Posts Tagged ‘Niche marketing’
Today was graduation at my old high school. I love to check out the graduates’ pictures in the local newspaper. Recognized several of my classmates’ kids…congratulations to all.
Then I noticed something else.
I grew up in a small town of about 3,500 in southern Wyoming. It’s your typical Mayberry kind of town, where everybody knows everybody else. The graduation insert in the paper isn’t just for congratulating the kids and parents. It’s an opportunity for businesses to advertise.
Most of the advertisers blew a great chance to grab more customers.
I counted over 30 ads from retail businesses. Not banks, lawyers, or accountants, but stores, restaurants, and commonly-used services like auto shops. This would have been the perfect opportunity to get people through their doors with a great graduation deal.
Out of the 30+ businesses that advertised, guess how many gave readers some kind of special for graduation?
One. The theater offered a small popcorn if the customer brought in the ad.
Why didn’t these businesses take advantage of this perfect opportunity?
How come one of the fast food joints didn’t offer a buy one, get one meal deal after 8 pm on graduation night? The restaurants couldn’t have offered free desserts after dinner?
Why didn’t the flower shop offer 10% off all orders that mentioned the ad? They could have put a time limit on it, as the paper came out on Wednesday. Some dads could have made some moms very happy indeed.
The grocery store could have snuck in a $5 coupon, or offered a special on photo albums. Their bakery could have thrown in half a dozen cookies for every graduation cake ordered.
The ideas are endless. Why don’t they get creative with their advertising?
Because many have never had to. Rather, they’ve never felt like they had to. In a small town, many businesses don’t have competition and use the same old ad in the paper and yellow pages every year.
What they don’t understand is that it’s not always about competition (or lack thereof); it’s about getting as many people into your shop as possible, giving them good service and products at a fair price, and getting most of them to rinse and repeat.
And if you DO have a competitor, the need to do this is even more urgent. Effective marketing can put you head and shoulders above the other guy, who is likely cutting back on marketing.
Using the flower shop as an example, let’s say there were just 5 orders for flowers averaging $30 a pop, or $27 after the 10% was deducted. My math says that’s an extra $135 for the week.
Big deal, you might say. But what if the flower shop started running a monthly special? What if every third Monday was 10% off day? Using the same 5 orders per month, that’s over $1,600 in a year.
When every penny counts, that’s nothing to sneeze at. For some businesses, simple marketing changes like that could keep the doors open.
These businesses can’t be the only ones who make this mistake. What marketing opportunities do you see businesses missing?
I’m at a crossroads.
I have a passion for helping people quit smoking. I used to be a tobacco quitline coach and am a former smoker myself (8 years quit as of January 8).
I believe that nicotine replacement therapy and Chantix have been oversold and overhyped as *the* answers. In reality, everyone has the ability within themselves to quit cigarettes or chew if they have the desire, education, and confidence to tap that inner strength.
I know that I can help them find that inner strength. I also know I could marry internet marketing with quitting smoking and help more people than I ever could one-on-one. At the same time, I could make enough money to have even more time to devote to helping more people quit.
But there’s one issue that makes me pause…
In my time with the quitline, one persistent theme came up with smokers and chewers. They didn’t want to pay for help. They didn’t want to pay for a few days’ worth of patches while waiting for the supply from us. They were unhappy that Chantix wasn’t free. Interesting, considering what they willingly paid for cigarettes.
To be fair, they’ve been trained to expect this by their state governments with the free programs many of them provide. Understandable, since these programs are paid for with their cigarette taxes. Some of the pharmaceutical companies help out with free stuff as well. And frankly, some are stubborn enough that they won’t even think of quitting unless someone gives something to them.
But then I see the Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking seminars being given in three US cities for $350-425 a pop. Perhaps this is a niche within a niche? The more committed of the quitters?
So my research continues. Has anyone tried to work in this niche and do you have any advice for me? Thank you in advance for any help.
–Melody
