Competition for listeners and their loyalty has never been greater. With options ranging from traditional broadcast radio to streaming content and downloaded podcasts, the challenge to identify and reach the most probable audience via direct marketing requires the most up-to-date tools for target marketing.
Let’s start by defining a target market. Hootsuite simplified this in a single sentence: A target market is the specific group of people you want to reach with your marketing message.
Of course there are additional parameters. In the case of listeners, these are people who are most likely to tune in, download, etc. It is also likely that other parts of their lives will overlap, providing additional clues on where to find them.
I spoke with Point-to-Point Marketing’s VP of Strategy and Audience Insight, Susan Bacich, about the latest techniques used to successfully message the largest number and best quality of listener for a specific audio product.
Bacich laid out the mission: “We are an audience development company. So, whether your audience is tuning in on a car radio, streaming online, or listening to a podcast, we’re going to help you develop that audience.”
The first step in creating successful target marketing requires an in-depth knowledge of the product. Bacich talked about determining a client’s “relative advantage” asking questions like, “What attractions does your audio product have that that are non-preemptive… what values make you transcend what is ordinary?”
The endgame in this step, according to Bacich, is “to define two or three attractions to grow recognition with those compatible listeners.”
Every radio station has broad demographic targets for which they are compatible. When talking about those “compatible listeners” Bacich is quick to add, they are made up of those “giving you a ton of listening, or maybe that casual listener that might have tuned in, or someone who is completely unfamiliar with you, but they should be tuning into what you’re offering. We want to focus in on that specific target so the message is most compatible."
Today’s target marketing tools also provide massive amounts of data that make it easier to zero in on an audience. Says Bacich, “It’s easier because there’s so much data coming at you…whether it’s from Nielsen, iab, social & digital analytics, you can discover real time information on your audience so quickly.”
This tsunami of data, paired with the flexibility of various tools does provide the ability to tweak or pivot a campaign within minutes. “A great aspect of direct marketing is that most forms are easy to change on a dime, “ said Bacich, adding, “If we’re running a social media campaign, we can pull your ad down and put up new content in minutes. We have that same ability with digital and at-work telemarketing campaigns, as well.”
Once a client’s product is clarified, the audience and potential audience are defined, a plan showing which direct marketing tools would be most effective is developed.
Bacich talked about the choices most often deployed by Point-to-Point Marketing, “We use social media, direct mail, and at-work telemarketing. Plus,digital ad marketing including keyword search, mobile, AI, and whatever comes next.”
“The true benefits of target marketing are simplicity and focus,” said Bacich adding, “We want to narrow the focus of the ad and its’ delivery to best meet our partner’s goals, and ultimately reach the audience that is most compatible with the message.”