Where Are Your Customers Looking?

As I stared at the screen while checking out at Shopko the other day, I suddenly realized that Shopko was advertising on their checkout screens. The ads were in a slide show format, changing every few seconds. They took up half the screen and were very easy-to-read, attractive, and attention-getting. “Good idea,” I thought.

Later that day, I was checking the weather map online at a regional news site. While I waited for the map to load, I stared at an advertisement for Gold ‘n Plump Chicken. “Click here for coupons” the ad encouraged. I did and found three coupons that I could print out which were good until the end of the month.

Both of these incidents in the same day prompted me to think about where customers are looking. One of the smartest and, initially, the most surprising places to market where customers look was on toilet stall doors. While at one time that was a novelty, now it is common practice and has spread to gas pumps, walls, doors, and windows. One innovative retailer even used the sidewalk just in front of his door.

That is smart marketing.

What the checkout screens, Web sites, toilet stall doors, gas pumps, and the sidewalk all have in common is that they are places your customer is looking. Seizing every opportunity to talk to your customer about your business is smart marketing. Using opportunities when your customer is a captive audience is wise marketing. Placing your message where your customer is looking is profitable marketing.

Doing this requires out-of-the-box thinking. Watch where your customers are looking. Consider when a customer must wait. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and see your business from your customer’s point of view. What does your customer look at while waiting? Where are the natural places in your business that your customer stops and looks?

We all occupy ourselves in some fashion when we are waiting, whether to check out, ask a question, or pick up an item. Often, we occupy ourselves by reading whatever is posted nearby. If we have an opportunity to get information about a product or service, our interest is piqued. We may buy. At the very least, we will have additional information on a product, service, or information for future reference.

Give your customer something to read while he or she is waiting. Do that by assembling your newsletters, press releases, or articles into a binder and offer it as a reading option in your waiting area. Hang your business’s unique selling proposition in a poster form or a nice frame to match your décor. Use your Web site and computer screens that your customer sees to give your customer information about your business and what you offer.

When you do so, you will be using where your customer is looking to market your business. That will benefit both your business and your customer.

You Never Get a Second Chance

The other day I was sitting in my car in a parking lot, waiting for a friend. As I sat there, my eyes were drawn to some activity at the building across the street. A man was furiously cleaning the glass on the entrance door, first on the inside and then on the outside. When he walked outside, my attention followed him and slid over to the building itself. I noticed that the exterior of the building was faded, dull, and badly in need of new paint. Seepage from the air conditioning unit was trickling down one wall and turning into rust. I looked back at the man intently wiping the door glass clean. Through the open door behind him, I could see an interior that was reflective of the exterior: faded, dull, and badly in need of a facelift. I admired his meticulous work on the glass but thought that he was missing something.

He was missing the big picture. While keeping a business clean is important, cleaning a place that needs paint and a facelift will not make nearly as much impact as would cleaning an attractive facility. Customers' first impression of a place that needs a facelift will be not be positive, no matter how clean it is. Whether we like it or not, customers' first impressions have a big impact on a business's revenue.

Why?

These first impressions are reflective of you and the way you do business. They contribute to how comfortable the customer feels about doing business with you. After all, if you don't maintain your building, how well will you perform your work? These first impressions also determine the type of customer that your business attracts. When your building looks rundown, you are more likely to attract unprofitable customers, many of whom may not have the income to do repeat business with you. The rundown appearance of the building may also prompt customers to think that they ought to pay less for your services.

What does this have to do with marketing?

My definition of marketing is any communication that you have with your customers. This includes the look of your buildings, inside and out, your clothing, your supplies, your equipment, your letterhead, and every way the customer comes in contact with your business. Every contact that your customer has reinforces or forms an impression. The first impression is the most important because it sets the groundwork for future impressions. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Take a look at your building. Does it need a paint job or a facelift? Look, too, at your uniforms, supplies, equipment, materials, and Web site. If you find them wanting, update them. Make that first impression a good one.