Closing in on and deciding on a target audience on an app launch is one of the most important, and most difficult tasks faced by marketers. Getting it right with a good target audience can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful app – but the methods of defining aren’t always that straightforward.

Taking it back to basics, according to ComboApp, a target audience as the specific group of people that you want to reach with a product, service or this case, mobile app. It’s important to know that as versatile of an app you think you may have, your target audience is rarely ‘everybody’, you’ll find much better results drilling down into a specific niche (whether that’s 18-25 or 60-70).

The more clearly that a target audience is defined, the more that can be done in terms of the tailoring of specific marketing techniques, as well as the concept of the mobile app as a whole. Of course, broad groups can be targeted off the bat, but for the best possible conversion rates, much more detail is required.

How you define the target audience is just as important as making sure that you’re creating a detailed profile. Target markets shouldn’t be based on a hunch, but rather solid research and analytics that paint a picture of who you’re going after in the app store.

Struggling to find the inspiration to define your next apps target audience? We’ve got you covered.

1. Compile data on current customers

Depending on what type of app you’re planning on creating, the best way of defining a target audience might be staring you square in the face – your current customers.

If your new app is an extension of your main business, you’ll be missing a trick if you don’t look to who already uses your services for target audience inspiration. It doesn’t matter if you’re a local taxi company, global healthcare service or a mobile game designer – looking to your existing consumer will give a great starting point when looking to narrow down.

Of course, depending on the nature of the business, access to this information can be difficult, but with careful use of trends and averages on what information is available, the more detailed of an audience you can opt for. Look for age, location, language, interests, spending power and stage of life to find out the most useful habits of your customer.

If your current business optimises social media, you’re in luck. There’s plenty of social media analytics to dive into, depending on which ones you’re active on, meaning you’ll have plenty of info on your target profiles.

However, if you’re stuck for information, the last thing you’ll want to do is create frustrating questionnaires for customers – chances are they’ll do more bad than good.

2. Sneak a peek at the competition

Have an app idea in mind, but aren’t sure who to target within the market? Sneak a peek at the competition and create profiles of who each of their target audiences is – with over 1.8 million apps available on the Apple App Store – you won’t be short of case studies.

Once complete, it’s then possible to identify trends and patterns within the target audiences of the competition to look for gaps to worm your way in. You’ll be able to see if competitors and targeting the same audience, if they’re looking to those you’ve not considered and how they’re positioning themselves to said audience.

This is incredibly valuable as you’ll not only be aware of the level of competition, but exactly where their focuses lie. Providing you’re happy to proceed knowing the level of the competitors, you’ll know their hand and where you stand in comparison.

3. Create a statement for the target audience

Next up comes your statement for the target market – a statement that compiles all your findings into one simple demographic to target.

Put simply, the statement should include the key points of interest from the research of the target audience e.g. where does the consumer live, what education do they have, how are they with technology, what are their hobbies etc.

Keep this safe as a physical document, it should be referred back to when creating marketing decisions.

4. Test out your findings on social

Time to test – and what better way to get instant feedback than with specifically targeted social ads to see exactly how your target audience responds.

Creating social accounts (namely Facebook with over 1.6 billion people worldwide connected to a small business) and running sample ads for your app (dummy ads work best if you’re still deciding on the target audience) is a great way to test out your findings.

From the reaction received and the feedback acquired in the form of comments, likes and the numbers surrounding a CTA, you can make an informed decision on whether or not you’re on the money with your target audience.

Happy with your results? Great! Not what you hoped for? Back to the drawing board. It’s best to find out earlier rather than later.

5. Create a series of clearly defined goals

Once you’re happy with your target audience and know exactly who you’re targeting, what their profiles look like and what their dog’s names are (maybe not – but if you can find out, go for it), it’s time to set a series of clearly defined goals with your target audience in mind.

Goal-setting is vital in the planning phase of app creation and allows for a clear cut strategy leaving ambiguity off the table. Skip this step and your app is basically set up to fail – you’re only as strong as the foundation you build upon – so it’s important in the grand scheme!

When building up a series of goals, it’s important to ask yourself the following tough and important questions, as part of the mobile app development guide. Questions summarized from this article from Pranjal Bora at Digital Authority Partners.

• What issue(s) will my app hope to solve and thus who would be interested in this?
• What will be the main selling point or appeal of my app?
• What features should be incorporated into the new mobile app?
• What benefits will my app offer the target audience?

Look after the target audience and the foundations of your app and the downloads will look after themselves!

To read more on topics like this, check out the personal growth category.