The Pioneer Communicator -- August 2004

PR Principle:  Know Your Audience

The January 2004 edition of The Pioneer Communicator provided an overview of the Principles of Effective Public Relations.  These principles are the fundamentals; they are as important to your Public Relations effort as blocking and tackling are to a good football team.  The past few editions of this newsletter have explored some of the Principles of Effective PR.  This month, we will discuss another key principle:  knowing your audience.   

Identify Your Target Groups

Public Relations is all about building a strong, credible reputation among key groups of people.  These are groups whose perceptions impact your ability to achieve your goals.  If you are to build a strong reputation among these key groups, you must know your audiences.  

The first step in knowing your audience is determining who you are trying to reach.  I recommend making a list of every group that impacts your ability to achieve your goals.  This list might include customers, employees, vendors, potential customers, potential referral sources, local business leaders, competitors, and so on.  

Next, establish some basic communication goals for each group.  For example, how do you want them to perceive your organization?  What action, if any, do you want them to take as a result of your communications efforts?  

This process will help you develop a clearer understanding of who you are trying to reach and why you are trying to reach them.  However, this is only a starting point; knowing your audiences involves much more than simply knowing which groups you are trying to reach.

Know Your Audience

I know who Donald Trump is, but I don't know him.  Knowing your audience involves developing a thorough understanding of who they are, what issues matter to them, how they currently view you and your organization, and what makes them tick.  

You cannot develop this kind of understanding overnight.  It takes time and it requires effort.  Large companies often allocate significant resources to market research, all in an effort to develop a more thorough understanding of their target groups.  

Unfortunately, small companies rarely have that luxury.  

More often than not, entrepreneurs and small business owners simply do not have the capital required to conduct extensive market research.  This does not mean that they cannot develop a thorough understanding of their target groups -- it simply means that they must find a more cost-effective way to do so.

That brings us to the question of the day:  how can you, as a small business owner, develop a thorough understanding of your target groups?  There are a number of inexpensive ways you can obtain solid market intelligence, including:

-  Read local business publications:  these publications will help you stay abreast of what's happening in the local business community.

-  Adopt your audience's reading habits:  If you are trying to reach a specific industry or market segment, it's highly probable that most members of your target group read certain publications.  For example, technology professionals in the Research Triangle Park region are likely to read Triangle Tech Journal, while political campaign consultants more likely subscribe to Campaigns & Elections magazine.  Learn what makes your audiences tick by adopting their reading habits.

-  Customer surveys:  Conduct surveys of your existing client base.  Ask whether they are satisfied, what they like about your product or service and what they would recommend you change or improve.  In addition, you may want to ask what civic groups they are involved in, what publications they read, and so on.

-  Take advantage of " face time":  If you are a small business owner, it's likely that you deal directly with your clients and prospects.  Take advantage of this face time by asking questions and sincerely listening to what your clients have to say.  

This list is by no means complete; these are simply a few cost-effective ways you can develop a better understanding of your target audiences.  

Gaining this kind of understanding takes time, and it is a never-ending process.  The day you cease to learn is the day you hand your competitors an advantage.  Conversely, solid market intelligence will enable you to more effectively communicate with key target groups and provide better service to the people who pay your bills -- your clients.  

Networking Tip:  Long Term Follow Up

The purpose of professional networking activities is to develop trust-based business relationships that stand the test of time.  We have previously defined networking as making friends before you need them.

Proper follow-up is one of the absolute, fundamental keys to networking success.  Far too many would-be networkers attend a Chamber event, meet a ton of people, and never follow up with any of them.

Other would-be networkers are too aggressive in their follow-up.  They call all of their contacts the day after they meet them and try to set sales appointments.  This approach might succeed if your only goal is getting the sale, but it will surely fail if your objective is to build the relationship.

Still other networkers take the time to properly follow up soon after they make a new contact.  However, they never make contact after the initial follow-up, and six months later the person does not even remember having met them.

By definition, relationships are built over time.  Genuine, trust-based business relationships cannot develop if you fail to stay in touch with the other person.  However, you must find a way to stay in touch without being intrusive or wasting their time.  

One of the key challenges of effective networking is this:  find a creative way to stay in touch with key contacts without wasting their time or pushing them away.  Your solution might be something as simple as mailing them articles related to their business.  Another idea might be sending a periodic newsletter to remind them about your business -- perhaps even an e-mail newsletter such as the one you are now reading.  Regardless of your chosen solution, your goal is simple:  find a non-intrusive way to stay in touch over the long haul.  Long term follow-up is a key principle of effective networking.

- Frank Williams

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