Aim, then fire: Targeting your audience

The first rule of Fight Club … Oops, wrong blog. Start again … The first rule of marketing to a targeted audience is knowing it well. A simple rule for sure, but one that, unfortunately, often falls behind the crafting of the message to that audience.

A recent survey from the online magazine Quartz reminded us of just how important it is in today’s world to exactly know where your audience lives their digital lives and what their habits are for consuming and sharing information. Quartz surveyed more than 1,300 executives around the world and here are a few key takeaways:

Don’t let your message hit the snooze button

A whopping 74% of this crowd is digging into news content first-thing in the morning. That makes a lot of sense for these hard-charging individuals who need to stay current, but have much to juggle throughout the day.

Get social, very social

The executive audience is very active on social media with 89% engaging on a regular basis. Of the platforms, LinkedIn is king for overall usage at 72%, with Facebook not far behind at 68% and Twitter trailing at 53%. The number one reason for use of social media is to get news and for that specific purpose, Twitter rises to the top.

Never let up on email newsletters

The reports of email’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, especially among executives. Email newsletters are the leading means (94%) by which executives get their news, followed by websites (89%) and news apps (74%).

Keep it short; Scratch that - long

In our world of blaring headlines and 140-character news nuggets, there’s still a tremendous amount of respect for engaging and informative longer-form pieces. The executives surveyed are far more likely (84%) to share longer articles than any other content format, including charts and data (47%) and videos (37%).

There’s value in sponsored content

The executives surveyed are definitely open to content from brands, and the younger execs even more so. Regardless of age, the content offered has to be clearly labeled by the sponsor and of very high quality. The content from companies that most resonates with this executive cohort are analyses of their industry (85%) and insights from the firm’s experts (61%).

Those are only a handful of the key points from this illuminating survey. We definitely recommend a deeper dive. And always remember rule one …

Know thy audience!