For those of you (us/me) with little/very little/zero (delete as appropriate) interest in The Football, Channel 5 offered up a veritable delight of Jane McDonald experiences for the night of England’s opening game amongst…er no, not amongst, just that. Jane McDonald or The Football*. Now surely there must be a section of society that doesn’t fall into being a fan of either category. Surely it can’t just be me in a Venn diagram of one?

I wonder what led to this Jane McDonald fest? Was it/is it for PR purposes? If so, bravo. If it was because that’s what the marketing peeps at C5 actually think – The Football fan OR Jane McDonald fan then bleugh.

We are not homogenous beings, but nor can we be slotted into narrow/niche marketing personas either. It IS important to know your audience, who by the way should never be ‘the general public/everyone’.

Here’s a quick intro on identifying and narrowing down your audience

1. Define the Purpose
◦ What: What is the goal of your content/copy? (e.g., inform, entertain, persuade)
◦ Who: Who do you want to reach?
◦ Why: Why should they care about your content/copy?

2. Demographic Information
◦ Age: What age group are you targeting?
◦ Gender: Are you focusing on a specific gender?
◦ Location: Is your content/copy relevant to a particular geographic area?
◦ Income: What is the income level of your audience?
◦ Education: What level of education does your audience have?

3. Psychographic Information
◦ Interests: What are their hobbies and interests? Ie Football OR Jane McDonald (snark intended)
◦ Values: What do they value in life? (e.g., family, career, social justice)
◦ Lifestyle: What kind of lifestyle do they lead? (e.g., urban, suburban, rural)

4. Behavioural Information
◦ Buying Habits: What are their purchasing behaviours?
◦ Brand Loyalty: Are they loyal to specific brands or products?
◦ Online Behaviour: How do they interact with online content? (e.g., social media usage, preferred websites)

5. Challenges and Needs
◦ Challenges: What problems or challenges do they face?
◦ Needs: What do they need or want?

When creating content/writing copy/providing an alternative to The Football, defining and understanding your audience is essential. By narrowing down demographics, psychographics, behaviours, and needs, you can tailor your content to meet their expectations effectively and have happy non-crooning/non-cruising/non-football fans too!

*I had to Google telly schedules for The Football for this post. 1. It’s on for a long time, isn’t it? And 2. And there’s a lot of The Football being shown on both the Beeb and ITV isn’t there? Feel free to add comments on what YOU’d like to see on your telly box instead of The Football.