Tweet

Garber on Business: Advertisers, Know Your Market

Written by: Anne Garber

Article Overview: There's a radio ad on the air these days and every time I hear it, I burst out laughing. And it isn't meant to be funny, either. An essential rule-of-thumb for advertisers trying to win over stingy consumers like me, is "Know Your Market."

Garber on Business: Advertisers, Know Your Market

by Anne Garber

There's a radio ad on the air these days and every time I hear it, I burst out laughing. And it isn't meant to be funny, either. It's an ad for some kind of lawn seed and fertilizer, and the copy starts with something like this: "Remember: Your lawn will be under a layer of ice and snow for the next seven months, so what you do for it now will affect the kind of lawn you have come next spring…"

Have these lawn care guys ever been to the West Coast? This ad may play just fine in Edmonton or Minneapolis, but out here on the Coast…? I can't believe they are spending good money on these ads, because radio advertising is expensive, folks. And when you hear the opener, you're so distracted by the faux pas that you don't even notice what product they are pushing. See? I didn't (I'll bet you didn't, either).

Besides enjoying the most temperate climate in Canada, the Vancouver and Lower Mainland basin is well known in North America as an excellent place to field test new products before launching them across the U.S. and Canada. We had Schwepps raspberry ginger ale out here for a couple of years before the product rolled out nationally (Portland, OR-Vancouver, WA ranks at 44th, and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA ranks at 112th.)

Interestingly, Albany, NY ranks number-one in the U.S., according to a recent survey:
One system that places each U.S. household into one of 70 segments based on its consumer and demographic characteristics such as newly married, new parents, change of residence and retirement. The 70 clusters have descriptive names including thrifty elders, savvy singles, early parents, married sophisticates, rural parents, first mortgage and so on.

The survey analyzed a consumer database of 111 million American households. The market research outfit involved created the list with the number-one city bearing the greatest likeness to the overall U.S. population. With a correlation score of .90904, Albany was the closest to a score of 1, which would signify a perfect match.

"Traditionally the adage has been, 'if it plays in Peoria it will play anywhere,' but what I think is reflected by Albany as No. 1 is changes in the U.S. consumer landscape," said Tiffany Weatherly, product leader at Acxiom Corp., Little Rock, AR. "You can't always go by the old rule of thumb."

Peoria, IL, ranked 37th on the list.

As a microcosm of the United States, Albany lets a marketer do a broad stroke test to learn which clusters their products appeal to, Weatherly said. The segments that work could be rolled out nationwide for marketing efforts.

So an essential rule-of-thumb for advertisers trying to win over stingy consumers like me, is "Know Your Market."

Today, we received a catalogue from the NHL. Now, I'm not going to get into their current public relations problems, so you needn't brace yourself for a rant. Instead, cudos to the clever marketing people who haven't missed a trick. I didn't notice it -- but my husband, John Keyes, sure did: Check out the back of this catalogue; they've been clever enough to put John's name onto back of the hockey sweater in the photo. So if you're a reluctant spender -- but the NHL in its wisdom has helped you visualize the sweater on you -- well, what more of a prompt do you need to make you buy? I don't know this for sure, but I'm betting that this is a very successful way to sell hockey sweaters -- and someone at the NHL catalogue office is in for a raise and promotion!

Smart selling is all about knowing your consumers and what they want. And we're not idiots, so we never want to be talked-down to. We like advertising that enlightens or amuses or entertains. We don't like watching people do stupid things, or do smart things that are "too smart for their own good" -- and consequently make us feel stupid.

One of advertising's greatest possibilities is to bring new products out and present them to an audience of consumers in a way that solves problems for us. A simple case in point is Proctor & Gamble's new Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I reviewed it elsewhere on evalu8.org, but suffice it to say here that this is a product that lives up to its claims: It does exactly what it promises.

And the internet is one of the great ways to find products that appear to be gone from your market. Dozens of sites and message boards exist to allow consumers to gripe about obsolete and discontinued products they loved but can no longer find. And every single day, I get feedback from consumers seeking the hard-to-find or elusive, recently disappeared product.

Consumers should check eBay first. If you cannot find your missing product there, try Google. If you have a wrapper or package from the obscure item, check it for a contact number, web address, customer support number or the like. Or Google the company name to check for results. Whether it's replacement brakes for your favourite in-line skates by a company that is defunct, or it's Kleen-Glo (a wonderful, but very hard-to-locate cleaning product), believe me, those products are out there. And if all else fails, please write evalu8.org at: feedback@evalu8.org, and let us take a shot at finding it for you.

Related Articles
  Rule 19 Watch What DirectResponse Advertisers Are Doing and Plagiarize
  A Magazine - How Do I Get It Established?
  A vertical approach to online marketing
  "Quality" Franchise Opportunity
  A Business Opportunity in a Down Economy, Vertical Market Ad Networks

Article Tags: albany ny, american households, anne garber, climate in canada, consumer database, demographic characteristics, descriptive names, everett wa, field test, first mortgage, ginger ale, lawn seed, lower mainland, new parents, radio advertising, research outfit, seven months, sophisticates, temperate climate, vancouver wa



Related Forum Posts
Re: Ideas For Business - Hello Lucy, you may consider this list for Ideas for Business: (Top 23 list) Rank Company 1 Google 2 Genentech 3 Wegmans Food Markets 4 Container Store 5 Whole Foods Market 6 Network Appliance 7 S.C. Johnson & Son 8 Boston Consulting Grp. 9 Methodist Hospital Sys. 10 W.L. Gore & Associates 11 Cisco Systems 12 David Weekley Homes 13 Nugget Market 14 Qualcomm 15 American Century Invest. 16 Starbucks Coffee 17 Quicken Loans 18 Station Casinos 19 Alston & Bird 20 QuikTrip 21 Griffin Hospital 22 Valero Energy 23 Vision Service Plan
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: How should i promote a new website? - ignore this message IF it's already been stated. I haven't had a chance to read all the replies and i have to jet from the office... I suggest marketing where ever your Target Market congregates. If it's a forum of concerned parents - go there. Strike up a deal with the forum owner (JV) and have him promote it to the list of members (Integration Marketing). If you want to go with Forums then i would partner with a parent who is a frequent poster/moderator on a particular Target Market Forum and have him/her add your link to their signature. That was just a thought but it's not as intense once you get buy in from the Forum owner or high ranked poster/moderator. Hope that sparks some new ideas.
Re: Do Women Play the Stock Market? - I also play Stock Market.....
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Are You Listening?

Are You Fulfilled

The Right Job - Part Five 'Compensation'

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.