Advertising on cows has become quite popular in recent times, particularly in the UK. An ice cream company put specially made advertising capes on cows in a paddock next to a major freeway. They were advertising ice cream made from the very best milk in the land! The cows stay warm and dry and the company gets some advertising in a unique and very novel manner.
These opportunities abound and it is simply a matter of being open minded to the more unusual advertising opportunities that can be created with a little lateral thinking.
I have a number of clients that have quite unusual products (from tarantula farmers to diamond miners). One has a barramundi farm. For those not aware of what a barramundi is, it is a much sought after fish that grows naturally in the tropical waters of northern Australia. Every day his barramundi farm has a pile of people dropping by to visit and have a look around. They all take lots of photographs of the giant fish through a glass viewing panel.
Thousands of people took photos of the barramundi every week but the business was not getting any promotional value out of it. Their name wasn’t in the photo, which to me was a real missed opportunity. So I suggested putting a sign on the window where everyone takes the photo and get your business name out there – at no cost.
I also had a client who owned a run down old general store in a place called Croydon – which is about a million miles from everywhere. She was an old lady, tough as nails and delightful. Tourist buses used to pass through Croydon without stopping and she wanted to get more of this business. She had a huge old room that was full of stuff that she used to sell, old mining and farming tools mainly, relics from another era in Outback Australia. This room was basically closed off from the rest of the store but it was a treasure trove of great stuff. So I suggested that she call this a museum, offer free entry and put up a big sign out front, which she did. From that point on everyone stopped in for a look – buses, solo travellers, trains planes and automobiles. Clearly it worked a treat.
From an advertising point of view it doesn’t get much better than this. The moral to the story is to look for every opportunity to advertise and promote your business becuase the more you do the greater the long term benefit to your business. Even more importantly, how many missed opportunities are costing you business every day?
Hi Andrew
I’ve just finished reading your book 101 Marketing Ideas and it is fantastic stuff. That point you raised about calling 10 people a day – Richard Branson has a rule to contact 5 people every day. I think that’s been a key to his success.
Regarding value-adding, I’m currently starting a business selling custom tailored shirts. I was already thinking of including a voucher or an accessory (such as a tie-dimpler or tie-align) as a bit of a surprise but reading your book has just confirmed the value of that to me.
I’m looking forward to applying the principles in your book and maybe buying one or two more books as well.
Probably the best thing about your books for mine was you actually did present 101 (+extra) good ideas. All killer, no filler as they say.
Andrew,
Congratulations on a great web site and I wish you successful 2007.
regards
David
thanks, I loved the part with the glass ;).. excellent