In direct marketing there is a lot of talk about the “target audience”. What does that really mean? Do you know who your target audience is? If you don’t know, you should, because it is at the heart of everything you do in marketing your business, products, and services; from the purchase of sales leads data to implementing an effective direct mail campaign.

You could have the best marketing message ever, the best vehicle sent out over and over. If the right potential buyer doesn’t receive your message, nothing gets marketed; no one acts. Putting yourself in front of a potential buyer is the key to marketing and selling. No potential buyers? No selling.

The right target audience might be the right segment, the right niche within a segment, or the right people within a niche. If you are marketing to banks, are you marketing to the bank president or branch manager? If you purchased an automobile mailing list, are you going to use it to market to car dealerships or car owners? All of this has to do with having the right target audience for your marketing.

Don’t forget about your current customers as part of your target audience. Even breaking up current customer segments into different targets may be more effective for your marketing!