When you’re just starting to build a target audience, what do we recommend as the first step?

Creating a clear target audience persona is the foundational first step because it provides a detailed, semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. This persona defines their demographics, behaviors, motivations, and pain points, which is crucial for all subsequent marketing efforts. Without this understanding, your messaging and targeting will be unfocused and inefficient. Deciding the language of your creatives comes later, once you know who you're speaking to. Creating audience templates is a technical step that builds upon a defined persona, not replaces it. Uploading contact lists to Matched Audiences is an advanced targeting strategy used after you've established who you want to reach.