Jet Marketing
A month ago, my husband and I made our big move from Virginia to Colorado. We were excited so a 26-hour drive only took us a day and a half! Honestly, before we moved to Fort Collins, I researched the area virtually through the websites and social media channels. However, while we were on the road, instead of searching the web, I paid attention to the world around me in the signage and pamphlets and the importance of messaging to the masses. Since it was a long road trip and I was looking forward to seeing new states, I spent a lot of the road trip looking out the window at my surroundings (don’t worry, I wasn’t the one driving). In the hours it took to drive over 1600 miles, physical advertisements helped to pass the time and I recognized marketing was everywhere. From billboards to brochures, courtesy newspapers at hotels, restaurants, and visitor centers, to gas pump TVs; physical marketing surrounded us.
Once we arrived in Fort Collins and unpacked our belongings, we committed to another road trip, but this time we explored Colorado and some of Wyoming. We went to the Terry Bison Ranch, Saratoga Hot Springs, The Great Sand Dunes, Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Estes Park, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver; however, one nondescript place stood out when we were in Colorado Springs, The Flying W Ranch. At the hotel, I saw a brochure with local attractions. The Flying W pamphlet was simple and a little hokey, yet it described the activities, train ride, scenic view, dinner, and a performance. Truthfully, we did not know what to expect, so we went into it with a “go-with-the-flow” type of attitude. It ended up being one of the most pleasant and memorable experiences of our road trip! We were impressed with the second-longest-running Western band in the world and their phenomenal talents. The activities before dinner were fun, the food was delicious, and the show was true entertainment. We had this memory all because of a promotional brochure. This pamphlet proved that people appreciate, look, and act from basic marketing material. This forum is still very effective at drawing people to experience something new and different. This type of placement promotional marketing has its own demographic. Although some generations prefer hard copies and others prefer digital, marketing through brochures, billboards, and signs are still effective. Understanding your target audience is an important aspect of advertising; thus, as travelers, the brochures worked.
Another example of effective signage, we drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming last weekend and there were several billboards for a Car Wash. On the first one, the writing was upside-down, but when they listed the exit, it was written right-side-up. This was different from other billboards. A few miles later, there was another billboard for the same Car Wash with writing right-side-up this time. This was clever advertising because this billboard was closer to the Car Wash exit so I was able to read it clearly with all the information. By tapping into my curiosity on the first billboard with upside-down writing, I kept looking for another so I could read the entire billboard clearly—it worked.
Although the world is moving in the direction of digital marketing, visual hard copy marketing has proven worthy. The world has become more technology-based in the last few years, but it is nice to be able to physically hold something in your hands. As much as it is important to stay up to date on digital marketing, it is just as important to hold onto old trends as well. The team at Jet prioritizes both physical and digital marketing because we know the benefits come from both.
Therese Cook Oshman, Project Manager
Therese enjoys the process of discovering the best way to market a specific business. She believes that learning more about the target audience makes a significant impact in the success of the company.
