Business Excellence Awards 2020

14 Acquisition International - 2020 Business Excellence Awards ince forming in 2016, Target River has worked alongside clients to deliver on point marketing executed with pinpoint targeting. To start, Brian gives us a brief overview of the firm and the type of client base Target River typically serves. “As a full-service target marketing firm, we aim to provide a range of marketing tactics which includes SEO, broadcast and cable television, connected TV, video pre-roll, radio, email, direct mail and more. Typically, we serve a wide variety of clients in industries such as travel, retail, eCommerce, education, health, law, politics, tourism, sports, entertainment, and non-profit.” Many advertising and marketing agencies today typically offer very similar services to their clients. However, to differentiate themselves from their competitors, Target River focuses on increasing customer awareness, using their range of marketing tactics. Brian added, “Our #WhoHowWhat approach is what differentiates us from most advertising and marketing agencies. First, we spend time identifying who the right target audience(s) are that our clients need to reach. Next, we identify how we should reach those audiences. This includes a deep analysis of the most cost-efficient and effective marketing tactics we should use (including, but not limited to, television, radio, direct mail, email, print, out of home, paid social, search, organic social, SEO, connected television, and pre-roll). Finally, we consider what advertising messages should be created in order to reach the targeted audiences through the ad platforms we have selected.” By offering a range of marketing tactics to their clients, the firm is quite flexible in their approach, whereas many of the firm’s competitors are limiting themselves by offering just one or two services. As Brian goes on to explain, this can have a detrimental effect on your business. “We have generated quite positive results from our extensive list of clients we have worked with. Sadly, most marketing and advertising agencies do a disservice to their clients by only supporting them with a limited suite of marketing tactics to consider. For instance, an agency who specializes in web development and SEO is only going to have two options to present to businesses. So, they must "convince" the client that this tactic is best if they hope to gain them as a client, even if the business would benefit more from a display ad campaign. With our agnostic approach, our team of experts recommends what is best for the client.” If we take a closer look at the industry today, too often clients are engaging with an agency or individuals who are not proficient in their field. Brian further explains, “I believe the biggest issue facing the advertising and marketing industry is, sadly, the number of businesses Best Target Marketing Company - USA S who are misguided by agencies who are limited in their approach or engaging with an individual or agency in the wrong way. Unfortunately, what then happens is those businesses that get paired with one of these aforementioned individuals or agencies have a bad experience and are turned off by advertising. Maybe the tactic they tried was a good tactic, just executed poorly by someone lacking in skill. Would you rather have an ASE certified mechanic work on your vehicle or someone who read about it in a book or took an online course on it?” Like most organizations, the biggest challenge for the firm today is attracting and retaining skilled and passionate staff. Brian says recruiting the right kind of people is fundamental to the success of the business. “As the CEO of Target River, I have come to fully understand and appreciate the importance of a thorough interview process as well as the various ways to engage, inspire, and motivate staff who join our team.” Luckily, operating in a virtual working environment has benefitted the firm greatly. Brian explains, “As a global organization with staff in three countries, our approach to building our team was to not set any physical barriers to finding talented staff. This allows us to interview from a larger pool of candidates to find the best talent available. This means our staff are diverse in skills, backgrounds, prior work experience, prior educational experience, and more.” Finally, Brian commented on the future of Target River and what kind of plans are in place for 2020 and beyond. “We are aggressively launching our own marketing efforts to share, not our story, but the successes of our clients to further increase our business over the coming months and years. One new client we are especially excited about is United Way. We are helping them reduce and break the poverty cycle. We have crafted and launched two campaigns that are helping to increase the readiness children have for school and to help people qualify for and find higher earning jobs in this ever-growing diverse job market.” Contact Name: Brian Epperson Telephone Number: 619.571.7359 Address: 710 Gemstone Drive, San Marcos, CA 92078 Website: www.targetriver.com/targetmarketing Based in California, Target River is a full-service target marketing firm who supports clients working across travel, retail, and eCommerce, among others. Following their success in the Business Excellence Awards 2020, we got in touch with CEO Brian Epperson to find out more. “As a full-service target marketing firm, we aim to provide a range of marketing tactics which includes SEO, broadcast and cable television, connected TV, video pre-roll, radio, email, direct mail and more.”