How to Find Your Ideal Target Audience. Whether You’re a Startup or Already in the Market

One of the most common reasons businesses struggle — whether they’re brand new or have been around for years — is that they simply don’t know who they are speaking to. Not clearly enough, not specifically enough, and not in a way that creates recognition.

Finding your ideal target audience isn’t a matter of guesswork.
It’s a combination of observation, research, and honesty about what your business really offers.
Many brands try to talk to "everyone," but in reality, only a specific group will connect with your message.

Here’s how to find that group.

1. Understand the Problem You Solve (Not the Product You Sell)

Every business thinks in terms of what they offer:

“We sell cleaning services.”
“We design websites.”
“We make healthy snacks.”

But your audience is searching based on their problem, not your product.

A simple example:
A friend launched an online fitness program and thought her audience was “people who want to get in shape.”
That’s too broad. Everyone wants to get in shape… eventually.

After interviews and observing who actually signed up, she discovered her real audience:
busy mothers who needed short, flexible workouts they could do at home.

Once she started speaking directly to them, her engagement doubled.

The problem you solve is what defines who needs you the most.

2. Look at Who Responds to You — Not Who You Wish Would Respond

There’s often a gap between the audience we want and the audience we actually attract.

A restaurant might imagine its customers are young professionals, but the people who keep coming back are retirees and families.

A design studio might want tech clients, but it keeps attracting service-based businesses.

A startup in a crowded market might hope for a specific, trendy demographic, but its real traction comes from an unexpected group.

Reality always wins.
Your target audience is the group that naturally connects with your value — not the one you idealize.

3. Study Their Behaviour, Not Their Demographics

Age and location matter, but behaviours reveal the truth.

Ask questions like:

• What motivates them to buy?

• What frustrates them about current options?

• Where do they look for information?

• How do they make decisions?

• What stops them from choosing you?

A local beauty brand I worked with believed their ideal customer was “women aged 20–40.”
That’s not a target — that’s half the city.

After researching purchase behaviour, we found the real audience:
women who cared about clean ingredients, avoided long routines, and wanted products that saved time.

That behaviour — not age — shaped the brand.

4. Analyze Who Is Already Paying You

If your business already has clients but lacks recognition, the fastest way to find your ideal audience is to look at who is actually investing in you.

Patterns always appear:

• Certain industries

• Certain types of personalities

• Certain price expectations

• Certain pain points

A construction start-up once told me, “We work with everyone.”
But when we analyzed their past six months, we realized almost all clients were:
young homeowners renovating their first property.

That insight changed their whole brand tone and visual personality — and their bookings increased.

5. Check Where the Engagement Happens

Your real audience shows up in unexpected places.

Maybe your social media likes come from one group, but your website inquiries come from another.
Maybe you get strong engagement in one platform but silence in another.

Engagement tells you where attention already exists.
Follow the attention, not the guesses.

6. Create an Audience Profile (But Keep It Real)

Once you gather enough insight, turn it into a simple profile:

• What do they care about?

• What pains them?

• What do they hope for?

• What language do they respond to?

• What makes them trust a brand?

This becomes your internal compass.

And no, this doesn’t mean inventing imaginary personas like:

“Mary, 32, likes lattes.”

This means understanding what your audience needs from you, emotionally and practically.

7. Test Your Message — Then Adjust

Finding your audience isn’t one moment of clarity — it’s a process.

Start speaking directly to the group you believe is your ideal audience.
Watch how they respond.
Adjust based on real reactions, not assumptions.

The brands that grow fastest are the ones that treat messaging like an experiment, not a locked decision.

If You’re a Startup: Start Narrow, Then Expand

Trying to speak to everyone from the beginning is a mistake.
Focus on a niche where your message feels sharp, not diluted.

Once you earn recognition in that space, expansion becomes natural.

If You’re Already in the Market but Not Recognized: Reevaluate Who You’re Actually Reaching

Sometimes your ideal audience changes as your business evolves.
What worked two years ago may not be the group that responds today.

A re-evaluation isn’t a setback — it’s a strategy refresh.

Finding Your Audience Is Really About Finding Your Focus

When you understand exactly who you’re trying to reach, everything becomes easier:

• Your branding gets stronger

• Your visuals become more intentional

• Your messaging becomes clearer

• Your marketing becomes sharper

• And your audience begins to recognize you

Branding is just a tool.
Audience understanding is the fuel that makes it work.