Collecting data on your target audience is essential if you want to sell products and services to them. You need to know their interests since you will come up with marketing ideas or product development plans based on how you understand your target audience.

You can collect information using a wide variety of methods including surveying, focus group discussions, online data analytics, and many others. Based on the collected data, you can decide how you will move forward to attract the attention of your target audience.

Although you are lucky to have these means of collecting information, the problem is that things could end badly, especially if you fail to interpret these results correctly. All these methods are an excellent way to find out what your target audience wants, but they are not perfect. There is a possibility that you gather information from the wrong sources, and your data is inaccurate. Imagine if you make decisions based on incorrect data. Everything will turn into a disastrous mistake.

For instance, if you survey people regarding how they want wide roller banners to look if you intend to use them for marketing. The survey results might reveal that they want the banners to look creative and colourful, but the bigger audience might want them to look more professional. You stand a chance of losing this target audience.

People aren’t always truthful

Throughout the Brexit campaign, people thought that the remain vote would prevail as polls showed that people were heading in that direction. In a surprising result, the leave vote won. The reason why these polls were incorrect is that most people didn’t provide an honest answer during the phone interviews or face-to-face surveys. They were not proud of their decision, so they decided to not tell the truth when asked. However, in the election booth, they wrote what their heart wanted. The same thing happened in the US with the surprising election of Trump.

These instances tell us that you can’t always rely on data you gather from people as they don’t always reflect how they truly feel. It’s possible for them to lie to please the caller or because they don’t seem to care about the survey at all.

Try different strategies

Since you aren’t sure what will work with your target audience, it helps if you try using different approaches to advertise. Diversify them across different platforms if possible. Observe the reaction of your target audience based on the increase in sales or the number of people visiting your website. Keep trying practical strategies and let go of the ones that don’t seem to get results.

You also can’t be too quick in concluding that some marketing strategies don’t appeal to your target audience. For instance, you might conclude that the use of banners and posters won’t work for millennials. The truth is that some people might appreciate them, especially if you offer one that looks enticing.