Bulls-eye marketing: Finding the sweet spot

To maximize the effectiveness of your advertising, you have to place it squarely in the target for consumers.

You already know it’s not enough to have a great product. It’s not enough to assemble your unique selling proposition — what I call your Weapon of Mass Distinction. It’s not enough to have a great advertisement. It’s not enough to place it on the highest rated TV program or website. It takes all of these things working in concert consistently.

If you’re selling motorized wheelchairs, you probably don’t want to be advertising on the X-Games. Don’t waste your money selling women’s cosmetics during basketball.

You have to have the ads’ Content, Creative, and Placement all mixed together in the funnel to hit the target. Promotion and Marketing guru Jim Hart calls it the “Promotion Intersection” where you can achieve maximum impact.

Is your commercial counter to the style, tone, or likely attitude of the audience that’s watching? The more you can mirror the target audience of the program and their sensibilities, the better chance you have of sending an effective message.

You wouldn’t sell a car to a 22-year old who just got a first job the same way you would to a 52-year old doctor with a family of four. And you probably wouldn’t advertise it on the same website.

Match your creative to your placement. Make sure your content sells your Weapon of Mass Distinction in a way that will appeal to the audience.

If it sounds like it’s too complex and difficult to understand, that’s not the idea. Media sales professionals understand this stuff. It’s their job to do it for you. We’re just trying to arm you with information so you can make sure they’re doing their job and a way for you to ask a few more questions to make sure they know you know.

The right ads, in the right places, are priceless.