Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Marketing Under The Radar
StraightUp Marketing works where traditional forms of marketing don’t. Underground marketing works where high-profile marketing is undesirable. To illustrate this, lets imagine a hypothetical and fictitious illegal drug dealer. This individual or group has on the one hand a presumably high profit margin (they can buy low and sell high, or manage higher volume at lesser margins with greater risk but higher overall gains. But we won’t go into the wholesaler, he is an elite, he probably has CIA credentials and really has no need for or serious concern about profitablilty, he is surely enjoys monopoly protection from one state or mob source or another.
No, here we focus on the street dealer. How does the successful street dealer market his product? I mean, first of all, in a country that spends billions annually on anti-drug propaganda and prohibition enforcement, how does one advertise? The risk of advertising in the common sense of term is to great, mass market advertising would be a foolish invitation to the cops to make an easy bust; the illegal drug dealer who puts a full page ad in the regional paper “best illegal drugs, lowest prices in town! We Will Not Be Beat!” is probably going to jail with their first sale. Not a good idea.
The successful drug dealer in a stereotypical fashion has a loyal client base he has developed over time who desire and can afford the product he offers. He is a sought after source, people keep his identity a secret in order to sustain a secondary market for themselves, or at least to protect him from legal prosecution so that their source remains in place. People appreciate consistency in quality, quantity, and service. The street dealer has only this word of mouth approach to rely upon, and the focus on loyalty is extrememe. For one thing, word of mouth loyalty, to him, is not customers shooting off their mouth about Joey DeHercut being a drug dealer. Certain protocols must be enforced to protect the continuity of business operations.
Marketing Without Advertising is aimed at discounting traditional forms of advertising (newspaper ads, radio, TV and billboards) the book does make the point that business should do everything to help the customer easily find the business.
So when a business (walk-in off-the-street clients) has no name on the outside, what can I say?
Great marketing!
First it means that customers love the business so much that they come back and bring their friends. Second, the only customers are people who came because of a personal recommendation...the very best kind of customers. Third, customers all have a sense that they are personally special because they know about the business.
If you thrive with no name on the door, or just an address, you are a master of Marketing Without Advertising.
No, here we focus on the street dealer. How does the successful street dealer market his product? I mean, first of all, in a country that spends billions annually on anti-drug propaganda and prohibition enforcement, how does one advertise? The risk of advertising in the common sense of term is to great, mass market advertising would be a foolish invitation to the cops to make an easy bust; the illegal drug dealer who puts a full page ad in the regional paper “best illegal drugs, lowest prices in town! We Will Not Be Beat!” is probably going to jail with their first sale. Not a good idea.
The successful drug dealer in a stereotypical fashion has a loyal client base he has developed over time who desire and can afford the product he offers. He is a sought after source, people keep his identity a secret in order to sustain a secondary market for themselves, or at least to protect him from legal prosecution so that their source remains in place. People appreciate consistency in quality, quantity, and service. The street dealer has only this word of mouth approach to rely upon, and the focus on loyalty is extrememe. For one thing, word of mouth loyalty, to him, is not customers shooting off their mouth about Joey DeHercut being a drug dealer. Certain protocols must be enforced to protect the continuity of business operations.
Marketing Without Advertising is aimed at discounting traditional forms of advertising (newspaper ads, radio, TV and billboards) the book does make the point that business should do everything to help the customer easily find the business.
So when a business (walk-in off-the-street clients) has no name on the outside, what can I say?
Great marketing!
First it means that customers love the business so much that they come back and bring their friends. Second, the only customers are people who came because of a personal recommendation...the very best kind of customers. Third, customers all have a sense that they are personally special because they know about the business.
If you thrive with no name on the door, or just an address, you are a master of Marketing Without Advertising.
Business Without A Trace
Marketing Without Advertising is aimed at discounting traditional forms of advertising (newspaper ads, radio, TV and billboards) the book does make the point that business should do everything to help the customer easily find the business.
So when a business (walk-in off-the-street clients) has no name on the outside, what can I say?
Great marketing!
First it means that customers love the business so much that they come back and bring their friends. Second, the only customers are people who came because of a personal recommendation...the very best kind of customers. Third, customers all have a sense that they are personally special because they know about the business.
If you thrive with no name on the door, or just an address, you are a master of Marketing Without Advertising.
From Michael Phillips Marketing Without Advertising Blog
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
