Spring 1987 // Volume 25 // Number 1 // Research in Brief // 1RIB2
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Targeting Audiences and Using Creative Media Approaches
Abstract
The information age has forced Cooperative Extension to radically change its methods of disseminating research-based information to clientele, to compete with private enterprise and other educational institutions.
Educators must deliver more information through more types of media to more diverse audiences-but with less money. Targeting Audiences, developed through a three-year, USDA-funded research project, presents a comprehensive marketing system to help improve your educational program. Topics covered include:
- Identifying Cooperative Extension benefits.
- Public perceptions of Cooperative Extension.
- Targeting an audience.
- Preparing a demographic profile of the target audience.
- Identifying media habits.
- Knowing media options.
- Selecting the best media approach.
- Constructing effective messages.
The authors support their conclusions with hundreds of examples, tables, case studies, and worksheets. Table 1, comparing the benefits and drawbacks of various media outlets, is an example of the practical research presented in the book.
Targeting Audiences provides research-backed tools that can help improve educational programs and delivery methods to satisfy the changing needs of clientele.
Table 1. Comparison of media benefits and drawbacks. Medium Benefits Drawbacks Newspapers Timeliness Short life Broad acceptance High believability Magazines Credibility Long lead time Prestige Long life Radio Mass use Lower audience attention High geographic than television and demographic Fleeting exposure selectivity Low cost Television Combines sight, High cost sound, and motion High clutter High attention Fleeting exposure High reach Less audience selectivity Direct mail Audience High cost selectivity Junk mail image No ad competition Personalization Outdoor media High repeat No audience selectivity exposure Low cost Low competition