It still amazes me. When I write copy for a company, I always ask about their target audience. I have to know who I’m writing to in order to create a message that will bring a response. But about half time, client is absolutely stumped about who their target audience is and what they want.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say it again: “You have to know your target audience before you can advertise effectively.”

It just makes sense. How can you deliver what customer wants unless you know what that is? How can you present a message in a way customer will respond to unless you know their communication style? Bottom line… you can’t.

So exactly how do you find out who your target audience is and what they want? It’s actually easier than you might think. Here are my top seven ways to define a target audience. Each is quick, simple, and free/cheap.

1. Ask. Devise a survey or questionnaire and send it out to those people who you think *might* be interested in your product or service. Take a week or two to write a list of questions that you’d love to have answers to; then create an online survey, and send out link. Be honest. Tell people why you want information and what you plan to use it for. Also remind them that survey is completely anonymous.

If you really want to boost responses, offer a prize drawing. Perhaps you could give away an Amazon gift certificate to one lucky winner.

TIP: I use Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com) because they have easiest and most flexible tools I’ve found. Not to mention, for surveys that only need 100 responses or less… it’s FREE!