Pumpkins and sidewalk chalk
Yes, the economy is acting like your schizophrenic uncle. Yes, there seems to be a natural disaster every day.
While there’s no silver lining for the latter, there is for the former: if you’re a enterprising and innovative agent, these times of uncertainty allow you to pull ahead of the pack and demonstrate your marketing ingenuity.
Which brings me to the title of this post: Walking in the park with my dogs the other day, I noticed a web site address had been written on the pavement in chalk. Coloradopetfitters.com was the address. It occurred to me that this was a perfect example of contextual marketing. Contextual because I was in a park that is, on most days, a veritable Russian circus of dogs and dog-lovers. Talk about targeting your ideal market! Also, since it was written in chalk, it was temporary, which meant I didn’t consider it graffiti.
Here another anecdote: A local State Farm office offered free pumpkins (last fall—I meant to blog about this earlier). You didn’t have to talk to anyone to get a pumpkin. They were just there for the taking. The office, in return for the pumpkins, was given a hefty dose of goodwill that will pay dividends for a long time to come.
The problem with times of uncertainty is we tend to tighten up. We become more fearful and less apt to take risks. Instead of grabbing sidewalk chalk or setting out three dozen pumpkins, we tense up, and our sales pitches get more strained, marred by nervous energy.
The challenge is to take that energy—that anxiety over our less-than-stable economy—and channel it into something new.
