2. 2
Congratulations! You’ve launched your
business or non-profit and you’re excited.
Or maybe you have the task of marketing
something to others.
Whatever your scenario, you have a product,
service or cause to share and you can’t wait
for people to hear about it and get just as
excited as you.
Who can blame you?
You’ve got your website ready; your business
cards are printed; you’re pretty sure you’ve
figured out social media. Now what?
In a world where information is fast, furious
and often conflicting, and where making
decisions about traditional versus digital
marketing spaces can be confusing, it can be
nearly impossible to figure out where to put
your efforts and money.
Congratulations!
3. Tip #1
3
(The best tip you’ll ever get.)
Don’t start your advertising plan or budget with the channel.
4. Let’s look at what this means in real life terms.
Many a business owner receives calls from salespersons extolling
the virtues of their offerings such as radio, television, print ads in
newspapers or magazines or ads in the digital space (all examples of
“channels”).
The numbers they give you are impressive. Tens or hundreds of
thousands of people will see your ad. Or when you combine channel
X with channel Y, the impact of your ad would be even higher.
So, you bite. You use your budget for the month to buy radio ads or
newspaper ads or digital ads, and you sit and wait for your sales to
increase.
Without knowing you or your business, I can say with a good level of
confidence that your efforts often don’t pay off.
4
Your efforts often won’t
pay off.
5. Your PR or promotion or communication budget has been spent
and you have nothing — or next-to-nothing — to show for it.
If they do pay off, you can’t be sure what worked or why because
you have no way of measuring effectiveness.
To be clear, I’m not here to knock any one of these methods for
promoting your business or cause. I use these and other media
regularly.
So, why do I use what I’m telling you not to use?
5
7. Tip #2
Don’t start by thinking
about what the
channel is going to be.
Start by thinking about
your goal.
7
8. Do you have a business plan? Did you set out sales or membership or other goals in that plan? What were
those goals?
Even if you don’t have a business plan, ask yourself what you want to achieve. Where do you want to be in
six months, a year, five years?
Before you even think about promoting your business or cause, you need to know your goal.
That’s the “what” to focus on.
Do you need to sell tickets to an event? Do you want to increase sales? Do you want to get new
customers? Different customers? Do you want people to participate in a worthy cause? Do you want to
raise money?
Stephen Covey famously said that one should begin with the end in mind. This is certainly true with any
type of communication endeavour.
If you know where you are and where you want to go, you can figure out the steps to get there.
8
9. Tip #3
9
It’s time to think about
people —the people
you want to attract.
10. In the communication world, we refer to
people as audiences, in the marketing
world as target markets and Seth Godin
waxes rhapsodic about “tribes.”
Whatever term we use, we are most
definitely not talking about the “general
public.” The general public doesn’t exist. At
least not in any real way that’s helpful to
you.
Instead, you need to think about
individuals, or groups of individuals that
have something in common. We’re talking
about the people you need so you can be
successful — the people you want to buy
your product or service or support your
cause.
10
11. Who are they?
Who are the individuals or
groups who are most
likely to be helped by or
interested in whatever it is
you’re selling? (And you
are selling even if you’re
working for a cause rather
than manufacturing a
product.)
There is usually more
than one group you will try
to attract. Get to know
everything you can about
them.
11
12. Here’s an example.
Let’s say you’re planning an event. You
have a keynote speaker set up and a
venue.
What is the purpose (goal) of your
event? Are you asking participants to
learn something? Do something?
You know how many seats you have to
fill and you know your goal.
Based on the topic, time of day and
location, who is most likely to come?
What do these people have in
common?
Are they parents of toddlers?
Parents of teens?
Seniors?
Are they crafters?
Activists?
Educators?
Business or community leaders?
People who live in a particular location?
12
13. Are they readers of local news?
Do they listen to the radio?
Do they attend other events where you could advertise or perhaps even sponsor?
Are they users of social media? If so, which platforms?
Do they drive past a common location where signage could be useful?
Do they belong to an association that might help you spread the news or that has a publication
or website where you could buy advertising?
Who do you know with links to you audiences that could help you get the word out?
13
and I’m a small
business owner
I coach
hockey.
I’m a doctor & I
love podcasts.
I’m returning to
school and operate
a family farm.
I’m a data
analyst & have
three small kids.
14. Only when you know who you
need to attract can you start
thinking about which channels to
use.
Think of channels as the best
ways to reach your audience(s)
where they are — the spaces
(both physical and digital) where
they can be found.
Obviously, this is a very limited
list of the many, many
opportunities to promote your
event, and promoting an event is
only one activity of a great many
that you may need to carry out
to achieve you goal.
I hope, though, that this serves
as an example of why you must
begin with your goal and to
identify and understand as much
as you can about your
audiences before you begin
thinking about investing in a
communication channel or
activity.
14
15. To find out about how we can help you, contact Lakeview Public Relations.
15
colleen@LakeviewPR.com
LakeviewPR.com
+1 613-888-9298
