Ready, Aim…Wait, Who's the Target?

Targeting is just a macho way of saying, "Let's talk with that person." And like many things macho, the technologies of "market segmentation" sometimes miss the big picture.

For example, many advocacy campaigns are launched to "raise public awareness" or "lead public opinion." In truth, on any issue, there are only a few people who determine the outcome - and public opinion seldom directly triggers their decision to go AWOL from the status quo and do something new.

Of course, in a democracy, public officials always acknowledge public opinion. It's just that they've often found public opinion fickle, under-informed, and diffuse. Other influencers have more presence in institutional decision-making. Often, these influentials (shareholders, regulators, peers, and so on) are your real target.

This can also be true of health education, social marketing, and other kinds of empowerment. The ultimate beneficiaries may not be the key decision-makers, or else you may have limited access to them. Instead, your target is someone whom the beneficiary knows better and trusts more than she does you: a fellow business owner, for example, or the adult child of a senior.

Knowing your true target is the most important step in communication. Your target determines your medium of communication ("How can we reach them?"). Then, your target and medium determine the nature of your message. Notice, this is exactly the reverse order of how enthusiastic but unsuccessful "pop" campaigns proceed: brainstorm a slogan first, then decide where to put it, then wonder if
anybody saw it…

A complication? Even the simplest local campaign usually has more than one audience. The message has to make sense to your sponsor or funder as well as to the target circle around the ultimate beneficiary. And if it's happening in public, the campaign has to make sense to the general public, too.

High-visibility campaigns dealing with sexual risks have often been tragically watered down by competing claims on the message. That's why you don't see so many billboards about teen sex or HIV anymore. Instead, peer educators are the medium. In their groups, people can use their
own language.

Designing a campaign that makes your most critical audience feel you are conversing one-on-one, but that is also acceptable - even engaging - to other segments and stakeholders, is harder than it looks. But it can be done. Those are the campaigns that change things.