When we talk to clients about brand strategy, one of the first things we dive into is the audience. Who are you trying to reach? Who is this brand for?

Understanding your target audience is the first step toward creating a successful brand identity, with a clear voice and impactful messaging.

It’s a big question. And one that often gets answered with broad strokes—demographics, locations, general vibes. Which is a great start. But if you stop there, you’re missing a huge opportunity to make your brand messaging sharper, smarter and more effective.

That’s where audience personas come in.

We recently sat down to chat about this very topic in one of our Couch Sessions:

But let’s dive a little deeper. What are target markets and audience personas and how can you use them to build a brand that resonates?

Broad Strokes: What is a Target Market?

Your target market is the broad group of people your brand is trying to reach. It’s typically defined by a mix of demographics (age, gender, location, income, occupation) and psychographics (interests, behaviors, values).

This is where most businesses start. It helps you understand the overall landscape of your potential customers—and it’s especially important when you’re deciding where to show up and how to position yourself in the market.

For example, a boutique fitness studio in Charlotte might define its target market as:
Adults ages 25-45 living or working in the South End or Dilworth neighborhoods, with moderate to high disposable income and a focus on health, wellness and community.

That gives you a solid foundation, but it’s still pretty broad. And chances are, your competitors are targeting that same group.

Target markets are important because they help you define the playing field. But they’re just the beginning. To stand out, you’ve got to get more specific.

Nitty Gritty: What’s an Audience Persona?

Audience personas are fictional-but-grounded profiles of your ideal customers. Think of them as character studies representing the real people you want to connect with within your target market. These profiles go beyond generalizations to build a more nuanced, human understanding of who you’re talking to: what they care about, how they make decisions, what they’re like.

It's what takes us from:

We’re talking to middle-aged women in the Charlotte metro area.

To:

We’re talking to Carol, a 52-year-old single woman living in Plaza Midwood with her two rescue dogs. Carol is passionate about sustainability, volunteers at the Innovation Barn and recently looked into getting a compost toilet installed at home. She’s got a dry, sarcastic sense of humor, and she’s fiercely protective of the people she loves.

Or from:

25-45 year olds who live in South End

To:

Amanda, a 32-year-old marketing manager who’s deep in her wellness era and books her Sunday morning hot yoga class before she even grabs her coffee. She’s always down to try a new spot—especially if it has good lighting and a good playlist.

That’s a LOT clearer of a picture. It narrows in on a subset of the target market and brings that subset to life.

That level of detail isn’t just for fun. It’s strategic.

When you know who you’re talking to, you can actually talk to them. You can choose the right words, the right channels, even the right collaborators or influencers to get their attention. And you can build real emotional connection and brand loyalty along the way.

How Many Audience Personas Should You Have?

There’s no magic number, but most brands find 2 to 4 core personas the most helpful. It’s enough to reflect the key groups you’re trying to connect with, but not so many that your messaging becomes unfocused.

Generally, you’ll want 1 or 2 personas for your primary target audience (your ideal client or customer), and maybe 1 for other secondary audiences (such as investors, stakeholders, industry partners or even future employees you want to attract).

Focus on quality over quantity. Make sure each persona is distinct, useful and tied to a real segment of your target market.

How to Build Personas That Work

At NiceDay, we create audience personas as part of our foundational brand strategy process, but it’s a helpful exercise at any stage. Here’s how to get started:

Start with your target market. Look at who’s already engaging with you—or even who your competitors are targeting. Look for trends in their age, income, interests and values.
Drill down to the people you want to reach. What subset of this market aligns best with your offering? Who is underserved by your competitors?
Give them a name and a narrative. Build out their personality, behaviors, values and quirks. Think about their challenges, what they care about, what they scroll past and what makes them stop and pay attention.
Tailor your messaging accordingly. From tone of voice to marketing channels, use those insights to craft messaging that actually connects.

Remember: your audience personas can evolve over time—just like your brand. Check in periodically to make sure they still align with your real customers, your growth goals and your brand story.

Why Specificity Wins

To quote the poster from my fifth grade English classroom: To be terrific, you must be specific.

We get it—being specific can feel risky. You might worry about leaving people out or narrowing your audience too much.

But here’s the counterintuitive truth: the more specific your messaging, the more people it actually resonates with.

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: when you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one. Why? Because generic messaging is forgettable. But focused, thoughtful messaging feels personal. Relatable. Real.

Take Nike, for example. Their messaging is laser-focused on high-performance athletes and people who value grit, strength and discipline. And yet? People far outside that core persona still buy Nike. That’s because they’re buying into an identity. They want to feel like that version of themselves—even if they’re just running errands, going into the office or walking their dog.

A strong persona helps create that kind of aspirational connection. It makes people feel seen—even if they weren’t the original target.

Target Market and Audience Personas: Your Roadmap to Differentiation

To recap: target markets and audience personas are like zoom levels on the same map. One gives you the lay of the land. The other helps you find the exact street you need to be on.

Both are essential to shaping your brand’s direction—especially if you want to stand out.

Because here’s the thing: your competitors are targeting the same market. So the real magic comes when you define the specific personas you want to reach within that market—people whose needs, values or quirks align with what your brand uniquely offers. That’s when the brand connection happens and when brand loyalty begins to form.

Audience Personas Explained: How to Go Deeper Than Demographics