How to find your target markets in a publicity campaign

find your target market for newsWhen planning a publicity campaign, consider all your various target markets.

And do so, please, BEFORE you start blasting your message to the world.

Think you only have one target market? Guess again.

Here are the groups you may need to reach: 

  • The many people who are in a position to buy your products and services. Can they afford what you’re selling? Are they in a geographic location where they need your product? Are they in an age group that would use it? 
       
  • Journalists, broadcasters and freelancers who would be interested in covering your story.
       
  • Your Facebook friends and fans, Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, Pinterest followers, and fellow members of online discussion forums devoted to niche topics, particularly those whose target markets are similar to yours.
       
  • Authors who are writing books and might need you as a resource.
       
  • Bloggers who are writing about your area of expertise, or those would would love a guest post.
       
  • Podcasters who are dying to have you as a guest on their show because their audience needs what you know.
       
  • Article writers searching for tips or quotes that your provide.
       
  • Anyone struggling with a problem that you can help solve. 
       
  • Retirees with time on their hands who can volunteer for your nonprofit, and maybe even donate money.
       
  • Audiences that simply want to be entertained with a book, movie, play, song , tour or live show that you can provide.
       
  • YouTube visitors searching for videos so they can get step-by-step directions on how to do something like fix a leaking pipe.
       
  • Offline people or groups that need to know what you know.

If you have multiple target audiences, like most of us do, sending the same message to all of them is really difficult, and often pointless. That could mean, for example, no one-size-fits-all press releases. Or no cookie cutter pitches to the two dozen journalists in your media database.

And certainly no identical status updates that are published to your Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook  accounts. (Sorry. But these are all very different platforms and you must communicate with friends, followers and connections very differently.) 

 

Finding Them Can be Difficult 

Results of a survey I conducted late last year show a significant number of respondents don’t know how to find their target market. Or, if they CAN find their target market, they don’t know what kind of a targeted message to send.       

You’re invited to a free 90-minute webinar I’m hosting from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, April 12, on The 3-Part Formula for Finding & Capturing Your Target Market in a Publicity Campaign.

You’ll come away with tips that will spare you hours of wasted time writing press releases and pitches that go nowhere, and precious hours communicating with the wrong people on social media sites.

Read more about what you’ll learn and register here. (Tweet the link and share on Facebook and LinkedIn if you think this will help people who follow you.)
   
   
Your Questions Answered 

Come with questions. I’ll answer them all.

If we don’t have time for yours, I’ll send you a personal reply by email.

More than 200 Publicity Hounds have already registered for the call.

Artists need publicity ideas for water tank mural

water tank artwork for artist publicity

Publicity Hound Kate Farrall of San Diego, CA, writes:

“I need to get national/international publicity for my two muralist clients who are completing a five-story public art installation this November for the City of Davis, just outside of Sacramento. They have transformed a water tank into 360-degree kinetic art installation. You can see a short video that explains the project.

“My pitches have done well, thanks to your great advice. So far, I’ve gotten my clients a segment on our local PBS channel that will run for a year and a half, along with a few other news and print hits. The feedback on my pitches has been really good and I’ve tailored each one.

“How do I create a hook for national publications, especially art publications? Or even publications that are not so big but located elsewhere? Local has been a good hook for us so far, but that won’t work in the Midwest, New York or Europe. My clients want to be recognized as professional artists and to have a broader name recognition so they can expand where they work and the types of projects they do.

“You can read a press release about the project and see photos on Flickr.”

Inventory clearance on CDs, transcripts, booklets

Recruitment & Retention Tips Booklets

Information products can become out of date so quickly, particularly those dealing with social media sites or any type of technology.

For that reason, I’m cleaning out my massive inventory and practically giving away more than 20 titles.

CD and transcripts, regularly $39.95, are only $5 each, plus shipping.  Tips booklets on employee recruitment and retention, regularly $5 each, are $1.35, and include shipping.

Even though many of the products are out of date, all of them include valuable tips that are still as good today as they were when I created the them. Topics include Facebook, how to get PR clients, press releases, nonprofit publicity, how to get your own TV show, special event planning and promotion, employee recruitment and retention, and more.  Here’s the complete list of titles.

Some of the CD titles are gone already, and we aren’t reordering, but you can still order the transcripts. Grab them while you have the chance

Questions? Contact my assistant, Christine Buffaloe, at 619-955-5772 or Chris (at) SerenityVA.com.

EveryBlock: Another uber-local site for community news

Here’s another hyperlocal website to add to your publicity toolbox: EveryBlock, perfect for publicizing local news in bigger cities, and also for finding other local blogs and media outlets you might not know about.

MSNBC.com bought it in 2009 and unveiled the new version yesterday.  It operates in 16 cities mostly on the east and west coasts: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

EveryBlock offers news down to the block level and encourages collaboraton among neighbors.  Enter any address in one of those cities and you’ll see news articles, blog coverage, crime reports and a wide variety of other local information, all updated throughout the day. 

You can also submit your own news, which they don’t edit.  Create a free account, and you can participate in discussions and even get email updates.
   
  
3 Main Types of News

  • Civic information, including building permits, crimes, restaurant inspections and more.  In many cases, this information is already on the Web but is buried in hard-to-find government databases.  In other cases, the data hasn’t been posted online, but Everyblock gets it through government agencies.  
        
  • News articles and blog entries, including information from major newspapers, community weeklies, TV and radio news stations, local specialty publications and local blogs.  If you can track down a local blogger who you didn’t know about, you can start pitching that blogger when you have local news to share. I found Meetups and even school reviews for Atlanta.
        
  • Fun from across the Web, including local photos posted to the Flickr photo-sharing site, user reviews of local businesses on Yelp, and lost and found postings from Craigslist.  You’ll even find local deals from Groupon and ValPak.
         

This site is perfect for news from clubs and civic groups, schools, nonprofits, churches, political campaigns and neighborhood groups, and it’s continually updated daily throughout the day. EveryBlock welcomes you to draw a map of your own neighborhood (the example here is from Atlanta) if you don’t see it on the master list. 

It differs from Patch.com because EveryBlock concentrates on larger motropolitan areas. Patch is for suburbs and outlying areas. 

I’m adding EveryBlock to the long list I’ve already accumulated and shared on the webinar 50+ Places Online to Promote Your Live or Virtual Events to Reach Your Target Market & Pull Sell-out Crowds.  
     
    
Share a Tip for Using EveryBlock

Are you already using EveryBlock? If so, share tips on exactly how you use it, or how it has saved time for you.

If not, how will you integrate it into your publicity campaign?

Pitch unusual angles, like witches, on how to sell a home

witch holding her right hand outThe housing market, which is still flat throughout most of the U.S., offers a timely opportunity to pitch stories to journalists, broadcasters and bloggers about unusual techniques for selling homes.

This morning’s Wall Street Journal, for example, had a Page 1 story on how The Housing Slump Has Salem on a Witch Hunt Again. Buyers and sellers, worried about bad vibes from foreclosed homes, are turning to witches, feng shui consultants, psychics and priests to perform the ancient tradition known as the house cleansing.

Ringing bells, sprinkling holy water and pouring kosher salt on doorways are among ways to cleanse houses.

The media love stories like this one, and others that explain techniques like burying a St. Joseph statue. If you have compelling visuals, pitch the story to your local TV stations. And don’t forget about writing a press release and distributing it online, using relevant keywords for good SEO.

Pitch these story ideas to bloggers who write about real estate, spirituality, New Age topics, and to sales and real estate experts who blog.  But make sure you and others involved in the story are willing to let their names be used.

What unusual tactics have you seen that have resulted in a home sale, or publicity?