Who is your target audience as a practitioner?

Let’s hope that we can replace all our online sessions with physical hands-on work soon. We really look forward to that day. In the meantime, this might be the perfect opportunity for you to think once more about the people you wish to work with. Your “target audience”, is what they call it, in all the marketing workshops. It might be that you already considered this topic when you started reading more about sales and marketing. Maybe you took time to think about how best to reach your potential clients, and to let them know about your profession as a Pantarei practitioner. If you’ve ever been to a business consultant, they would probably have tried to direct you by asking the question: “Who is your target audience as a practitioner?”

There are many people who can benefit from your sessions, right now during this phase of lockdown, as well as when the restrictions are lifted. However, some of these people would not know how to search for you, if you didn’t reach out to them. So, who would you like to work with? Who would you like to see regularly for sessions? Some people would like to know how to deal with what they feel, while others will need help in healing.

Often, you can answer the question of who you would like to work with considered in two ways: 1. You can describe those people who you truly enjoy working with and 2. Describe those people who you feel driven to give sessions to. Sometimes these questions describe the same audience; sometimes they do not.

The meaning of finding your target audience

The Pantarei Approach is an agile profession, and as such, can be adjusted to suit different audiences. Someone may come to you because they suffer from frequent stomach aches, that no-one has been able to help them with, or because they want to express themselves better. Some people will come to you as a result of dealing with the impact of the Coronavirus on their lives. Others will come for reasons that have nothing to do with this at all.

You might decide to work with some people for a reduced fee, as a part of your wish to give to your community in times like these. Perhaps you decide to give significant reductions to some of your clients you know need you, and cannot afford to pay.

The Coronavirus has made most of us slow down when it comes to our work as practitioners. Nevertheless, people still need to deal with the same topics during this time. Surprisingly, some people have found this period to be blissful. Others have struggled with all the fears that it has brought to the surface.

The Pantarei Approach can support them all. However, each practitioner can identify their own unique and particular group of people that they want to give sessions to. This question: “who is your target audience as a practitioner?” is important beyond the answer you give your marketing consultants or your website developer in order to express your wishes and attract the audience you want to work with. The thinking process that this question can lead you to is an interesting one. It is one that can direct you to better understand your profession and your reasons for learning and practicing it. And with it, it will guide your professional development.

How can you know who your target audience is?

We have collected 7 reference points to help you answer this question. Your might answer each point differently, but together they will all give you an idea of how you can answer the bigger question. It’s important to remember that your answers have a meaning and will lead you further towards your own heart, your ethics and values.

1. Which clients have you felt a special connection towards? How did they enter your heart? It might have been through their story, their passion, their character, or something else. Try to identify what is was about them and the sessions you gave them, that spoke directly to your soul.
2. Who did you feel was impacted the most through their sessions with you? (During your online or in-person sessions). Think not only in terms of the individuals you have given sessions to, but to everything they represented; a change that went beyond the person.
3. Write a few highlights in your professional path so far. You can write about anything at all: times with clients or time alone; times in class or times in your working room; times when you felt frustrated or times in which you were full of gratitude. Re-read what you wrote a day later, and think about how this might answer the question: “Who is your target audience as a practitioner?”
4. Who are the clients you enjoy the working with the most? Who are the people that you feel you wouldn’t mind spending a whole day with?
5. Which topics interest you? In terms of professional literature, what do you enjoy reading about? What documentary films do you watch? Where do you travel to and what do you invest in, or commit to? What do these answers mean in terms of the people you would wish to have as clients?
6. Who comes to you, now for online sessions, and before? Look at the list of clients that come to you regardless of your marketing efforts. What do they have in common? For what reasons do they come to you?
7. Remember that a target audience is unique in many ways. Some people choose the kind of people they wish to work with, and continue to invest in this direction for the rest of their professional lives. Others change their audience every so often. If this kind of thinking feels difficult for you, think of your target audience at the present moment. Who is your target audience as a practitioner during this time and this stage of your profession?

Understanding who your target audience is, is to understand what you’d like to invest in. In terms of giving sessions, but also in time spent reading, taking courses and becoming an expert in your own field. Becoming clear about it, will support you while reaching out to the people you wish to work with, and while giving sessions as a practitioner.

Written by Claudia & Vered