audience following you is, and who you are targeting or would like to target. This niche audience is the one that will convert into tangible results and sales.

Here are the four steps you need to follow to discover who your website’s audience is and who you should address:

1. Find out who is currently following you. Before searching and exploring new territories, focus on those who already follow you and those who already buy from you. Find out as many details as possible about them, what they like, what interests them, and provide more content in that area. By meeting their needs, you will actively maintain their interest and attract more intense feedback. And their number will grow as they have more to gain by following you.

2. Abandon old demographic criteria. In the not-too-distant past, the use of demographic criteria was intensively used and yielded good results. However, nowadays, classifying and dividing the audience by age groups, gender, location, or preferences only limits the audience and, moreover, forces you to focus on certain topics, eliminating from the start others that can be at least equally attractive.

For example, an online store specializing in sports equipment used to limit itself to targeting young men up to 40 years old with above-average incomes. Nowadays, however, the audience base is much broader, as women practice sports just as much or as often as men, including skateboarding or climbing. Moreover, how many of us have not seen people over 50 at the mountain or in the gym who regularly practice a sport? Demographic criteria are good, but they should not be overused or set too rigidly and narrowly.

3. Check your competitors’ audience. Don’t forget that those who follow your competitors are looking for exactly the same thing you offer, but they find it there and not on your site. So check what exactly attracts them there, who they are, where they come from, how they interact, and what other interests they have. If a competitor is better than you, find out why. If you are better than another, see what differentiates you from them. And for this, you need to follow all the social networks where your competitors are present and where you probably need to be as well.

4. Be proactive! If by implementing the three steps above you have managed to increase the number of people following you on social networks and visiting your site, and the conversion rate has increased, don’t stop. If something works well, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work well, adjust it. But never give up. By being proactive, you will attract an increasingly larger audience in your niche and ultimately grow your business.

The niche audience, knowing, identifying, and attracting it are elements difficult to achieve. Depending on the type of business and the field of activity, the time required, effort, and results differ.