Different Messages for Different Audiences

The key to a successful marketing effort is understanding the audience for whom you are developing an educational program. Customers that you may wish to target for your organizational marketing efforts include:

General Public
The general public should be surveyed on a regular basis to set a benchmark and to check progress. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension must maintain a basic level of credibility and visibility with the general public in order to receive local, state, and federal funding.

Clientele
Customers must be cultivated, recognized, and supported through highly personal relationship marketing. Our most valuable resources are knowledgeable, satisfied, and loyal customers and volunteers. It is often most effective to work closely with organizations in this regard. The goal is to turn customers into marketing staff. Customers should be surveyed to measure their opinions about extension.

For information on how to reach your target audience go to:
http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/pubs/publicity/

Mass Media
Media representatives are the gatekeepers of mass media marketing efforts. Strong relationships must be built to gain access to mass media. For information on effectively working with the media go to the section on Working with the Media.

Decision Makers
Federal, state, and local decision makers impact our organizational health. Our success rests on their perception of our effectiveness in meeting critical educational needs. Decision makers may also be surveyed when appropriate to identify their level of knowledge of extension.

A 2004 survey of county boards of supervisors, in five counties, resulted in the following recommendations for Arizona Cooperative Extension:

From "Examining the partnerships between counties and Cooperative Extension in Arizona" , May, 2004, WELD Innovative Project, Dixon.

For more information on working with decision makers:

Successful Relationship Marketing with Elected Officials