It seems like this basic idea – know your audience – keeps cropping up in a variety of situations for us recently. All of them are communication related but very different situations.

1. Know your audience is a key lesson I’ve been teaching my students this semester in the Persuasion class I’m teaching at Linfield College. Tailoring your persuasive appeal to your target audience, whether it’s when you’re giving a speech or designing a print ad, is vital to success.

2. When you’re buying TV ad time, knowing your audience is the key not only to being effective but to being COST effective. For example, targeted cable ads might be a better use of your money than the broader audience reached via broadcast stations if you can target the audience you want to reach.

3. For our sister company, Lyon Films, we are developing a couple of ideas for documentary films. As part of that effort, it is important for us to identify the potential audience for the film and the distribution needed to reach that audience.

So, on any communication-related project, large or small, be sure “Know Your Audience” is at the top of the list!