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In this issue:
• Marketing Article: Who is Your Target Audience?
• Marketing Article: Press Release Distribution

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Who is Your Target Audience?
by Concept Marketing Group Inc © 2006

While planning your postcard campaign, you created your goals, offer and message for the postcard campaign.  A critical component of the planning was to define your target audience.

Your target audience is those individuals who would most likely benefit from your offer and take advantage (buy!) your services or products.  Taking the time to carefully “profile” your target audience will improve the likelihood of success.

You can profile your target audience by using the buying characteristics of your current customers.  For example, your company manufactures and wholesales trinkets to small businesses in your state.  You further define a small business as a company that has gross revenues of less than $1 million per year.  The decision maker for these businesses is the purchasing agent.  Your offer is to sell surplus trinket inventory at a discount.  Another goal for this campaign is expanding your business to a nearby state. 

Since you want to sell surplus trinkets at a discount and encourage repeat business, your target audience includes your current customer base.  They know you and are familiar with your name and reputation.  Because you want to expand your business to a nearby state, you want to mail your postcards to the purchasing agents of those companies that gross less than $1million per year.

Profiling is important not only for business to business postcard campaigns but also for business to individual consumers.  Before you ever went into business, you probably did market research to determine the characteristics of those who were likely to buy from you. For example, you located your store where there was foot traffic; you sell expensive jewelry so you located in an affluent area where the buyers make more than $50,000 per year; you offer your services exclusively over the internet so you need buyers who own a computer; you sell rock and roll memorabilia and your customer profile includes certain age groups, income levels, and people who purchase more than 25 CDs per year. 

It is very important that your goals, offer, message and the mailing list you select work together.  Take the time to profile your current and potential buyers.  The more specific you are about your target audience the better your chances for a successful postcard campaign. 

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Concept Marketing Group, Inc. is a full-service marketing consulting firm with over 29 years of experience in traditional marketing - including 13 years on the Internet. Concept Marketing Group Inc. assists in developing and implementing effective sales and marketing strategies for businesses through targeted, managed, strategic marketing campaigns. Visit our site, www.marketingsource.com, email us at concept@marketingsource.com or call 800-575-5369, for more information.

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Press Release Distribution
by Concept Marketing Group Inc © 2006

Your Press Release is ready to go.  Now you have to determine what audience would be the most interested in reading or hearing about it.  But it is also important to think about where these people are located and how to best communicate with them.

Let’s assume that your Press Release is announcing the world wide availability of a new product.  You have put your international Sales Force on alert that the product is available and ready to ship.  You also prepared them for what you hope will be an onslaught of orders and inquiries if and when the press release is picked up by the media.

In this example, you want to ensure that the media in markets where you have your sales force located are included in the distribution.  You also want to include new markets.  Your product is targeted at internet and computer users.  You determine your Press Release distribution should include national and international newspapers, the Internet wire services (i.e. google or yahoo!); computer magazines, computer professional associations; and of course, TV and radio stations. 

Seems like a daunting task doesn’t it?  How could you possibly look up all the addresses, fax numbers and email contacts for this world wide distribution? 

Lucky for you there are many companies that have this information at their fingertips.  They specialize in Press Release distribution and offer many different types of Press Release Distribution packages to meet your specific distribution needs.  The packages are priced based upon how narrow or wide the distribution.  These companies have the names and addresses of most newspapers and magazines as well as the ability to distribute your one press release to hundreds of wire services on the Internet with the push of the button.  They also have magazine lists by industry category.  This is helpful if your product is of the most interest to a particular consumer or business group. In this example, you would need a world wide, comprehensive Press Release distribution package.

Keep in mind the publicity and hopefully, new business generated as a result of the Press Release, can easily and quickly pay for the cost of distribution. It has been proven time and again that the return on investment for a Press Release is the higher than any other advertisement.

While planning for your Press Release distribution, it is critical that you determine who is your target audience; where are they located; and how do they receive their news. Once you have answered these questions, you can easily communicate your needs to the professionals that provide Press Release Distribution Packages.

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Concept Marketing Group, Inc. is a full-service marketing consulting firm with over 29 years of experience in traditional marketing - including 13 years on the Internet. Concept Marketing Group Inc. assists in developing and implementing effective sales and marketing strategies for businesses through targeted, managed, strategic marketing campaigns. Visit our site, www.marketingsource.com, email us at concept@marketingsource.com or call 800-575-5369, for more information.