Ten Great Reasons to Stall Your Advertising

Most people who see an advertisement in a restroom stall or urinal are likely to read it because they have at least a few seconds to spare and they're compelled to read just about anything in front of them, even graffiti.

In the image below you see several colorful examples from Midwest Indoor Advertising:

 

Here are ten reasons you should consider advertising in your restrooms (a.k.a. indoor advertising):

1. Entertain while building brand recognition.
2. Target men or women of specific age groups.
3. Hold audience captive for 30 seconds or more, longer than most other forms of advertising.
4. Get your message through to the young, the affluent, to those who are out spending.
5. Offer phone numbers, calendar events or web sites that people can enter directly into their PDA on the spot.
6. Reach specific geographic locations.
7. Provide compelling news or facts that motivate reader to take action.
8. Capture people when they don't mind taking the time to read, unlike telemarketing, web site pop-up windows, emails, and other less appealing forms of advertising.
9. Customize your ads to suit a number of target markets.
10. Utilize this cost-effective form of advertising in your restrooms even if you don't do it anywhere else.

If you're interested in finding an ad agency who can help you with indoor marketing, see IBAA's membership directory:
Indoor Billboard Advertising Association Membership Directory

Even if you don't have a big budget to advertise outside your business, consider placing ads for upcoming events or specials in your own restrooms. Kaibo Restaurant, Beach Bar and Marina at Rum Point in Grand Cayman hung framed cork boards on the back of their stall doors. Although they would look better if they were centered on the door, some signage is better than none. The off-center would, however, make more sense if the hooks were moved more to the right so that a hanging purse, beach bag or towel wouldn't cover the sign.

The font on the Kaibo sign below is too small. They should say less with bigger font and with more attractive graphics.

The small font on April Events Calendar from REI shown below could also minimize the impact of their message. It would make more sense to advertise specific events with eye-catching photos in the stalls and place a larger calendar someplace else where people can read all the details. It would also be easier to keep the calendar more updated where the past weeks rolled off and only the upcoming four weeks were shown. I took this photo on April 27, a time when most of the April events were obsolete.

If you aren't utilizing indoor advertising and need advice on designing a customer communication strategy for your business, contact Lorraine@DrLorraine.net.

If you have more ideas about best practices for indoor advertising, feel free to share your comments.

Want to Smell Like Michael Jordan?

Today I was behind Michael Jordan and smelled toxic exhaust. But just in case you want to smell like the backside of Michael, you can buy some of this bottled fragrance at Perfumania.

Advertising on the back of trucks is such a good idea. I never knew that this NBA All-Star who nailed an average of 30 points per game did this with crooked ears. No one ever talked about his disability, but things always come out in the end. I don't think this was a nice thing to do to Michael, but this is just one customer's opinion.

More companies should take advantage of the opportunity to advertise on these mobile placards. Millions of trucks are rolling on our Interstates everyday and many of them have nothing to say. Here are a just a few ideas:

• Looking for used furniture? We're full of it. (ad for Allied)
• Think out of the box. (ad for Creative Thinking Association of America)
• Wish you could see where you were going? (ad for the
National Federation of the Blind)
• Got a splitting headache? (ad for Bayer Aspirin) This one would make the most sense to the guys loading and unloading the truck.

I'm really on a roll with this mobile billboard idea.  If you have more ideas for ads on the back of trucks, I'd love to hear them.

Manufacturing from Rags to Britches

So I'm driving down the road this morning and I end up at a red light behind a truck with rag-wrapped ladder ends. For years, I've noticed that painters do this! It's just one of those obvious things that jumps out at me because it doesn't look right. It's jimmy rigged! Painters don't want to damage the interior or exterior walls their ladders lean on, so they cushion the ends of their ladders. Since I'm behind the truck at a long light, I have time to have a brief conversation with myself. Haven't the ladder manufactures talked to their customers in the past decade or two, I wonder? Don't the Home Depot guys say something to the ladder distributors about the fact that all the paint guys come in and buy rags and tape with their ladders?

And about this time, I start laughing as I remember a comedian I saw a few months ago. She posed similar questions related to manufacturers and retailers understanding their customers:

• Why don't tampon manufacturers package a little chocolate in with each tampon?
• Why don't grocery stores put the chocolate bars next to the female hygiene products?
• Why can't you buy tampons with your chocolate ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry's or Baskin Robbins?

Studies show that about half of American women crave chocolate before and during their menstrual cycle. Chocolate helps to boost women's magnesium deficiency during this time. More importantly, chocolate sparks chemicals in the brain that give off feelings of euphoria, a much needed boost when you feel bloated.

Are you meeting your customers' needs?

Are you sure?

To the ladder manufacturers: do you talk to painters when they're on the job?

To the tampon manufacturers, such as Natracare: you may be intimately connected with your customers, but don't you know that they just want to have a good talk every now and then?

Getting Paid for the Fun of It

Old Navy is marketing that they want their employees to have fun doing their work. Heidi allowed me to snap a photo of her name tag to provide evidence that some companies do indeed intend for their employees to enjoy their work. Heidi didn't really look like she was having fun when I took this photo. She was having a problem trying to process a return that was originally bought online, and she couldn't figure out how to get the cash register to do what she needed it to do. I'm not sure why she didn't call for rescue from one of the fun managers, but she didn't.

What a concept! Does your employer advocate fun during work hours? Would a manager interrupt and put a halt to a meeting that included music, laughter, or other activities outside professional protocol?

Maybe it's not a coincidence that Navy is called Old. Ancient scripture tells us that we should work six days and then rest for one. And in the fifth chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, we learn from a very wealthy man that it is a good idea to find gratification in our work. A job that satisfies our soul is a gift. Many of us spend two thirds of each day working and sleeping. We might as well enjoy the days that, one by one, make up the paragraphs of our lives.

Each year, Fortune Magazine publishes the 100 Best Companies to Work For. In 2008, Google made number one on the list, with another online company, Quicken Loans, coming in second. Old Navy did not make the list.

Do you have a story to tell about a fun shopping experience at Old Navy or somewhere else?

Does anyone know a fun place to work?

Let's Google it and find out...

Curdled Cream With Your Coffee?

On a morning break, I called the front desk to request some extra coffee for my room. When I got back to my room in the afternoon, sure enough they brought more coffee. In addition, I had a voicemail asking me if I received the coffee and if everything else in the room met my expectations.

I was impressed with the follow-up system at Lago Mar Resort. I did get the coffee, but when I made my next cup, I poured one of the little half & half containers into the coffee and it curdled right there in my fresh cup of coffee. Down the drain it all went and I started all over again, hoping that the next little serving of half & half wouldn't curdle. I hate to be wasteful, but I wasn't about to try do drink that cup of coffee. I sure appreciate their effort in stocking all their rooms with half & half, but the problem with these little containers is that it's hard to know if it's bad until after it ruins a good cup of coffee.

I studied the little Wholesome Farms container to see if it had an expiration date. All I found was a series of numbers that would probably allow you to track it back to the manufacturer in the event it was poisoned or something, but this isn't much help to the end user who gets cranky without a good cup of coffee & cream.

I could complain and even blame the Lago Mar and Wholesome Farms, but I see this as my problem. I'm the one who chooses to pamper this coffee habit. I'm the one who will drive miles out of my way for a good cup of coffee and I'm the one who will feel irritated without it. I should challenge myself with my caffeine addiction or at least minimize its impact by switching over to tea. It's much easier to find a hot cup of water for a tea bag than it is to find a good hot coffee and cream. Enough of this whining over the coffee though!

The second creamer was good. So far today I had a two good creamers out of three. Sixty-six percent isn't a very good success rate, but I probably wouldn't complain about this because I wouldn't want to discourage the hotel from offering real creamers.

Very few hotels or resorts offer half and  half in the rooms and this is probably why.  Companies like Wholesome Farms, Coffee-Mate and Land O Lakes seem to be missing out on a BIG opportunity here. There are a lot of hotel rooms around the world without creamers. How about doing some partnering with hotels and resorts to supply creamers in their wet bars, and help establish processes to ensure their freshness? At the same time, you can supply their restaurants & cafes.

Personally, I'd give up the shampoo for the creamers. I can get my ration of shampoo through airport security, but not my cream!

If you're interested in continuously improving your business system and increasing your bottom line, contact Dr. Lorraine for a consultation.