target audience – universal positive

When trying to communicate with someone, it is vitally important to understand who that person is, whether or not they speak your language, their age, where they live… and also, factors like what’s on their mind right now, and where they are physically. The point of this article is to emphasize that communication – and marketing – is usually a waste of time if the particulars of the human beings comprising the audience are not taken into account. Personally, I’m shocked at how often people fail to address this mission-critical first step, explained so effectively by Seth Godin in the video presented here.

Effective communicators like Mr. Godin begin their programs by assessing their target audiences, exploring the relevant demographics and/or psychographics, and analyzing data. Indeed, the information we exude into the world is measured and used… whether we know it or not.

As a follow-up to my “Technology bridging teens’ socialization needs article” today’s Research Brief from MediaPost Communications encapsulates a new report from Forrester Research closely examining how young people communicate. Reviewing the Research Brief and Forrester’s summary for the report, which tabulates findings from a recent survey of Canadians and Americans aged 12 to 21, reiterates the need for those wishing to reach today’s youths to understand how technology factors into these individuals’ daily lives, and the importance of appropriately “talking the talk”. Among the reports’ gems are facts that reveal that two-thirds of respondents have computers, MP3 players top their wish lists, 94% have some type of device for playing games, half prefer game play to TV, and more than half seek and rely upon friends’ and familymembers’ advice before making purchases. The size of this group, in full, is estimated at 73 million.