2.5 Identify your Target Audience

Target your Messaging

Know Your Target

Now that you have a plan, it is important to study your strategy-specific target audience. Do you want to approach people based on their ...

• ... age group?

• ... social class?

• ... nationality?

• ... language?

• ... profession or industry?

• ... travel destination?

• ... travel budget?

• ... interests or hobbies?

The answer to this question lies in the path you chose in the previous section. It will allow you to shape your messaging in the most effective way and stimulate your audience with the right triggers. Let's examine some examples:

Example #1

Strategy

Distributing flyers in a central-European university. Either within classrooms or directly face-to-face.

Target Audience

Young students with limited budgets, but a great desire to travel around the world for experiences.

Key Messaging

• Focus on nearby destinations like Budapest. Very few students will be able to afford a trip to e.g. Shanghai.

• Think about making references to the university. Something like "Special Discount for Students".

• Emphasize on the Discount Codes.

• Market the desire of making new experiences.

Example #2

Strategy

Sharing appealing pictures of Asian travel destinations on Facebook with occasional price comparisons. Strong emphasis on cultural sight seeing.

Target Audience

Middle aged travelers with a special interest in culture, history and guided tours. Willing and able to spend higher budgets in exchange for a good time.

Key Messaging

• Higher budgets translate into bigger savings. Consider using fixed value messaging. "Save $100 on your $500 Trip" versus "Save 20% on your Trip".

• Food is part of culture. Think about adding a reference to food tourism like "Have you ever tasted Dim Sum in Beijing?".

• Include interesting background information on your posts. What are people seeing? Share historic tit-bits.

Example #3

Strategy

Launching a German travel website with a selection of daily deals.

Target Audience

Deal-hunters of all ages and German speaking countries, who invest considerable time in research before deciding on a booking.

Key Messaging

• Picking deals individually will allow you to advertise much higher savings than 20%. Use wording such as "Save up to 60%", since deal hunters don't care about the average.

• Target popular destinations among Germans. Base your picks on official travel statistics.

• Deal-hunters are used to marketing tricks and click baits. Build trust and share testimonials. Work with real examples.

• Use the marketplace exclusivity (prices only accessible to registered users) for your marketing. Hunters like catching prey.

To learn more on how to create great content, please follow the link below:

1. A Guide to Great Content

More info about messaging & selling can be obtained here:

Core Messages & Selling