Connecting Product Features to the Intended Target Audience

“Relax in luxury behind the wheel of this track-inspired performance car!”

Imagine shopping for a new car, and you have narrowed down your options to a specific model but aren’t sure which trim you want. And then you read the statement above, feeling amiss because it doesn’t quite add up to what you’ve read about your desired car so far.

Content writing is more than just writing. It requires the ability of writers to conduct proper product research and analysis to effectively represent a brand and its product while communicating the key product benefits to the intended target audience. Improper research could result in the sentence above — information that misrepresents the product, misaligned to the target audience, or disestablishes trust in the source of the information provided. A consumer looking to purchase a luxury vehicle that provides a relaxing driving experience probably doesn’t align with the audience of a luxury brand marketing their track-inspired performance car.

Often, third-party content marketers and writers won’t have access to intra-brand data that would provide detailed information about a brand’s product-specific audience. It’s up to the writers to use their research and analysis skills to deduce who that audience may be. The intended target audience for a product is often a more specific group of the brand’s general target market. Product research helps define who these audiences are.

Before product research begins, there should be a clear understanding of the brand’s target market, leveraging customer personas to achieve a broader target audience for the product you need to write about.

Research Your Product

So, how do you turn brief product information from a brand into a great article or description that accurately targets the appropriate audience? The ideal method is to research using product features and benefits, then analyze your findings to conclude.

Create a list

List the known features, benefits, or ingredients of the product you’ll be writing about, regardless of your familiarity with each. You’ll want to include features that may not have been key features of a similar product.

Research

For every item on your list that you may be slightly unfamiliar with, research the feature and its benefits to determine how it contributes to the product. The more you learn about the features, the easier it will be to understand the product’s key benefits.

Categorize

After you’ve developed an understanding of the product features, organize them based on the type of consumer who might prioritize that feature. You may not have category ideas at the start — these may form as you make your way through your feature list. For example, leather-trimmed seats could appeal to the comfort-focused consumer, whereas a rear-seat entertainment system would appeal to a family-focused consumer.

Analyze

As you make your way through the list, patterns and variances amongst the features should become more prevalent and provide you with a general persona of who the ideal audience may be. You may need to cross-reference these features against features of similar products before you can conclude.

Circling back to the track-inspired performance car from the luxury brand. You don’t yet know that this is a high-performance — this is what you’ll determine using the method above to deduce who your target audience is. You already know the target market for this luxury brand is likely a group of consumers who enjoy fine materials and first-class features.

When comparing standalone features such as all-season tires versus summer tires, it’s not always indicative of a product with separate audiences. However, when you compare several features against the product as a whole, it often becomes easier to paint a picture of who the audience for this product is. Your research may lead you to discover that summer tires are ideal for performance cars, the height of a spoiler can improve aerodynamics and downforce, suede is often used in performance cars to help keep drivers firm in their seats, and real-time engine data might be helpful for anyone who is pushing their engine to its true potential.

Although the features of each trim are all luxury features, the variations of the features on trim C have allowed you to narrow down who the intended target audience is for that specific trim. You now know that this isn’t just a luxury trim; this is a track-inspired performance trim. You can conclude the target audience for this high-performance car is likely a group of consumers who have an affinity for luxury but prioritize the thrill and adrenaline that high-performance cars induce.

No matter the product, whether automotive or skincare, proper research and analysis are key to helping content writers target a product’s intended audience.

If you’re interested in content marketing services from Aronson Advertising, we would love to help you learn more about how our products and services can take your digital marketing strategy to the next level. Get in touch with us using the contact form below or reach us at (847) 297-1700.