Aim For Your Target Market

Who is your target market? Have you studied, tested and tracked its response to your products and services?

For our clients, the most immediate way to measure the success of a marketing or public relations tactic is through visible public and media response. Let’s use the 2013 Saint Louis Art Fair as an example.

CEL and Cultural Festivals Executive Director Cindy Lerick worked together to build and implement a marketing and public relations strategy for their event, based on clearly defined goals of reaching two target markets: art enthusiasts and the media.

The theme, You’re a Piece of the Puzzle, sparked a lot of creativity and strategic tasks to implement to reach the target market and accomplish the following goals:

Goal No. 1 – Draw media coverage to help attract qualified buyers

Accomplished! We took the 2013 Commemorative Print, a collectable Art Fair highlight, made a puzzle out of it, and sent one to every contact on our media list with the message: You’re a Piece of the Puzzle. We invited newspapers, television and radio stations to promote and cover the Puzzle Hunt across Saint Louis. We also asked them to feature artists in the news, prior to and during the event and highlight their work and passion for creating it.

Results:

Seven radio interviews

21 newspaper and magazine articles

54 television segments

84 online placements

Goal No. 2 – Draw target market, i.e. qualified art buyers to the event

Accomplished! Numbered puzzle pieces were hidden inside and out across Saint Louis and clues to their whereabouts were given on Facebook. Residents were invited to find the pieces, log on to Facebook and share their Art Fair story along with the number of the puzzle piece. As the pieces were found, the puzzle visually came together. This activity showed residents that they were an important piece of the puzzle, so they should attend the event!

More than 130,000 art enthusiasts attended the event!

The results of marketing to the target market of the Saint Louis Art Fair were award-winning! The international Festival & Events Association awarded Cultural Festivals five Gold Awards, six Silver Awards, two Bronze Award and one Silver Grand Pinnacle Award for marketing, public relations, sponsorship and operations!

Have you measured your success with your target market?

Published on: November 19, 2013