Aug17
When asked about the secrets to his success, the ever-quotable Ted Turner replied, “Early to bed, early to rise. Work like hell and advertise.” With due respect to the media mogul—and with a nod to healthy habits and hard work—small businesses who follow this advice today with fail.
Why?
Because advertising today is not what it was a few decades ago when Ted Turner launched his empire.
In the 1970’s the average American consumer was exposed to 500 marketing messages a day. Today that number is 3,500. Yes, the average American consumer is assaulted with 3,500 marketing messages a day. That’s one every 24 seconds, or 1.25 million marketing messages a year.
In other words, the brutal reality for small businesses today is that they could spend thousands and thousands of their hard-earned dollars on advertising that NEVER connects with their customers and prospects. And many do, advertising themselves into bankruptcy.
What’s the answer? Targeting.
Targeting means knowing exactly who to reach with your marketing message and exactly how to reach them. Targeting means, instead of shooting lots of advertising arrows into the air, shooting a few arrows aimed directly at the bull’s eye.
In short, targeting is narrowcasting instead of broadcasting.
This doesn’t mean that you stop using traditional marketing mediums. Certain media outlets may speak directly to your core customer, and that’s exactly what you want to do. Just don’t use traditional marketing mediums in traditional ways.
Select the marketing mediums that are the best match for your core customer and dominate those mediums. In other words, don’t pour one inch of water in ten advertising glasses, fill two or three glasses to overflowing. And use these mediums to spark a conversation. Create dialogue, not the shrill monologue that dominates advertising today. Then continue that conversation online at your Facebook fans page or blog, or face to face at your physical location or community event.
Finally targeting means telling the truth. After decades of slick advertising campaigns, the average consumer is deeply distrustful of marketing and promotions. So we must take the time to build a real relationship with our customers where they begin to know, like, and trust us so they may, in time, try, buy, and refer us to their friends.
Jul27
The stretch of highway from my college town to the freeway is strewn with billboards. Officially designated as outdoor advertising, this very traditional marketing medium is enjoyed by some and reviled by others. But there’s much that can be learned from billboard advertising.
Consider this billboard that greets everyone who’s driving into our fair city. It’s a perfect use of the medium. In just 11 words the advertiser—a local fair trade retail store—accomplishes these three critical marketing objectives:
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May25
Last spring I took a trip to one of my favorite Oregon cities, Ashland. Ashland is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and all kinds of delightful—and sometimes odd—cultural activities. I caught a couple of plays with my kids, enjoyed colorful street performers, and ate (too much) at the array of wonderful restaurants the city has to offer.
On the way home, however, a huge semi-truck sped past me, spraying gravel on my windshield. A star-shaped chip appeared in my line of sight, and, by the time I got home, a crack stretched across the entire windshield.
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May11
A marketing exercise most of us have completed is writing down a description of our ideal client. While I applaud the intent of this exercise, I think it falls short in truly defining what most small businesses need for their strategic target. Ideal client statements tend to be aspirational and their descriptions way too general to actually impact the marketplace.
Instead I lead my clients in an exercise I call The Class A Client (or Customer) Profile. We start with listing all the characteristics of an ideal client, but add to that list other information like business size, buying motives, geographical limitations, and things like that.
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Mar23
I bought a new smart phone last week. That in itself is not worthy of a blog post. But what happened next is.
One of the apps I got for the phone didn’t sync my tasks the way I was wanting. I contacted customer service and heard back from them immediately. They were apologetic for my time and my trouble and incredibly helpful. I asked another question via email, and heard back from them immediately, and, again, they were incredibly helpful. All for a $4.99 app.
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— Carlos Carney · Aug 18, 05:01 AM
This is a perfect example of what NOT to do in advertising today, broadcasting versus narrowcasting. I have no idea who this person is and no relationship with him. My blog was spammed with his comment—an SEO advertisement—without any interaction with the content. This is the Internet’s version of a television commercial that interrupts a program, and it’s just irritating. I would have deleted his comment, but it supplies such a great example, again, of what NOT to do. What do you do? Build relationships, interact with people in authentic ways, and let trust grow. This is the the key to advertising today!
— Bill Zipp · Aug 18, 09:41 AM
Great advice! The struggle my clients are having is choosing which medium targets their customer the best. I spoke with a Corvallis car dealer yesterday and he said he gets at least 5 people A DAY trying to sell him advertising. No one has time to evaluate that kind of volume.
— Carol Schaudt · Aug 27, 10:53 AM