We hope so but you’ll need people to know that you exist for them to use your products or services. Advertising is often one of the most overlooked strategies in a business plan but can be the component that can make or break your business.

We get it. It’s a confusing, convoluted space that can make you feel like you’re on Mr. Toads Wild Ride of emotions. Marketing can be a scary abyss to dive into with so many options to choose from. What platform do I use? What’s the most efficient use of my hard-earned dollars? How do I reach the people I need the most?

It all starts with identifying one question- who is your core audience that you’re trying to reach? This is among the first questions we ask prospective clients when we meet with them, and after 17 years in this business, the answer is the same 99% of the time…everyone!

While I’d love to say that everyone is a perfect fit for our luxury-based publications, there are certainly people who are going to be more inclined to read our hyper local lifestyles-based content than others. As business owners, we love our business so much. We’ve got blood, sweat, and if we’re honest…some tears tied into it. We have the tendency to believe that since we love it so much, people like us are exactly who we want to target for our products or services, and sometimes that’s simply not the case.

The good news is, when taking a deep dive into the marketing space, there are more tools available to us now than ever before to help us take the emotion out of it when determining who our core audience is. From Google Analytics to QR Codes, to social analytics, the data is incredibly accessible nowadays. Here are a few things to look for when narrowing down who your core audience is:

• Is there a male/female audience skew?
• Are there certain areas of town that tend to pull more clients than others?
• Are there certain age ranges that tend to use your product or services more than others?
• Are there certain seasons that tend to garner more of one vs the other?
• Who is the next person that’s going to be on the other end of the phone or click purchase on your website?
• What do the analytics for your Email database/ social channels show in terms of all the above?

Knowing this information can help you narrow down who it is you really want to key in on for your marketing campaign. This will then help you in determining what tactics will be the most beneficial in terms of reaching that audience and give you more peace of mind for a good night’s sleep knowing that your dollars are being efficiently used.

Check out our deep dive conversation on this topic along with other marketing-based discussions, City Lifestyle content, and Industry Expert Conversations on Youtube: SitDownsWithCLLV and follow us @HendersonCityLifestyle @SouthVegasCityLifestyle @RedRockCityLifestyle