Learning to Target Your Message is Essential for Success
Written by PR Etc., Inc.
Published by Rockford Register Star
Monday, January 10, 2005

A majority of organizations consider public relations as issuing a general press release or scheduling interviews regarding a specific announcement. However, if you use internal or external resources more effectively and learn to better target your message, the results can be astounding.

The “one-press-release-fits-all approach” won’t draw attention of the audience (nor the media) you want unless it’s tailored for them. Of course, a generic press release takes less time and resources to push your message out to the masses, but do you really want to communicate to the masses? Does your restaurant cater to all clientele – families and young adults? Is your new shampoo really aimed at both senior citizens and teenagers?

Taking some time to identify and segment your target market may be a bit extra work initially, but targeting your product and your message to the appropriate audience(s) most relevant is essential in improving your revenue.

• Identify audience categories most critical to your product or service. There are various ways in which to distinguish the priority audiences, including age range(s), income levels, location of office and/or home, association affiliations, etc.
• Target these individuals with specific messages and programs. Based on the audiences identified, tweak your press release to make it most relevant to each key audience. Or recognize additional ways to market to these groups: How do they receive their information? For example, if you are targeting teenagers, an article in the local newspaper will not be as effective as working with an online provider, cell phone message provider or even a school newspaper to get your message out.

Targeting individuals allows your organization to focus efforts at a lower cost and measure quantifiable results. A bit of initial time in January can make a marked improvement in your communications for the rest of the year.