It’s a common misconception we hear as a marketing strategists: if there are 2 million people in your area of interest, organisations assume they have 2 million potential attendees.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way — and that’s probably largely why the field of marketing exists!

Just because there are 2 million people in your area doesn’t mean they’re all interested in what you offer, or that they’re worth spending time and budget trying to reach.

In fact, the more specific you can be with your targeting, the better.

Being specific allows you to write communications that will resonate with a high-converting audience.

Plus, if you only have 50 places available at an event, there’s little point spending your budget advertising to 50,000 people. You don’t need 50,000 people to fill 50 seats.

If your event is designed for a particular audience, you’ll get much better results by reaching the right people with the right messaging, rather than simply reaching lots of people.

That’s one of the key differences between marketing and broad communications.

If you’re trying to sell something or get people to take action, you don’t necessarily want the biggest audience. You want an audience that is interested, relevant and likely to register.

When I promote an event, I look at the audiences most likely to be interested in the offering, research the language they use, develop messaging that resonates with them, and then get that message in front of them through the channels they actually use.

It’s not rocket science — but experience, research and established connections certainly help.

Have an event coming up? Get in touch to discuss how we can help you reach the people who are most likely to show up.

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📌 This was Issue 51 of The Forward — our regular communication for conscious-minded business leaders.

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