Who is Your Community?

Chapter 9 in "Measure What Matters" discusses the importance of the community relationships your organization builds. The chapter explains that organizations today are developing relationships with who they think their target audiences are, but they always leave someone out and in a crisis, that someone could be a very crucial variable.

This specific chapter made me think of organizations I see marketing or developing relationships with the wrong audiences. The first organization is where I get my hair cut. Every time I drive past the building, there is a sign out front advertising a deal for new customers. This deal is great, but what about the customers who have been loyal for years? There is never a deal or special offer to returning customers.

Building relationships is key to having thriving organization or business but you must not forget about keeping strong relationships with the customers you already have.

Another organization I thought of when reading this chapter is Arby’s. I went through the drive thru at Arby’s the other day and as I was pulling up to the window I saw this sign…

This sign was outside
of Arby's. It was one of two
disturbing signs. The other
had a sandwich on it as well.

Do you see what I noticed? This sign has a big meat sandwich on it and also animals. As I was pulling around to get my sandwich I see this sign with animals on it and I almost pull out of the line. This does not make meat sound appetizing. Arby’s did not take into consideration who they are advertising to. This sign did not strengthen their relationship with me.

As professionals, people cannot leave a specific audience out or forget who they are advertising to. This book emphasizes this in Chapter 9. Target audiences are important to every business and organization, but it is crucial to remember all of them!