The Harsh Law of Diminishing Returns in Selecting Target Audiences for Area Advertising and Promotion

Ideally, every area promotion manager would like to send his message to every possible prospect anywhere in the world. Unhappily, that is the road to immediate bankruptcy for advertiser and publisher alike.

Even so, there is a strong temptation to seek broader and broader coverage. Although a bit slower, this is also a road to frustration and failure.

Attracting major facility investments is not a mass market operation. It is not like travel promotion, for example, which can involve markets of millions of potential customers.

The truth is that the market for major new facility investments is very big in dollars, but very small in numbers.

Experienced and astute area executives know this and they also know that the key to success is selectivity. They know that the best strategy is to identify the core market and hammer away at it year after year.

Continuity of effort is much more important in area marketing than in most other fields. Major new facilities are often in the planning stage for several years. Few are snap decisions.

Site Selection has long been aware of these market facts and has tailored its strategy accordingly. Our core audience includes such key elements as the membership of IDRC, the Conway Global 2000, and the most active firms detected by our New Plant Reporting Service. No other publication has these lists.

Most of the Site Selection list (some 25,000 firms) remains fairly constant from year to year. The rest of the list (some 15,000 firms) is subject to greater change -- resulting from globalization and technological breakthroughs.

The selection process never stops!