publicity campaign

How to find your target markets in a publicity campaign

When 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.

How to answer a media leads query & prompt a reporter to call

The free media leads services that connect journalists with sources can be a valuable tool in your publicity campaign, but only if you know the right way to answer a query and convince the journalist to call you.

Otherwise, these services—PitchRate.com, Help a Reporter (HARO) and Reporter Connection—can be a huge time suck, particularly if you’re subscribing to all three.

When I wrote yesterday about how to find journalists online and wow ‘em with your pitch, I got an interesting comment from Shelley Hunter:

“I finally unsubscribed from one of the media leads services because I found myself taking the easy way out. Rather than spending a few minutes each day mining for PR gold, I just waited for the leads to come to me. I combed through the requests and answered those that fit my criteria. But like you said, competition is stiff and only once did I get a call back. At last, it occurred to me that I could have spent all those minutes (that added up to hours) establishing actual connections on my own. It feels like a slower way to go, but one good connection could lead to others.”

I replied and told her that a lot of the return on investment of time depends on your area of expertise, and how many other competitors are within that niche. Broad topics like small business success, for example, can result in hundreds of responses, and you can be sure journalists won’t be reading all of them closely.

So what’s a frustrated, time-strapped Publicity Hound to do?

Media leads services or your own research?

The smart ones will do both. They’ll use these free services AND pan for gold, using the tips I provided in the blog post mentioned above.

Here are guidelines to follow when answering a journalist’s query:

Keep your response short. Absolutely no longer than one screen of type. One-half screen of type is preferred.
Briefly expain what makes you an expert on this topic.
If you can offer the journalist other sources, say so, but don’t name them or provide contact information unless the journalist asks. And make sure those other sources would agree to be interviewed.
Can you provide an image to accompany the story? Mention if you have a bar chart, pie chart, map, cartoon or other graphic, but don’t attach it to the email response. If the journalist wants it, he will ask.
NEVER tell the journalist to “visit my website to learn more about me.”
If you have a contrarian viewpoint on an issue, say so up front. The media love controversy, and your response will stand out from among all the others.
Keep your response on topic. If you can’t help the journalist with the topic she’s writing about, don’t offer your expertise on another topic and NEVER respond to a query only to pitch another story idea. Do this, and the reporter will blacklist you.
If you’re lucky enough to have a virtual assistant, delegate the task of sifting through all these leads.

One alternative to these free services, which can be like drinking from a firehose, is Dan Janal’s PRLeads. For a monthly fee, Dan will send you only the queries that tie into your area of experitse.


Share your own experiences

What kinds of responses have you gotten from journalists using any of these services? What media outlets covered your story as a result of responding to a journalist’s query? What tips do you have to share on how to answer a query? Or is your time better spent building strong relationships with journalists one on one?

Weigh in here.