Improve your return on investment with targeted advertising

 
Knowing who you want to reach is essential to creating effective advertising.

First, are you targeting businesses or consumers? The way you advertise to these two groups and the messages you use may not be very different. After all, most decisions – even in business – are made by individuals or small groups, and people are emotional creatures. The most practical of us will often rationalize an emotional decision by supporting it with logical, intellectual justifications.

Second, you’ll want to look at the demographics and psychographics of your target audience. This process is equally valid for businesses and consumers, but you’ll be using different types of information for each. It can include: geographic location, income (or revenue for business), education, size (of the business or family), age, industry, credit rating, etc.

It’s possible to gather large quantities of information about your prospects, but it can easily become overwhelming. For the most part, you can trust generalities and the recommendations of your agency.

In advertising to businesses, your firm can usually be more specific and targeted. For example, there may only be a few businesses in your geographic area that fit the criteria you have for new clients. Gathering information is easier as well, with much more specific information available through websites, industry associations, and business directories. In this situation, a highly targeted campaign will yield the best results.

When marketing to consumers, unfortunately, the same level of information is usually not available and you’ll have to use a broader approach. However, the more narrowly you can define the audience using demographic and psychographic profiles, the more successful you’ll be.

Deciding who you want to reach with your message before you advertise makes it much easier to determine how to reach them, will save you money and produce a much better return on your investment.