We posed the questions yesterday on what, where & why to advertise. Today we provide some guidelines on effective Place Marketing: location & timing
The goal of Place Marketing is to have your target market see your ads, recognize their need for your product or service and be motivated to act in contacting you.
1. Choose locations that have the highest concentration of your best customers. If your best customers are college students, advertise on campus. Are your customers seniors looking to retire? The internet is not the best place. The golf course is a much better choice. But take note, if you’re marketing to the children of seniors, the internet may be a good place to advertise because children do these searches.
2. Choose locations where your market’s need is directly felt and your message can be appreciated. Let’s say you are a rental agent–run your ads in laundramats as follows: “Nice apartment for rent, with washer & dryer.”
3. Choose locations that is will trigger a call to action and make it easy to act. Advertise your taxi stand at a train station near a phone. A prepaid postcard ad in a niche market magazine can be easily removed & dropped in a mailbox.
4. Choose locations fitting to your market image. If you are promoting an expensive luxury product to the very wealthy choose a yacht marina over a bowling alley.
5. Choose location with a community focus. Sponsor the renovation of a park, playground, community recreation center or library. Obtain the naming rights. You get the best of both worlds–you help the community and get your company name etched forever. Support the local baseball team. Not only will you foster company goodwill but the little tykes will be wearing you company name & logo while their parent watch them play.
Source: Put It in Its Place by Kim T. Gordon, Entrepreneur Magazine, June 2006
