Know Your Audience

(Originally posted December 18, 2008)


I met a business owner who says he is spending more than $10,000 on radio advertising per month. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn’t getting much return on his investment. He was disappointed and a bit angry that he was spending so much to lure customers to his doorstep and nothing was happening in return.

This is a good lesson in target audiences.

You have to know your audience intimately. You need to know what they’re reading, what their family life is like, what they do in their leisure time, the type of music they are listening to, their financial situation, etc. etc. etc. In short, you need to know 1) what makes your audience tick and 2) what would motivate them to get off their butts and into your store.

Because if you don’t know this, you’ll end up guessing. You’ll guess that they’re listening to the same radio station that you do. You’ll guess that they are motivated by what is best for their families. You’ll guess that they will automatically want what you are selling.

And then you pay $10,000 for radio ads that just won’t work.

Every public relations campaign...every advertising campaign...every marketing campaign...should begin with the audience. What do you want them to do, think, or know? Then build programs around this basic concept.