Knowing your audience

Getting your messaging right is essential - but the onus isn't always just on you

I had an email in my junk folder this week inviting me to sign up to a roundtable led by an ‘expert' on what journalists want from PR people.

Having been a journalist for 18 years, I think I just about know what journalists want from PR people, and I quipped to the sender that perhaps I could tell them a thing or two about how to deal with journalists.

But whatever industry you are in - knowing your audience/customer is absolutely crucial, or you will quickly create bad feeling.

The problem is now that we all have such vast databases that just aren't nurtured properly - blanket emails are sent out in the hope that they will be seen by the right people, when in fact someone should take the time to sort that database out, ask questions, and only send an email to the relevant people.

It is something we are working very hard at here at Incisive Media.

If the person who sent me the email about PR had done that, I might not have got so irritated last night.

Not that it takes much you understand. However I get that managing a database is a little like trying to hold Mercury in your hand, it cannot be fully controlled, there is always going to be some that slips from your grip - the trick is to try and keep the majority of it intact. Both people and companies come and go, or are acquired, and their requirements and interests change. And this is a two way thing.

If your customers won't respond to your communications and actually let you know what interests/is relevant to them, things get even more complicated. It is all too easy to feel that you are talking to yourself when you get no response.

It is a fact that customers are more savvy now than ever before, and are not worried about shaming a company on social media or just taking their business elsewhere if they are not happy.

But for those that go that extra mile to really get to know their customers, and find out what they want/need/are interested in, the effort will be fully rewarded.

As long as those customers also appreciate that they have to do their bit too.