Target Group

What's your target group?

In the previous topic, we asked you to define your problem. You probably remember that one of the components of the problem definition is the target group. These are the people who are directly affected by the problem you aim to solve. In this topic, we invite you to take a closer look at your target group or beneficiaries - how many are there and what characteristics do they have?

When analyzing your target audience, keep in mind that at this stage we are still working on a social problem that your enterprise will address. Sometimes, the beneficiary and the customer of a social enterprise are the same people. But more often, these two roles belong to different people. Therefore, for the time being, we urge you not to think about the customer who buys goods or services, but to focus only on the group of people who are experiencing the problem directly and for whom you want to create the impact. We will return to your customer in future topics. Then we will be able to see that the needs and motivations of these two groups can be very different. It is for this reason that it is appropriate to separate them and remain focused only on the problem area for the time being.

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The size of the target group

Why?

Before rolling up your sleeves and starting to tackle the problem, it’s helpful to know the extent of it. How many people experience it? This information will help you understand the importance and weight of the problem, for example, nationwide. 

In most cases, social problems directly or indirectly affect the costs of a country's social system. Knowing the size of the target group will not only help you understand the scale of the problem, but will also help you to formulate clear and data-based arguments for stakeholders, highlighting why it is worth focusing on the problem you are dealing with.

How do I do that?

Knowing the size of your target group will also help you to assess what resources and competences an organisation will need to address the problem. The solution itself can also depend on the size of the target group - what accesses and channels you will have to choose to help as many people as possible. Finally, by knowing how many people are experiencing the problem, you will be able to compare and measure what proportion of them you are reaching. 

Example 1

Let's say the definition of the problem is “grade 5-7 children experience bullying in Lithuanian schools”. Our task is to count how many such children are out there. According to the 2020 data of the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, we can find out that there are approximately 78,350 children of ages 11-13 in Lithuania. A study by the World Health Organisation revealed that almost one in three children of this age in Lithuania report being bullied. It is easy to do the maths: according to these numbers, our target audience is 25,856 children. Depending on the definition of the specific problem, the number can be adjusted, for example at city or regional level. 

Try to be as precise as possible, but do not get discouraged if you can’t find accurate data that would lead to the result of up to every single number. If there are gaps in the data, you can make assumptions. 

Example 2

If we want to calculate how many children with disabilities experience bullying in Lithuania, we may not be able to find an exact study. But we can find information that, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Social Security and Labor in 2018, there are 14,992 children with disabilities living in Lithuania. In this case, we do not have statistics on their distribution by age, but based on general birth rates, we can estimate that children aged 11-13 make up approximately 15.7% of all minors in Lithuania. Therefore, we assume that (14992 * 15.7%) there are 2354 children of this age with disabilities in Lithuania. Knowing from a previous study that one in three children aged 11-13 experiences bullying, we can count that 706 children aged 11-13 with disabilities experience bullying.

We do understand that this figure is no longer so accurate because, due to lack of information, we had to make more assumptions. Probably not all children with disabilities attend school and interact with peers, which should mean that in reality this number is lower. On the other hand, our intuition tells us that children with disabilities are at higher risk of experiencing bullying at school.
Despite these inaccuracies, the number we come to still says more about the problem than just stating it in words. We can now imagine better how many such children there are and plan further actions accordingly.

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Calculate the size of your target group:

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Frequently asked questions:

The number is very small

If the number obtained is very small, it can mean several things. The first scenario is that the problem is faced by fewer people than we thought at first glance and it is a very specific, niche problem. Think about what this will mean for your organisation. Will it change your planned approach to the solution? You may reach most of your target audience very quickly. Will you then think about other problems and other audiences? 

There is no data

Calculating the scale of a problem can be difficult if the problem is controversial and considered a taboo. For example, victims of domestic violence often do not dare, are unwilling or unable to report it. Another reason why there might be few statistics on the problem is if the people experiencing the problem do not realize it themselves and cannot be interviewed, for example, young children. In that case, think about who could be the voice for those who can’t speak.

That's only a few scenarios.Sometimes the scale of the problem can be hidden - although there are no official data on the problems, they still exist. If you are convinced that this is your case, do not give up. The next logical step would be to try to find justification for it via other channels - by talking to the people who are experiencing the problem themselves, or seeing it very closely - social workers, teachers, doctors, other specialists. Can they confirm your intuition that the problem still exists and affects a lot of people? Maybe they can explain why there is no data on it or advise you where to look for it? 

Beneficiary profile

Numerous case studies and literature on social innovation show a tendency for beneficiaries to be skeptical towards, sometimes even resisting the methods and ideas offered to them by social entrepreneurs. This can become a ticket to failure - if the solution proposed by social enterprise does not "stick" to its target group as expected, not only it will be impossible to achieve the desired impact, but the whole business model will collapse. 

Why do social entrepreneurs find themselves in such situations? One of the reasons is that start-up entrepreneurs are often too solution-oriented. In other words, they have great ideas and the very best intentions, but it turns out that the solution they created is difficult to adapt to the context. Once the idea is implemented, external factors get in the way and we see that the target group is unwilling or even unable to take advantage of the solution. 

Can we get to work yet?

Due to the reason discussed above, we are still in the stage of problem analysis and will discuss the solution later on. First of all, we have to find who is in our target group and how they are affected by the problem. In this way, we will deepen our understanding of the context and then be able to apply the best solution. 

Once you know approximately how many people make up your target group, it’s time to take a closer look at them. How close? In this section we will get to know one of them. 

For this purpose, we will use a tool that is also widely used in the business world - persona profile. We will encourage you to investigate your audience through a microscope and describe one typical representative of it. What is his / her name and how do they look like? Where do they live? What are they doing? How do they feel and what do they dream about? This allows you to create solutions that your target audience can't resist - after all, they are made just for them!

The method encourages you to think deeper and can provide you with very valuable insights about the target audience. We will try to step into the shoes of someone who is facing the problem and try to imagine what his daily life looks like, how the problem affects him. It will help to create a very specific profile rather than just a broad definition of the target audience. This will not only make you understand the problem you want to solve better, but will also provide with insights about the context. This will later help to create an effective antidote - your solution. 

Fill in the fields below and answer questions about how your persona is dealing with the problem.

Some pieces of advice:

01

Make it personal

Imagine a specific person, with a name and surname. If possible, draw a portrait of it on a piece of paper, or choose a photo. 

02

Specific situations

When filling in the table, think of situations where he or she is facing a problem. 

03

I think...

Formulate the answers in the first person. For example, “I think that ..”, “I’m scared because…”, “I’d really like to…”

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Your persona profile

What's the name?

Who?

GENERAL INFORMATION

Career? Education? Family situation?

DEMOGRAPHICS

Age? Gender? Income? Location?

PERSONALITY

Character traits? Style of communication?

VALUES

What's important to them?
What motivates them?

Situation

LIKES/ DISLIKES

What do they like to do? What dislikes do thry have?

CHALLENGES

What challenges arise because of the
problem?

BEHAVIOUR

How do they behave when facing the problem?

FEELINGS

How do they feel when dealing with the problem?

WISHES

What are they dreaming about? What would be an ideal situation? What would be considered as a success?

Environment

WHAT DO THEY SEE?



WHAT DO THEY HEAR?

What are the things that friends, family and other people say?

WHERE DO THEY GET INFORMATION?

From people around, the internet, books, specialists...

Interview

It goes without saying that if you fill in the profile only based on your opinion and guesses, it won’t be very accurate. Therefore, as always, we recommend checking your assumptions via real conversations. If you have an opportunity, interview the representatives of your target group and, ideally, support your answers in the task with real quotes from your interviews.

01.

ASK WHY.
Even if you think you know the answer, still ask people why they speak or behave a certain way. The answers can surprise you and help you get to the essence and real motives.

02.

DO NOT ASK CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS.
Such questions can be answered in one word: yes or no, like or dislike, would or wouldn't. Try to make the conversation to be based on stories.

03.

ASK NEUTRALLY.
"What do you think about math lessons?" is a better question than "Do you agree that math lessons are very boring?" The first question does not suggest the respondent that there is one correct answer.

04.

LOOK FOR NON-VERBAL CUES.
Not only listen carefully, but also observe body language and emotions during the interview.

05.

LOOK FOR DISCREPANCIES.
We all know that people tend to talk one thing and do the other. By noticing such discrepancies, you can gain very valuable insights about your respondent.

06.

OBSERVE EVERYTHING.
If possible, carry out the interview with a colleague. If not, be sure to record the conversation. It is not possible to listen carefully, lead conversation and to write down everything in detail at the same time.

07.

ENCOURAGE STORYTELLING.
Ask questions that encourage people to tell stories. Avoid phrases such as “how do you behave / feel” when asking a question. It is better to base the conversation on specific events and situations, such as “tell me about the last time you were in a situation that ____”. Even if the story told is not one hundred percent true, the narrative can reveal how a person thinks and sees the world.

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