Takin' it to the street

One more marketing lesson (good for all of us) from a few days of vacation. (See my previous post for the thread.)

If you ever get the chance to head north of Detroit, there's a fantastic town called Frankenmuth. This town understands that it is a tourist destination, proud to call itself a little Bavaria, and it's two most famous features are Bronner's, the World's Largest Christmas store (truly inspirational) and the chicken dinners. (Actually there are two restaurants, right across the street from each other, that provide these wonderful dinners with the same family recipe.)

Well, these economic times have been particularly unkind to Michigan, requiring businesses to be more creative to attract the tourists to eat at their restuarant...even if it is the home to world famous chicken dinners. So this week we saw that one of the restuarants had added a couple tents on their parking lot where you could listen to live polka music in the middle of the afternoon, buy a beverage (yes, including beer) and a bratwurst. Several patrons were doing so, making me marvel at the innovative, and obviously effective, marketing tactic they implemented. When the time came for these patrons to get out of the heat and sit down to their wonderful chicken dinner, where do you think they would go: to the restaurant across the street that did not entertain or relax them?

So what does this have to do with your PI business? Just another example of learning lessons wherever you can: What can you offer clients that your competition does not? A free analysis of a business' security system? A free seminar on computer forensics? A lunch and learn about identity theft?

What can you offer that you may never have offered before? Domestic cases? A batch discount on background checks?

Marketing efforts do not need to be exotic or expensive; they need to be effective, and maybe just creative enough to attract attention away from your competition.

www.letbobhelp.homestead.com