Sharon's Marketing Missive

Marketing your business, big or small, in this day and age requires more than great copywriting. (Yes, I did just say that.) You have to be more creative with getting the word out because your message has to cut through so much clutter. And there are so many possibilities for being clever and getting noticed! Even though it’s how most businesses market, there’s no excuse for being blah and boring, none at all. Other than laziness or an unwillingness to be different…

There’s a fabulous running store in my town. The owner is extremely knowledgeable, the shoes and running clothes first rate. And since opening his store, he has done a great job of connecting with the community by organizing a running group and taking office workers on walking lunches and volunteering at area running events. Still he could be busier and there is more he could do to get the word out.

I suggest he invest in t-shirts for his runners, t-shirts that have a great tagline, the URL and the phone number across the BACK. That way people who see this group running will know right away a) it is a group, and b) how to get involved. (Face it, the little logo that’s typically placed on the left front of a t-shirt won’t get noticed at all.) Better still, hand out the t-shirts to solo runners who are out there on the trail at the same time as your group. That’s an obvious target market! They are running and in the same place and at the same time as you. Market directly to them! Instead his thinking seems to be that they’ll notice the group running together and be curious and ask about it. But that takes effort on the prospect’s part. Don’t ask them to ask you, reach out to them.

Who’s not going to notice a free t-shirt? Who’s not going to think you’re pretty cool for handing out free stuff? Who’s not going to tell their running friends about it? And he gets the benefit of his name getting out there when the prospect wears the shirt, whether or not they ever buy from him. Compare the price of handing out such a t-shirt to an ideal prospect vs. the cost of an ad in the local newspaper that’s not targeted at all… I bet the shirt wins hands down.

This is not just a small business marketing philosophy. This applies to big business too. And like I said, it has nothing to do with copywriting. But everything to do with getting noticed and talked about.

That said, the same principle applies to your copywriting…it should stand out and be different too. But that’s a different topic for a different day.