Craigslist Success - Know Your Target Audience

Creating classified ads that appeal to your target audience and that influence their decisions about whether or not to click on your hyperlinks can be intimidating. After all, what are people looking for anyway?

If you don’t know your target audience, it will be difficult to create ads that compel readers to click on your links. That’s why it’s so important to do your homework and your research before you create your ads. Regardless of where you are advertising, you must know your audience and that is never more essential than when posting ads on Craigslist.

You probably already know that you have a valuable product, outstanding customer service, and an effective check-out process on your website. But your potential customers don’t know it yet if they haven’t visited your website. Your job is to get them to your website. You want to get as many targeted people as possible since your target audience is most likely to be converted to paying customers.

So, how can you target your ads on Craigslist to focus on your target audience? Take a look at these key tips and you’ll be on your way to a successful advertising campaign.

Know what your target audience is searching for. What do they value and what do they have in common? What is so important about your niche and what common characteristics can you identify among your targeted population? Make a list of these things as you plan your ad campaign.

What benefits do you have to offer the target audience. Now that you know what they value, you have to demonstrate that you can respond to their needs. Tell them how you can offer benefits or make their lives easier. Don’t talk about your product features. They don’t care about that. Talk about what you can do for them and increase their curiosity about your website and what you have to offer.

You know what they want and you know what you have to offer. So think about how they are searching for what you have to offer. What keywords are they using to search and what categories are they most likely to peruse. Knowing what your target audience pays attention to is essential when it comes to creating your ads and ad content. Keywords play an important role in every type of advertising and classified advertising on Craigslist is no different.

A picture can say a thousand words, and since you only have about 50 words or less in your content, your picture is important. Make sure your picture speaks volumes about your website and use it to tell a story. What makes life easier for your target audience? Can you depict that in a picture or graphic? What do they value? Can you create or purchase a picture that demonstrates this type of value? If your audience values time in the snow covered mountains of Colorado, don’t use a picture of the majestic sunset over the east coast! Appeal to their desires and emotions with your pictures and graphics.

When you create your classified ads for Craigslist, make sure you target your audience with every word you use – and with every word you don’t use! Make sure you know what they value and then demonstrate that you can fill this need for them. Make your messages unique and succinct and you’ll drive traffic to your website.

Then you can begin building a long-lasting relationship to build your business for the long-term.