A BRAND STRATEGIST’S GUIDE TO MASTERING AN AUDIENCE PROFILE
- Jenny Henderson
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
Understanding the person you’re in business to serve is a given. But how much do you really know about them, their lifestyle, their circumstances, and how they make decisions?
Developing in-depth audience profiles is part and parcel of being a brand strategist. For you, me, and my clients, our business growth depends on having a nuanced understanding of our ideal clients. And I want you to really master this crucial part of your brand foundation so you can bring more clarity and ease to selling and marketing your services. That’s exactly what this blog will help you do.
CONTENTS
WHY YOU NEED TO REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
It’s not enough these days to whip up an ideal client profile that lists their age, gender, and location. This isn’t a 90s chat room. LOL.
People are complex. There are many layers and nuance to who we are and how we make decisions. Especially expensive ones. If you want to reach your ideal clients through your marketing and your messaging, your audience profile needs depth and detail. The strategic approach I use in my target audience analysis will provide you with extreme clarity that your business can rely on to grow.
And it goes beyond marketing. The details of your audience profile will be wildly beneficial for crafting in-demand offers that your ideal clients will be eager to invest in.
DON’T SKIP THIS STEP OF YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE ANALYSIS STRATEGY
Before you begin, please know that creating your audience profile shouldn’t be a guessing game. For best results, do market research first. Here are a few methods for gathering insights to inform your audience profiles:
pay attention to how leads have described their problem on inquiry forms
talk to past clients about their experience
create a market research survey
introduce a client off-boarding questionnaire
THE 5 KEY SECTIONS OF YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE
1. Start Your Audience Profile with Problem-Solution Scenarios
Your business exists as a solution to someone’s problem. Which is why we start here.
To build trust with your ideal clients through your messaging and marketing, the goal is to have a layered understanding of their problem and how it manifests in their life or business.
To get started, do a brain dump of all the problems your ideal client is facing.
what are they struggling with?
what are they feeling?
why haven’t they been able to solve their problem yet?
There are three types of problems you want to identify for your audience profile:
1. Functional Problems
These are the more obvious problems they have as it relates to your service offering.
An example for the client of a social media manager may be that they’re struggling to create content that converts.
2. Emotional Problems
These are the emotional problems that arise as a result of the functional problems.
An example for the client of a social media manager may be that they’re tired and frustrated from taking time in their evenings and weekends to catch up on content creation only to have the content flop.
3. Self-Expressive Problems
And finally, identify how these problems impact their self-image and identity.
Continuing with the same example, one of their self-expressive problems could be that their social content doesn’t reflect the professionalism they want associated with their brand.
By the end of this exercise, you should have a laundry list of ideal client problems for your audience profile. The next step is to tie specific solutions your offer has to as many of those problems as you can. Aim to keep them short and sweet. For example:
PROBLEM: they’re struggling to create content that converts
SOLUTION: we’ll create a strategic content plan that aligns with their business goals, drives engagement and sales
This gives you a far more nuanced understanding of what your ideal clients are experiencing and feeling. This section of your audience profile is a great source for consistent content ideas that will resonate with your ideal clients and pique their interest in your services.
2. Include a List of Your Ideal Client’s Priorities
This section of your audience profile helps you step into the shoes of your ideal clients when they’re in decision-making mode.
This often overlooked step will give YOU a serious advantage in marketing to their needs. Because when you’ve got a list of client priorities at the ready, you’re able to optimize how you position and market your offers.
Here’s what you want to better understand:
where your ideal client is coming from and what they’re current situation is
what’s prevented them from solving their problem so far
what factors influence their decision to buy/invest
Brand strategy is all about asking the right questions. Every business and industry will be different but here are some of the audience analysis questions I use when strategizing a client’s target audience:
What are they searching for in a [your title or service]?
personality traits, shared values, a certain level of experience, location, etc.
Where do they ascribe value? In other words, what are they willing to pay more for?
methodology, flexibility, ROI/results, innovation, ease of experience, legacy, etc.
How do they want to feel?
For a life coach, their clients will want to feel safe to be vulnerable.
For an event planner, their clients may want to feel calm and reassured.
Pro-Tip: When you understand how they’re currently feeling you’re able to design a brand experience that gives them a glimpse of that desired state.
What are their biggest concerns that are stopping them from taking action?
If their concern is the investment then their priority would be flexible payments
What’s their desired outcome or goal?
This may seem obvious, but be sure to identify the specific transformation and result they’re seeking and list those priorities.
For a coach: actionable steps that leads to progress, evergreen strategies, etc.
For an event planner: ability to enjoy themselves during the event, stress-free execution, etc.
As part of your audience profile, succinctly list your ideal client priorities. Regularly refer to these priorities when creating new offers or marketing campaigns.
3. Creating Your Ideal Client Profile Story
Your ideal client profile is a nuanced look at one unique persona that represents your ideal client. It details both demographic and psychographic characteristics in a way that brings to life a real individual you are trying to reach through your brand experience and marketing.
Audience Demographic Examples
where they reside
age
their annual salary
education
relationship status
Audience Psychographic Examples
their personality
their values
lifestyle
responsibilities
motivations
challenges
Your ideal client profile should be one page with a list of notable highlights on one side and a brief story overview on the other. Creating a narrative for each persona can be challenging but it really helps you step into their shoes in an authentic way. Write this out as if you were describing them to a friend. Here’s a checklist for what to include:
brief intro: who they are, where they live, and what an average day/week looks like.
their personality: how would their friends describe them?
their backstory: what’s led them to be in the market for a [your title/offer]? What are they trying to achieve?
their priorities: what are they looking for in a [your title]? Values, personality, location, etc.
their behaviour: what influences their decision making or spending habits? What’s holding them back?
Your ideal client profile(s) should be regularly referred to as you craft offers, messaging, and content within your business.
4. Mapping Your Ideal Client’s Journey for Success
Including a journey map inside your audience profile will optimize lead generation and your entire client experience. The journey map delineates six stages of your ideal client’s journey:
Awareness
Consideration
Purchase
Delivery
Use
Loyalty
This client journey map breaks down the goals and activities of your future clients while also outlining the goals, activities, and KPIs for your own business. To really master this section of your audience profile, read this blog that covers client journey mapping in detail. It even includes a free template.
5. Wrap Up Your Audience Profile with Your Emotional Impact
The very last page of the audience profile section in my brand strategy guides is always the emotional impact. Your emotional impact showcases how your unique story serves as a bridge to connect with your ideal clients. The goal in writing your emotional impact is to pinpoint that through-line where your story and theirs intersect. Where your purpose as a business supports who or what they’re trying to become.
Here are a few questions to help you uncover the meaningful bridge that connects you with your most ideal clients:
Why did you start your business?
What fundamental belief inspires the work that you do?
What personal experiences shaped the way you show up for others?
What challenges did you overcome that your ideal client would relate to?
What is the impact you’re aiming to make?
What shared values do you and your clients have?
This exercise helps you identify how your story and purpose lends meaning to the work that you do and creates a connection between you and your future clients. It demonstrates how YOUR story positions YOU as the best person or business to solve their problem.
Your emotional impact positions you as a mirror, reflecting back your ideal client’s values, vision, or transformation to them so they see themselves in your messaging.
Remember, it’s our emotions that inspire us to take action. So use pieces from your emotional impact in your brand messaging to honour the heart behind your business. And trust me, the right clients will find you.
Crafting a thorough audience profile isn’t just a brand strategy exercise—it’s a business growth strategy. When you understand the full picture of who your ideal client is, what they’re navigating, and what matters most to them, you’re able to show up with clarity, confidence, and content that actually connects.
If you’re ready to go deeper with your brand foundation and finally create audience profiles that guide your messaging, offers, and marketing, join me for an intro call to learn how we can build your brand strategy together. Let’s make sure your business is speaking directly to the people it’s meant to serve.
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Jenny Henderson Studio develops memorable brand experiences and strategic brand foundations to improve recognition and revenue for service-based small businesses.
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