This past week, I got four or five calls/messages from a guy at a car dealership saying he had the information I requested. Trouble is, I didn't request the information. The guy most likely had the wrong phone number. His message was not reaching the right person.

If you want to communicate a message, you have to make sure that you are reaching your target audience, whether it is a one-to-one interaction or a specific demographic group.

What can we learn from the dealership guy?

<strong>First, get the details and information that you need.</strong> In this case, the dealership guy had the wrong phone number. If you want to communicate with any audience, it is important that you know where they are and how to reach them.

<strong>Second, if you aren't getting a response, check why.</strong> This guy left me four messages. The fact that I wasn't getting back to him did not seem to trigger the realization that he was calling the wrong person. For marketing communications, you may want to check the reach of the channel you are using, or whether the message is appropriate to your target audience.

<strong>Third, pay attention!</strong> If the dealership guy had bothered to pay attention to my voice mail message he might have realized he was calling the wrong person. Many marketers are, like him, going through the motions. If the playbook says, contact someone three times or run an ad for a month, that is what theseinattentive marketers are doing, regardless of effectiveness.

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