When I was working on my MBA, I took a very perceptive class called Marketing Strategy that trained the conception of the 3C's and 4P's into my brain. If you have not detected of this marketing conception, briefly reviewed, it is understanding your Customer and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your Competition and your Company, then taking this knowledge and adjusting your Price, Product, Place of distribution and type of Promotion to maximize your gross sales and profitability.
When I started my own company, I wanted to take this conception a step further and applying its principles to Outdoor Marketing.
C Marketing LtdCustomer
Moz Keyword Explorer JqueryApplying this principle to outdoor marketing requires different thought than developing a TV or radio spot then deciding on which Stations to play it. For instance, you must understand where does your clients travel, shop, work, eat and enjoy life outside of the home? Moreover, what are their likes and dislikes? You must truly get to know your clients because this information will be crucial in your outdoor marketing efforts and specifically in crucial exactly where to place your ads.
Competition
You are not the only one who wants your potential clients. Undoubtedly, you have competition. To effectively communicate to those clients, you will need to differentiate your company from your competition and revolve around your strengths and on their weaknesses. Furthermore, be sure to expand your idea of competition. You not only have direct competitors (i.e. Ford franchise vs. Toyota franchise), but you also have indirect competitors (i.e. Ford franchise vs. Mass Transit). Broaden your horizon and give adequate thought as to their strengths and weaknesses.
Think like a consumer. If you understand your clients, you will know where to advertise to reach them and your competition may not. Don't be afraid to directly compare your strengths to their weaknesses in your outdoor advertising. Make your competitors defend themselves. The business arena is not the place to play nice guy.
Company
First and foremost list what your company can do well and, more importantly, what it cannot. It is quite painful to admit that you do not surpass altogether areas of your business but it is better to understand it now and not trip-up and let your clients down by promoting something that you can't delivery on.
Once you have this list, can you effectively communicate what your company does utilizing outdoor media? Can you get crosswise your primary focus and your main strengths? Can you make it simple enough? Focus on your top two strengths that cross with the top wants of your target clients and place your ads where they frequent. Furthermore, contingent what you want to communicate, you will need to choose the appropriate outdoor media of which there are many.
Price
If your company cannot afford to advertise on traditional billboards, which can average $2,000 per calendar month for a major highway billboard, then you should look into other forms of outdoor and out-of-home media. You can advertise at bus stops, in malls, on diner placemats, and course my favorite, on receptacles. The price for this media can range anyplace from $50 to $500 per calendar month contingent which you choose and where they are located.
If you are a small company with a small budget for advertising, alternative out-of-home media, as opposed to the traditional highway billboard, will be most effective for you. You will not be able to take the scattergun approach and advertise everywhere. You will have to be more like a sniper and target your clients (not literally, course) victimisation the information you've gathered when analyzing your clients.
Place
Where you advertise will be set by how you analyzed your target client. Thus it is vitally important to truly understand your client otherwise you could develop a fantastic content that falls on deaf ears. If your target clients are college students, you should place your content around bookstores, coffee shops, bars, and late night eateries. If your target clients are professionals, then you should place your ads on mass transit, highways into town, bus stops, and lunch-time eateries. If your target clients are stay-at-home moms, you should place your ads in malls, shopping centers, and grocery stores. Take note of your best clients and you'll know exactly where to place your ads.
Product
Your product will most likely have many features. Depending on where you are advertising and which segments of your client base will see your content, you will want to showcase different features of your product or service. If your content is in an upmarket part of town, you will want to revolve around your service and how you are client-oriented. If you are placing your content in a lower-scale section of town, then you'll want to revolve around value and your guarantee.
Promotion
In promoting or advertising your product or service, you can choose many avenues. The most common form that is most prominent is, course, the television commercial. However, net advertising has become extremely popular since most people now have access thereto.
While both have the advantage of wide reach, television advertising is very dear and net ads can get lost in the thousands of ads that are there. The best scenario is a complete marketing campaign that includes out-of-home media. Why? Because out-of-home media can help to reinforce your existing content and you can also talk to consumers when they are out trying to make their purchase decision. With a properly placed content, you can directly influence that decision. You can place your ad near the business establishment of your largest competitor. You can also place your ad near a synergistic business (i.e. if you are a tailor, you could place an ad near a fabric store). Out-of-home media provides much parallel to what you want to say to whom and when.
And do not limit yourself to thinking that out-of-home media, and more specifically outdoor media, is only billboards. There are a myriad of alternative outdoor mediums that target foot dealings. Through such media, you can have a more robust outdoor ad because pedestrian foot dealings is slow and unlike a moving fomite on the highway, if a pedestrian wants to read your ad, he or she can simply stop walking and take notice. You can also better target your content to consumers who will be most receptive thereto because everyone goes someplace at sometime. Your job is to learn this information about your clients and place your ad there through present advertising tools such as the AshCan.
In summary, following the above stairs will aid you in better understanding your business, its strengths and weaknesses and how to sell your strengths to the appropriate consumers at the right place with the right content.
Always consider out-of-home media as you can narrowly target your best potential clients and not spend a fortune doing it.
Remember, think like the big guys and perform with the nimbleness and friendliness of a bit guy and you cannot go wrong.
