I want my message to reach “everyone”. Does that sound familiar?

Whether you are a company trying to sell a product or an organization wanting to get a message out, your ultimate desire is to let everyone know about it.

A lot of my work has been with non-profit or government organizations trying to educate the public about an issue – don’t smoke, get active, buy local, go green, etc.

Would everyone benefit from this information? Absolutely.

Is the goal to make sure everyone knows about this important message? Yes.

Can we do that with one strategy? Absolutely not!

Can we create one message or campaign that will reach . . . everyone? No!

When we try to reach everyone we usually fail at reaching anyone.

The process of selecting a target audience for a strategy can be scary and stressful for many of us. In the back of our minds we understand the rationale behind it, yet the fear of “excluding” someone from the message can override the decision.

I often explain it like this. Imagine an archery target.

The most effective campaigns clearly define who is at the middle of the circles – the bull’s eye. To actually hit this, you must clearly define who these people are, where and how you can reach them and what messages will work.

If you fail to do this you could actually miss everyone. Then nothing sticks.

To have an impact, you have to be disciplined enough to base all your decisions on this target group and trust that others in the outside circles will see and/or hear the message. But in the end, trying to please everyone can’t be at the centre of planning – or you will miss the mark!

So get focused and confidently put your message out there! Define the target, be bold, be clear, pull back the arrow and shoot!