Plenty of businesses across Australia offer genuinely excellent products that still underperform online. In many cases, it’s not the product that is the problem, nor is it the business’s marketing budget. The biggest issue is that their marketing speaks to just one buyer when several people are shaping the decision along the way. They need to cast a wider net and market to multiple buyer audiences at once.
So how do you achieve this? Above all, it’s important to identify and target everyone who influences the sale – not just the one who ultimately pays. Give each audience the information they need at their stage of the buying journey, keep one core message throughout, and measure the impact at every touch point, not just final revenue.
Overview
- What Does Marketing To Multiple Buyer Audiences Mean?
- What You Miss By Focusing On One Buyer
- 5 Steps To Effectively Market To Multiple Buyer Audiences
- Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Complex Buyer Journeys Need Experienced Marketers Like Kwasi
What Does Marketing To Multiple Buyer Audiences Mean?
Marketing to multiple buyer audiences means using one coordinated strategy to reach everyone who shapes a purchase decision.
For example, an architectural hardware manufacturer and wholesaler doesn’t just sell to the retailer stocking the product. Its buyers also include:
- The architect who specifies the product.
- The interior designer who recommends it to their clients.
- The store customer or end client who may still be deciding what they really need.
Miss two of those three and you’re leaving demand on the table.
What You Miss By Focusing On One Buyer
By putting all your eggs into a single buyer-type basket, you effectively ignore the people who influence the purchase decision before it ever reaches them.
- Decision-shapers create demand you never see. For example, if the architect doesn’t specify your product, the retailer never gets the order.
- Each audience needs different information. For example:
- Trade buyers want margin and reliable supply.
- Designers want range and finish.
- End customers want to feel confident in their purchase decision.
- Revenue only shows the last step. Judging marketing on final sales alone masks any point where the purchase journey may be breaking down.
Kwasi often takes on clients with an excellent but complex product. These clients may have worked with agencies that didn’t account for these multiple demand points, and performance suffered as a result.
5 Steps To Effectively Market To Multiple Buyer Audiences
We understand the value of marketing to multiple buyer audiences simultaneously. Here are the 5 essential steps to put it into action.
1. Map every influence point in the buying journey
First, list everyone who may impact the decision, from the wholesaler or retailer who stocks your product, to the specifier, the recommender, and the end customer. There are numerous tools and resources you can use to verify who really influences each sale, from sales team knowledge and CRM data, to trade enquiries and on-site search queries. For each audience type you list, record their role, the type of information they need, and any possible blockers that might stop them from supporting your product.
2. Anchor everything in one core value proposition
Determine that one, single promise that every audience benefits from and build all messaging from it. To continue with the hardware manufacturer example, that promise might be “Quality hardware that’s easy to specify, stock, and live with”. Each audience gets a different emphasis and different proof, but the promise stays the same. Kwasi’s digital strategy work starts from exactly this point.
3. Give each audience the right information at the right stage
A message matrix sets out what each audience does in the sale, what they need, and the content that moves them. It might look something like this:
| Audience | Role in the sale | What they need | Content that influences them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesaler or retailer | Stocks and sells the product | Margin, demand, reliable supply | Trade pages, product data, sell in material |
| Architect | Specifies the product | Technical detail, compliance, finishes | Spec sheets, CAD files, project galleries |
| Interior designer | Recommends it to clients | Range, style, how it looks in situ | Lookbooks, case studies, sample requests |
| End customer | Makes the final decision | Reassurance that it is the right choice | Buying guides, reviews, FAQs |
Brief each landing page, email and ad against one row, so every piece targets a specific audience.
4. Reach each audience where they research
Place your unique, bespoke content in the places where each audience already looks.
- Architects and designers search for technical and inspirational content.
- Trade buyers respond to direct outreach and dedicated trade pages.
- End customers search, compare, and read reviews.
Build unique landing pages or clearly signposted pathways for each priority audience, and coordinate the channels through performance marketing. For an example in practice, see how a multi-channel strategy delivered 25% monthly growth for Red Tree Finance.
5. Measure the impact at every touch point
With the multi-focus strategy in place, it’s imperative that you track each audience and touch point separately rather than just the final sale. Yes, revenue is the end goal, but it isn’t the only number worth watching. You also have spec sheet downloads, trade enquiries, sample requests, and store-locator searches worth tracking; these will show you whether each influence point is working before the sales land. That transparency shows where to invest and what to fix, and reliable data and analytics make it possible.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
To give your multi-audience strategy the best chance at positive performance, try to avoid these common stumbling blocks that can get in the way.
- Wearing blinkers and only focusing on one buyer. The person who pays is rarely the only person who decides.
- Sending every audience to one landing page. A page that tries to answer every question rarely answers any of them well.
- Judging success on revenue alone. Without conducting touch-point measures, you can’t see which audience is holding sales back.
Identifying these familiar missteps now will help you to build a more resilient strategy that maximises engagement and demand at each stage of the strategy.
Complex Buyer Journeys Need Experienced Marketers Like Kwasi
Marketing to multiple buyer audiences works best when you see the whole journey, not just the final sale. Kwasi has spent 15 years helping businesses with complex products reach every person who shapes the decision, and our team brings nearly 100 years of combined experience to that work. We map each touch point, measure the impact at every one and report on it transparently.
Selling a product with more than one buyer? Talk to Kwasi about reaching all of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 3-3-3 rule in marketing?
The 3-3-3 rule is a marketing principle that helps agencies keep their campaigns focused and free of unwanted clutter. It centres on focusing on 3 key messages (e.g. unique selling points, customer benefits, and “pain” points) across 3 audience types (e.g. influencers, retailers, end customers) and 3 marketing channels (e.g. social media, paid ads, organic/SEO).
What is the 40-40-20 rule in marketing?
The 40-40-20 rule states that 40% of a marketing campaign’s success comes from reaching the right audience, while 40% comes from the offer and the remaining 20% from the creative. This principle was created in the 1960s and is often credited to Ed Mayer. The takeaway is that you can’t save a campaign targeted towards the wrong audience with great creative alone. For complex products, the right audience is rarely one person. Specifiers, recommenders, retailers, and end customers all influence the sale, so reaching all of them is the biggest lever you have.
How do you measure marketing across multiple audiences?
Set a leading indicator for each touch point, such as spec downloads, trade enquiries or sample requests, alongside revenue. Then report on each audience separately in GA4 and your CRM.
