The key to any effective marketing campaign is successful communication. Without it, your message gets lost. But how can you be sure you’re speaking the right language? How can you build bridges between your company and your customers? How do you ensure that your basic message is being heard – and will be responded to?

If the question is “why am I not connecting with my target audience?” look earlier in the communication process for clues. That’s because the real problem is often traced to the content itself.

Ever visit a foreign country and feel out of place? A different spoken language is indeed a challenge. And yet even if the spoken language is the same (like the USA and the UK), there are often significant differences. Look no further than how the exact same thing can be described very differently in their respective languages. (As proof, see the chart appearing later in this article.)

You need to learn to use the right words to create a special connection with your target audience. This is even more crucial with broadcast communications since how words are pronounced can negatively impact rapport. (More about that when I examine geographical dynamics…)

Make a poor word choice and your marketing and Online PR will be mildly ineffective at best. Or at worst, blow up in your face. To help you go beyond rapport and truly bond with your target audience, it’s critical you establish a genuine connection and meet them where they are. (Where they live, how they talk, what they want.)

That connection is even more critical now with the explosion of audio and video marketing. (You’ll see why once you see Blunder #2.)

Avoid these 3 critical blunders when communicating with your target audience, whether via Online PR or other marketing methods.

Blunder #1: Ignoring the Cultural
My trip to London reminded me of different expressions used whether you are a Brit or a Yank. In fact, to showcase how different even simple expressions can be. For example, in the US it’s a cookie. In the UK it’s a biscuit. In the US it’s a flashlight. In the UK, it’s a torch. On my blog, www.30MinutePR.com I listed over a dozen common items that have different American and British descriptions.

Blunder #2: Ignoring the Vertical
The term “vertical” refers to a specific industry or niche. You can market horizontally and across several different industry sectors or target one industry and market vertically. When targeting a specific industry, it’s critical you know the territory and speak the language.

Here’s an example. I once owned a 15-person marketing communications firm and we had a client in the mortgage banking industry. (This was WELL before the big meltdown.) The specific sector of the industry has two distinct parts. Part #1: the origination side. (Making the loan.) And Part #2: the servicing side. (Servicing the mortgage loan.) Our client was on the mortgage servicing side.

Own a house? Then you know the company that gives you the mortgage often sells your loan to another company to service it. Your takeaway here? In marketing to our target audience, even though they were in the mortgage banking industry, they were not called mortgage bankers. They were called mortgage servicers. To call them anything else would reveal that we didn’t understand their industry and had no business helping them with their marketing initiatives.

Blunder #3: Ignoring the Regional/Geographical
Want to be seen as an outsider and “not one of us?” Screw up a geographical expression and you’re toast. For example, when not traveling to foreign lands I live in Texas. Know how we can tell a non-Texan? The way two popular foods are pronounced.

* Example #1: the pecan. It’s pronounced puh-kahn, no pee-can.
* Example #2: the jalapeno. Correct pronunciation: Hah-la-PAIN-yo, no Hah-la-Peen-yo)

I recall hearing either a salsa or picante television commercial years ago and the voice over announcer pronounced jalapeno the wrong way. (I figured the TV ad was most likely done by a New York ad agency.)

Of course, regional/geographical differences can include more than just word pronunciation. For example, I grew up in the Midwest of the USA. We had a universal word for carbonated sodas like Coke, Pepsi, etc. We called it “pop” which was short for soda pop.

Now Texans don’t say pop. Here in Texas, it’s not uncommon to say, “Coke” no matter what soda you’re talking about. (Even though Texas is Dr. Pepper country.)

Why language and word choice is more important than ever.

There can be little doubt that, in today’s business climate, many businesses reach a diverse and often global marketplace. It’s also true that what sounds good in the Midwest might seem off-key in the South. So it’s not surprising that one of the most critical marketing trends today is geo-targeting online messaging through Online PR and press release distribution. When communicating with potential customers, you have to use the right language – or you’ll never be able to connect. It’s that simple.

Author Bio: Got PR 2.0? Visit http://www.30minutepr.com for the latest Online PR tips, trends, tools and techniques – on a time budget. Marc Harty is an Online PR expert, professional speaker, Internet marketing strategist and CEO of MainTopic Media, Inc.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: marketing,online pr,web pr,internet pr,publicity,branding,public relations,pr