Small
Business Marketing
Right now, marketing messages go everywhere
and anywhere there are consumers. Whether we're at home or at
work, advertising media like radio and television, Web sites
and e-mail, newspapers, magazines and more continually deliver
messaging and marketing content. And when we step outside our
homes and offices, we can also expect to find messages all around
us - from the traditional out-of-home venues such as billboards,
bus shelters, subway and taxi-top signage, to the newest forms
of "place-based" ads.
There are advertising opportunities literally
everywhere you look. Out-of-home media have the advantage of
reaching prospects when they are in the most receptive frame
of mind for certain types of products and services. In New York
and other major cities, truck-mounted billboards rove through
designated neighborhoods during morning rush hour, prompting
commuters to pick up the advertised products on their way to
work. In Atlanta, billboard ads featuring computers, printers
and mobile phones are designed to influence office-bound commuters.
And in Key West, signs on the backs of pedicabs direct tourists
to popular restaurants.
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Finding
the right context is a vital component of any marketing strategy.
For example, ads on movie screens prior to the features are a great
way to reach adults ages 18-49, but they're most effective for
advertisers whose messages are entertainment-related, such as neighborhood
restaurants, music or soft drinks. Ads for financial or business
services, for instance, would be out of context there and would
quite likely fall flat.
Think about your own prospects. What types of
places do they frequent? Where will they be when they're most
receptive to learning about your products or services? Suppose
your business markets all-natural, low-fat energy bars. Advertising
your bars on video screens or with signs and posters in local
gyms - particularly
if you sold your energy bars there - would produce better
results than newspaper ads because you'd reach the segment of
your target demographic that was most actively pursuing better
health and fitness. By exposing them to your ads while at the
gym, they would also be in the right frame of mind to receive
your message.
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