A plan is the foundation of every successful business. It outlines where the company hopes to be financially in three to five years and outlines how it will achieve that goal.
A well-defined communications strategy will help your business achieve its goals. Marketing and Public Relations are part of a communications strategy that is responsible for creating the awareness and credibility needed to achieve business objectives.
There are three basic ingredients to any successful communications program–positioning, awareness, and third-party credibility (confirmation of your company’s claims and qualifications through press coverage, customer/partner endorsements, and other outside support). Communication programs must be aligned strategically with business goals in order to reach the right audiences.
These programs shouldn’t be aimed at market influencers like the analyst and press communities. These communities are open to receiving broader corporate messages. It would be best if you incorporated messages that are narrowly tailored and targeted to your key customers and partners in order to be successful. The recipients of wide messages are called “macro targets,” and those of narrow messages are called “micro targets.”
Macro-Targeting
Most people are familiar with the concept of macro-targeting in business communication. Media, analysts, and other broad-based market influencers can validate your business model. This will help you generate a high level of awareness for your firm. You can gain the credibility of a third party by having your message published in magazines, analyst reports, and briefings. ).
The first step in generating sales leads is to establish a positive image on the market. The goal of macro-targeting should be to increase confidence in your business, which will make it easier for you to gain access to sales prospects, partners, etc. People tend to do business with people they trust and know.
Keep in mind, however, that messages aimed at the media or analyst community may be too general for your specific target contacts. Media and analysts typically seek trend analyses, instructional overviews, or announcements of hard news with a limited shelf life.
You need to include micro-targeting in your corporate positioning and messaging strategy when you are looking to introduce yourself to a particular business entity to develop partnerships, find customers, or seek investment.
Micro-Targeting
When you want to concentrate on specific companies, organizations, and people that can have a more immediate impact on revenue enhancement and overall success, you use micro-targeting. This sophisticated form of business communication allows your company to provide information that is more specific to the target audience and to open the door for business meetings.
Capital, customers, and partners are the three things that drive all businesses. All businesses rely on capital, customers, and partners to generate revenue. Micro-targeted messaging becomes essential. They answer “why” questions, such as: Why invest with us? Why should you buy from us or invest in us? Why do we work together?
Create messages that demonstrate specific synergies and connections between your company, the audience you are targeting, and their needs. This means concentrating the messaging that you use to promote your company on a narrow segment of prospects who will drive revenue.
It is important to remember that micro-targeted communication and macro-targeted communication must be used together. You can already benefit from macro-targeting if you use a public relations agency to generate media placements.
Your agency might also know people who can help you achieve your goals in terms of capital, customers, and partnerships. To get to the stage of meeting with these people, you will need close collaboration with your agency.
Face it: prospective clients and partners will be more inclined to meet you after a warm call from a friend than a cold one. Your agency knows, most likely, what kind of message will resonate best with the goals and objectives of the companies within its network you would like to reach.
Context is key. You can contextualize your proposition by referring to what you know about your prospect’s company. You can gain general credibility by delivering macro-level messages to the media. Having your PR results on a regular basis to your options will give weight to your microtargeted messages.