How to Target the Right Audience

There's a phrase I love that can easily be applied to marketing—it's "preaching to the choir." If you're not familiar with it, it means trying to persuade people…who already agree with you. When applied to marketing, it means advertising to people who already know about you. Full disclosure, I am assuming that you, my fine reader, are not attempting to advertise a VERY well-know group. Very well-known groups have an easier task in advertising. If I'm creating an ad for an Elton John concert, all I really need is a date and a ticket link. The non-profit or small organization marketer has a little more work to do than that!

The skill of striking the right tone for your audience is one mark of a true professional. In other words, master this skill and you may be on your way to creating great content. The CultureOwl platform gives you a head start by delivering an audience that is already looking for a cultural experience. All marketing needs to start with a focus on the audience. You have your core group - donors, devotees and other industry professional. The goal is to build on that to reach your capacity.

As communicators, we assume that our messages are clear and understandable because they are perfectly clear to us. Everything we say or write perfect makes sense to us. Think about it. Have you ever written a sentence and thought, "I don't know what I mean!" Of course not! Has someone else ever not known what you meant? Of course. It happens every day, and every time we try to communicate, we need to consciously think about that. The more familiar you are with a subject, the harder it is to ‘get out of the box’ and evaluate your message from the perspective of the person you are trying to influence.

Target Strangers!

One of the things our followers love most about CultureOwl is discovering events that they didn't know anything about before they saw it on CultureOwl. That is a beautiful thing for both the audience and for the advertiser. It requires a cultural group to put a different kind of effort into their message to the audience. Knowing who is your audience is the first step—The CultureOwl platform gives you a head start by delivering an audience that is already looking for a cultural experience. Tailoring the way you communicate with them is the next step, keeping in mind that the people who are already your fans need very little information. Shape your message to help inform the people who, although they don't know about a specific performance, are excellent potential ticket buyers or attendees.

Let me give you an example: I sometimes see organizations abbreviate their names with just initials in their event title. We reach a wide audience; there is a very good chance that some of the people looking at our calendar have no idea what those initials stand for. And this is a problem because there is also a good chance that some of the people who don't recognize your initials might really enjoy your performances and be interested in your content. Making it easier for people who aren't totally familiar with you to notice your events and get a glimpse of what you are doing is part of knowing your audience. And the CultureOwl audience is full of proven culture-lovers.

Indeed, The Superfluous Use of Elaborate or Flowery Language May Diminish The Achievement of Successful Outcomes

When groups use jargon or shortcuts that they assume everyone will know, as if they are talking to other artists or the industry, they may lose the part of the audience that is not already on “the inside”. The people who already know and like you are wonderful—but your reach needs to go far beyond that to people who have never even heard of you. Using plain language will help them understand what you have to offer.

Groups have to break out of their own bubble and reach more than just the specific people who are interested in your genre. Seek audiences that are larger in scope, yet with a similar interest, like the culture lovers who follow CultureOwl. Our calendar reaches a wide range of cultural happenings including visual arts, performance arts, museums, festivals and community art events. For example, if you’re a dance group, don’t just target dance lovers. Instead, target performing arts lovers and those interested in your content and message.

This is the way to build your and increase your audiences, as opposed to speaking to the same small group over and over again. Our CPM is compares favorably to many media but there is more value in the very targeted nature of our audience.

Conclusions

Reaching out to new people, rather than the same people who are your biggest fans, is one way to grow your audience. But be sure your message is clear enough for them to understand—this is particularly important if you are creating art that is pushing the typical boundaries! If it is new and different, give people a "picture", in words and images, of what to expect.