The two sides of knowing your audience

Knowing your audience is critical to the success of any marketing campaign. There are two aspects to this: knowing what medium to use (i.e. blogs, white papers, e-mail, etc.) and knowing how to engage readers with the content delivered via this medium.

One medium may be appropriate for more than one segment of your readership. White papers, for example, are often read by technology professionals who are involved in different stages of the buying cycle. If you fail to identify your reader, you risk losing affinity. You need to address the reader appropriately within the paper, and consider including your ideal readers’ title in the white paper title.

This case study on KACE highlights the value and role of print in the company’s marketing campaign. Despite the fact that print advertising is down and fewer people are reading print publications, it can still play an important role in converting leads — if you’re using it to target the right reader.

The two sides of knowing your reader come together in the results of a study by e-mail delivery company Pivotal Veracity, as reported by BtoBonline.com:

According to Pivotal’s “E-mail Engagement Index Q1–Q3, 2009,” financial services marketers recorded an average index score of 77, while technology/telecom companies logged 65. Travel and hospitality marketers fared the worst in e-mail engagement, returning an index score of 34. (In the index, 100 represents a perfect score)

In other words, the study found that financial  and technology/telecommunications companies were most successful at engaging customers via their e-mail marketing programs. Proof that many tech marketers are delivering the right content via the right medium.

When you plan a marketing campaign, how much thought do you put into your audience? Are you considering both the medium and the content? –Crystal Bedell, Freelance Technology Writer and Content Developer