What I do mean is that you should keep your eyes and ears open to any and all available marketing opportunities regardless if you are working or not. I like to call this technique "portable marketing."
I realized how important my decision was for my travel outfit today while sitting on the ground at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (it was the only area near our boarding gate with an available outlet. Don't judge me.)
At 3:00 this morning I stumbled out of bed and threw together an outfit for the journey to our Las Vegas vacation. At the time, I was more concerned that I had remembered to pack all of the essentials we would need for the trip, not about a fashion statement.
But as I sat on the ground at the airport and watched the hundreds of people who passed me, I was very happy with my fashion statement. While I certainly don't look like I just stepped off of the catwalk during New York City's Fashion Week, I am, however, a walking billboard for esophageal cancer research and awareness; and that is more important to me.
I am sporting a periwinkle Esophageal Cancer Awareness bracelet, a 'Heartburn Can Cause Cancer' pin and the t-shirt from our 1st Annual Esophageal Cancer Walk from this past June. I estimate that throughout the course of the day I walked past, sat next to and/or encountered thousands of people if not more. Not only did those at the T.F. Greene Airport in my home state of Rhode Island possibly see my shirt, but those traveling to and from the Charlotte airport and the Las Vegas airport possibly did too. Want to know what the best part of all of that national branding? It's free!
As Treasurer for The Salgi Esophageal Cancer Research Foundation, I know how important it is for a nonprofit with a very limited financial budget to utilize low to no cost marketing and advertising opportunities. But that's not to say that corporations with larger marketing and advertising budgets shouldn't take advantage of portable marketing, too.
The best way to get started with portable marketing, regardless of your budget, is to consider your target audience. In example, perhaps you are the owner of a home improvement company. When stopping in your local hardware store it might be a good idea to wear your company clothing and drive your company vehicle that has your logo and contact information on the side. While it is never a "bad time" to brand yourself with your company logo and contact information, it would be the best time to brand yourself while you are at a hardware store around people who are already thinking about home improvements that they need.
You might not get a new client that exact moment in time at the store, but they could remember your company name and contact you at another time for work they need done after they've realized they don't have the time for it. Now wouldn't that be nice?
For our charity our audience is broad. Unfortunately, cancer can affect anyone. It does not discriminate against age, gender, race, national origin or political affiliation. Therefore, our target audience is the general population. Our mission is to educate as many people as we can regarding prevention, research and early detection of esophageal cancer.
While sitting on the plane from Providence to Charlotte, the stewardess saw my shirt. When I told her about our charity she told me that she is a cancer survivor and was happy to see another group trying to raise awareness and funding for research. That's one more person that we've been able to educate and another accomplishment for our mission.
The more and more you get used to thinking about your marketing goals and your target audience, the easier it will be for you to engage in "portable marketing", whether you're at the hardware store or on a plane.
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