SEO Strategies to Reach Your Target Audience: U•STORE•IT Case Study
Written by Rachel Richards
Great digital marketing is all about connecting with your customers on a deep level. Who are the people you’re trying to reach? What are their biggest motivations, needs, and desires? How can you appeal to them with empathy at the forefront of your approach? Answer these questions, and you’ll know how to successfully reach your target audience.
Our client U•STORE•IT is a prime example of a business that understands how to open the door to new customers. As an industry leader in storage solutions, they serve residential and commercial clients throughout central Alberta. Here’s how we’ve helped them define and win over their target audience with our strategic digital marketing approach.
What Is a Target Audience?
Your target audience is the group of consumers you’re trying to reach. Factors like age, gender, career, income, interests, and location are important in defining your customer base. But, it should go further than that. Try answering these questions:
- What is your target audience’s goal or need? What are their aspirations in life and/or work?
- What are your customers’ pain points? Which of their problems can your business solve?
- How can your website make their user experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible?
Why Is Identifying Your Target Audience Important?
Rather than attempting to reach everyone, you should define who your digital marketing is targeting. Otherwise, you’ll likely waste precious time and money advertising to uninterested buyers. It’s better to focus your budget on people you know will love and be loyal to what you’re offering. If you define your target audience now, then you can convert more leads in the long-term.
Target Audience Tips for Digital Marketing
Define Your Target Audience
Understanding your users’ goals and pain points is the key here. In U•STORE•IT’s case, location has been a crucial aspect of their target audience.
Their customers are looking for a storage unit that’s convenient and easy to find. Whether that’s close to their home or on their work commute, the facility has to be near where they are. This insight has guided our approach to U•STORE•IT’s website design, search engine optimization (SEO), and digital advertising.
Customize Your Website Experience
80% of consumers are more willing to buy from businesses that deliver a personalized experience. Your website needs to cater to your audience’s unique needs and make it as simple as possible to buy from you. Remove any friction from your users clicking “add to cart” (or “request a quote” or “contact us”).
For U•STORE•IT, we did that by optimizing their location pages. We added photos, addresses, and reviews specific to each facility. Beyond that, we also clarified what types of objects could fit into each unit, so users could imagine which size was right for them. Our team included step-by-step instructions for requesting pricing. This made it easy for their target audience to reach out to U•STORE•IT.
Engage with Your Customers
It’s essential to build strong relationships with your target audience. When they speak to you, you should listen and respond. This way, you’ll learn common questions people have about your business, and you can address them in real time. You’ll also discover what content is valuable to your customers, so you can strategically plan what to post on your blog and social media.
In U•STORE•IT’s case, our team takes the reins on their community management. With a customer-centric mindset, we respond to comments and messages on their social media and Google Business Profile. This helps their target audience feel connected to U•STORE•IT, which builds trust and loyalty over time. Plus, it also sends positive SEO signals to Google, helping drive U•STORE•IT up search rankings.
Optimize Your Online Ads
When pushing out digital advertising, you should customize your approach to your target audience. Your imagery and ad copy need to speak to who they are and appeal to their needs. Optimized targeting is also critical for generating awareness, clicks, and conversions with the right users. Delving into your Google Analytics can help you understand your consumers’ demographics and interests, which allows you to optimize your audience on Google Ads and Facebook.
We’ve brought a thoughtful approach to U•STORE•IT’s online ad targeting. Our creative showcases photos of their storage locations, such as their St. Albert or north Edmonton facility. Then, we target users who live and work in the area. This has built awareness and recall with people who are near that U•STORE•IT location—the exact people who are most likely to rent a unit.
How We’ve Won Over U•STORE•IT’s Target Audience
Over the years, our targeting efforts have been very successful for U•STORE•IT. For 2021 vs. 2020, our data shows:
- 45% increase in organic users
- 40% increase in organic sessions
- 58% increase in organic leads
- 19% decrease in paid users (meaning more refined targeting!)
- 45% increase in paid leads
Let’s Connect with Your Target Audience
Are you ready to win over the hearts and minds of your users? Let’s create a powerful digital marketing strategy to reach them. Contact us for a free consultation today.