We’ve all seen that one ad that makes us wonder if our smartphones are listening. Everything about it seems perfect — the product is exactly what we’re looking for, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Some may chalk it up to coincidence, but it’s more likely the result of audience targeting.

Marketing agencies use this kind of targeting to identify customers likely to buy a product or service. However, apart from its use in paid ads, it is also a handy public relations tool, particularly when it’s time to distribute your PR.

Audience targeting in PR allows an agency to categorize its audience more effectively and adjust individual releases to cater only to interested parties.

So, how do we identify an audience? Beyond this, how can we use this information to make the most of a press release?

How to Find a Target Audience

When it comes to target communications, PR professionals must first identify the audience most likely to act after reading their press releases. This is done by breaking the general public down into smaller segments based on certain considerations:

  • Demographics: An individual’s age, marital status, income, etc.
  • Geography: Where they’re based; how their location influences their interests.
  • Psychographics: An individual’s personality, hobbies, interests, or values. 
  • Media consumption habits: Niche magazines, social media, newspapers, etc. 

All these individual segments come together to form a relevant audience profile. To understand how this works in action, consider the following examples:

A new product PR launching a pair of high-end running shoes targeting: 

  • Men and women between 21-39 years
  • Medium- to high-income individuals
  • Individuals with high activity levels who make fitness a priority
  • Those likely to use social media or read fitness-related publications

Versus promotion for the launch of a new club, targeting:

  • Men and women between 18-35 years old
  • High-income individuals 
  • Those who live in the area
  • Those with interests in music, partying, etc. 
  • Those likely to use social media or follow influencers

One thing to keep in mind is that a press release can often target multiple audiences, including a primary audience and any number of ancillary audiences. However, a release should be personalized to cater to only one of these key audiences at a time.

Tailoring Press Releases to Different Segments

The next stage of the process, PR campaign customization, revolves around figuring out how to reach your target audience with your press release. 

The most effective press releases are those crafted to resonate with individual population segments. This could be done by customizing headlines, or through different aspects of storytelling, such as language and tone.

For example, in order to target individuals primarily getting their news from the morning paper, use more direct language and buffer your text with quotes and testimonials. Meanwhile, to target a younger, more online audience, include more visual elements, use catchy language, and try to tie in the latest trends.

This personalization will make a release more likely to resonate with its intended public target and result in a more significant ROI.

Digital Media and Press Release Distribution

Once a press release is crafted, picking the right content distribution channel will also help you figure out how to reach your target audiences more effectively.

Traditional press release distribution services focus on getting target press releases published in magazines or newspapers. However, the rise of digital media has opened up a new world for PR professionals.

Most modern digital PR tactics involve leveraging the following:

  • Online press release distribution services: These allow you to access a large pool of journalists, social networks, influencers, and digital media outlets.
  • Email marketing: Emails are customizable, inexpensive, and can be sent to the most relevant journalists, bloggers, or influencers.
  • Social media channels: More than half the world uses social media. Distributing a release on these platforms is the best way to speak directly to a target audience.
  • SEO for press releases: SEO plays a crucial role in improving visibility. Optimizing a release with the right keywords and links makes it easier for a release to be found and consumed by the relevant audience. 

Furthermore, digital distribution platforms, such as Canada Newswire, encourage companies to include several multimedia elements along with their target PR - making it easier to personalize and improve appeal within a target group. 

Challenges in Targeted Press Release Distribution

While digital media has made it much easier to launch a successful release, some challenges persist nonetheless. To make the most of marketing communication, you may need to address the following concerns: 

Ensuring a Release Reaches All Segments

Once you’ve segmented an audience, don’t spam journalists or individuals with your release - instead, adopt a multi-channel approach.

Using multiple social media platforms allows you to appeal to different age groups — TikTok, for instance, caters to a much younger crowd than Facebook — while email marketing tactics help reach out to specific bloggers.

A mixture of both, meanwhile, helps you cover all your bases. 

When attempting to make the most of all distribution channels, look into some examples of PR case studies — such as KFC Canada’s hilarious fry-funeral campaign — for inspiration. 

Avoiding Information Overload

Overwhelming individuals or journalists with too much data often leads to information overload, which can negatively affect decision-making.

To avoid this in your release, make your content as clear and concise as possible. Answer the critical journalistic questions (“who, what, where, why, and how”) in your opening, and lead with a catchy headline. Make sure you don’t include any fluff. 

Maintaining Relevance Across Groups

As mentioned earlier, a target news release should be highly personalized. This involves creating multiple audience engagement strategies and customizing headlines, CTAs, or tone based on every individual segment you target.

Keeping track of a press release once it’s been distributed may also help you craft more relevant campaigns. After all, the best PR strategies measure audience sentiment, target media relations, or address online visibility. 

Canada Newswire offers a complimentary Visibility Report with every release to help you measure and track all your essential topline metrics. This report is exceptionally useful in helping you modify future strategies, addressing audience pain points and the preferences of media houses.

Ethical Considerations and Best Practices

While targeted releases are highly effective, they do still come with their own share of ethical concerns — most of which are privacy-related.

When crafting data-driven communication, PR professionals must take extra care to address privacy concerns and be transparent about how their data is collected and used.

Ethical PR practices also include ensuring that all data mining and analysis meets guidelines, such as the Web Analyst’s Code of Ethics.

Some public relations best practices to meet ethical standards include being honest and transparent with your messaging. Avoid making unsubstantiated claims, and be very clear about who is funding and promoting your campaign, for the sake of both media relations and audiences. 

Emerging Trends in PR

In summary, audience targeting has ensured that the future of press releases will continue to be  an incredibly effective communication channel. 

And now, with the introduction of newer technologies, connecting  with your audience in PR campaigns has  become even more powerful. Artificial intelligence, for instance, has already shown promise in carrying out audience analysis. This technology is being further explored in order to understand audience sentiment and craft personalized content that appeals to specific target groups. 

However, as we look to the future, let’s not forget our lessons learned — the most effective press releases are those that can identify and cater to a target audience.

If you need any assistance in distributing  your press release, don’t hesitate to contact our team at Canada Newswire. We’re happy to help!