The toughest target audience are marketers, because they are much more aware of your positioning and tactics than the average person who has nothing to do with marketing (and therefore lives a normal life).

Your choice of words, graphics, "tone" and overall presentation is being judged by each member of this audience. So you must be candid and transparent. I've learned more than a little about marketing to marketers over the 10+ years I've been publishing Web Digest For Marketers. Prior to that, I marketed to marketers in traditional media. I find there are certain basic practices that apply to this type of messaging regardless of whether it appears on a printed page, in a DM mailer, in a solo email or it is part of a Webinar.

Below are my Top 10 Tips for Marketing to Marketers. Enjoy.

1. Take Your Own Pulse: See if you get excited about your message to marketers. If you don't get excited, your target audience will share your feelings. You are not that much different than your audience, after all.

2. Benchmark: I know some people who don't want to be exposed to their competitors' messages for fear of being too influenced, whether creatively or strategically. You must know how your top three rivals are communicating and learn as much as possible from them.

3. Leave Your Bubble: We all tend to stay in comfort zones on a day-in, day-out basis. Physically leave your zone and visit others who challenge you. I find going abroad is very helpful, as I can get insights by seeing through other people's lenses that are different than mine.

4. Respect Time: Typically, the first thing you're asking of your target audience is their time, which is a finite commodity, and this target audience is acutely aware of that fact. Even a straightforward solicitation has to be rewarding somehow... even if the reader doesn't respond right there and then. How many times have you responded to an offer or ad only after you saw the company's name a few times?

5. Don't Give Me Blah Blah Blah: Much too much of today's messaging just adds to what I call the Din of Blah Blah Blah -- mindless chatter that is begging to be deleted, ignored or thrown away. Make your messaging pop out of the clutter we're faced with day after day, whether it's editorial or advertising.

6. Get a Voice: Avoid corporate platitudes, which may sound good rolling off the tongue, but are in reality hollow and meaningless. Whether in written word or broadcast, "speak human".

7. Strive for Thought Leadership: Create a campaign that places you in a position of authority. Maybe it's a white paper, or appearing on a panel with journalists and research directors. Of course, this means you've got to be believable, credible, and establish a natural flow between the information you're providing and that which you do for a living.

8. Start an Email Newsletter: If you haven't done so already, you probably need to set your sights on picking a topic, frequency, format and "voice". Make sure you've got a few issues in the can before you pull the trigger and launch. Have a subscription acquisition campaign in place at the time of the launch as well. If your firm has budgeted to put this process in place, get in touch with me if you need help setting up the operation. This is the sort of consulting I do in between publishing Web Digest For Marketers.

9. Blogs, RSS Feeds & Podcasts, Oh My: Yep, you might as well be on the cutting- or near cutting-edge with the media you use for distribution. Do this early enough, and there's a certain coolness factor that will give you an extra lift. Wait too long and it'll be no big deal, or worse... "Where have you been?"

10. Get a Greek Chorus: You need to think out of the box. But if your idea is totally off the planet, you could be embarrassed. Members of my Greek Chorus aren't afraid to tell me that an idea of mine sucks... some may secretly relish it, for all I know. I also have people in my Greek Chorus who have nothing to do with marketing, but have a great visceral sense of what's good and what's not. It's invaluable to have that outside perspective. It can be very grounding.

Bonus Tip #1...

11. Listen to Others: Nothing beats real-world experience. I get critical understandings of the current marketplace by listening to what my colleagues are saying (and not saying).

Bonus Tip #2...

12. Forget Who You Are: I know this sounds ridiculous, but try the following: Create your newsletter, ad or what have you, and walk away from it for at least a day. If it's a solo email, send it to yourself and let it sit in your IN box. Experience your message exactly as you expect others to experience it. How much of the subject line can be read? Is it worth opening? How does that first screen hit you? Nice? Blah? What? It often pays to pretend you're on the receiving end of your messaging.