The information age has forced Cooperative Extension to radically change its methods of disseminating research-based information to clientele, to compete with private enterprise and other educational institutions.Educators must deliver more information through more types of media to more diverse audiencesbut with less money.Targeting Audiences, developed through a three-year, USDA-funded research project, presents a comprehensive marketing system to help improve your educational program.Topics covered include:Identifying Cooperative Extension benefits.Public perceptions of Cooperative Extension.Targeting an audience.Preparing a demographic profile of the target audience.Identifying media habits.Knowing media options.Selecting the best media approach.Constructing effective messages.The authors support their conclusions with hundreds of examples, tables, case studies, and worksheets.Table 1, comparing the benefits and drawbacks of various media outlets, is an example of the practical research presented in the book.Targeting Audiences provides research-backed tools that can help improve educational programs and delivery methods to satisfy the changing needs of clientele.
William Gregory Boldt (Wed,) studied this question.