When I was in college, a friend and I were have a catch with a large orange (don’t ask) in our house. After a couple of rounds of back-and-forth, my friend got tired of throwing to just me. He yelled out a quick “hey, catch!” to a girl standing near by and then launched the orange in her direction.
She wasn’t paying attention.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen someone get hit in the face with a two-seam citrus fastball, but it’s not pretty. Needless to say, my friend was embarrassed, the girl was hurt, and I was pretty surprised at the whole thing.
Now take this story and swap out the orange for your marketing message.
You might be throwing you’re message out there pretty hard, so you can be sure it gets where you want, but people have to be ready for it. When I search for multivitamins I’m ready for ads for multivitamins. When I go to the movies, I’m ready for for previews of upcoming movies. Knowing what’s coming makes a big difference.
Matching the right product to the right audience is key, but you also have to consider how open they are to the message.
It’s worth the extra time it takes to make sure it’s right. A bad marketing message hurts a lot more than a speeding orange.
My name is Matt J McDonald and I'm a New Marketing Strategist based in Charleston, SC.
