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How to Find Your Audience

Daniel Adrian
· 4 min read
Copyright: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
marketing for beginners
marketing strategy audience research
A hand-drawn charcoal sketch on textured brown paper. The illustration shows a friendly cartoon character dressed as an explorer, crouching and examining a trail of footprints with a large magnifying glass. The footprints lead to a happy group of characters gathered around a campfire, which is labeled 'Your Audience'.

In the last post, we covered the three types of content you need to create. But brilliant content is useless if no one sees it.

So, where do your ideal clients hide online? And how do you join the conversation without being weird or s*ammy?

Let’s break it down.

Stop Guessing, Start Listening

Forget “ideal client avatars” that ask for their favorite ice cream flavor. That’s busywork.

We need answers to two simple questions:

  1. What are their real problems?
  2. Where do they go online to talk about them?

Get this right, and you’ll never run out of content ideas or wonder where to post.

The goal isn’t to be everywhere. It’s to be in the right places, consistently.

The “Watering Hole” Method

Think of your audience like wildlife. They have predictable habits and gather at specific “watering holes” online. Your job is to find those spots, listen to their conversations, and then join in.

Here’s where to look:

1. Online Communities & Forums

This is your #1 starting point. People here are actively asking questions and sharing frustrations. This is raw, unfiltered market research.

  • Reddit: Find your niche’s subreddit (e.g., r/freelance, r/smallbusiness, r/copywriting). Don’t just look at the posts. Study the comments. That’s where the gold is. What questions get asked over and over? What solutions do people complain about?
  • Facebook Groups: Search for groups dedicated to your industry or the problems you solve. Look for active communities where people are having real conversations, not just dropping links.
  • Niche Forums: Every industry has them. For designers, it might be Dribbble or Behance. For developers, Stack Overflow or Indie Hackers. Find where the pros in your field hang out.

Your move: Don’t just jump in and start pitching. Listen first. For a week, just read. Absorb the language, the common problems, the inside jokes. Then, start answering questions helpfully. No links, no sales pitch. Just pure value. Become a familiar, trusted name.

2. The Comment Sections of Influencers

Find 5-10 established creators who already serve your target audience. Your future clients are already in their orbit.

  • YouTube: Look at the comments on their most popular videos. What are people confused about? What follow-up questions do they have? That’s your next piece of “Know” content.
  • LinkedIn/X (formerly Twitter): Who is commenting on their posts? Look at the profiles of the people engaging. What are their job titles? What do they talk about on their own profiles?
  • Instagram: Read the comments and DMs to see who is asking for advice. This tells you what problems the influencer’s content didn’t fully solve.

Your move: Engage with the comments. If someone asks a question and you have a good answer, provide it right there. You’re not stealing their audience, but participating in the conversation they started and demonstrating your expertise.

3. Competitor Mentions & Reviews

Who are your direct competitors? More importantly, who do your customers think are your competitors?

  • “Vs.” Searches: Go to Google and type “[Your Competitor] vs.” and see what auto-completes. People are actively comparing solutions. This tells you what features or outcomes matter most to them.
  • Review Sites: Look up competitors on sites like G2, Capterra, or even Yelp. What do the 3-star reviews say? 5-star reviews praise what’s working. 1-star reviews are often just angry rants. But 3-star reviews are where people give honest, balanced feedback about what’s missing.
  • Social Media Search: Search for your competitor’s name on X or LinkedIn. See what people are saying. Are they complaining about customer service? Wishing for a specific feature? That’s an opportunity.

Your move: You’re not looking to bad-mouth competitors. You’re looking for gaps. If everyone complains that “Competitor X is great but their onboarding is a nightmare,” you know to lead with how amazing and simple your onboarding process is.

Putting It All Together

You don’t need to be in all these places at once. Pick one watering hole to start.

  1. Listen: Spend a week just reading and taking notes.
  2. Engage: Spend the next week answering questions and being genuinely helpful.
  3. Create: Use what you’ve learned to create “Know” content that addresses the exact problems you’ve seen.

When you share that content in the community, it’s not spam. It’s the solution they were already looking for.

Stop shouting into the void. Go where the conversation is already happening.

Next Step

So now you know what to create and where to find your people. But how do you get them to take the next step? How do you move them from Community to Prospect without feeling like a pushy salesperson?

In the next post, I’ll break down how to craft a simple, compelling offer that makes people want to buy.

Catch you then. ✌️

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