of finding the most effective publication for your needs.
Some publications expect you to look
at the audience and guess. A better way
is to look for an audited publication.
They will tell you its circulation numbers accurately and can identify demographics in terms of location, income,
marital status and so on. Publications
that are not audited, may also give you
such information but there is no independent body judging the data, so be
smart about it. It never hurts to say
‘prove it.’
If you are looking for people with
boats, you will find more of them in a
vertical publication. If you are looking
for that 40-50, 75K crowd, go to upscale
Auto dealers think locally – 5 miles is
a number I have heard (oops, 8 km.)
local radio, outdoor signs, banners and
events will reach that audience.
Whatever you choose, stick to it, at least
for a while and spend the effort on tracking results so you can reduce the gut
feeling component of the decision. If
you don’t like our idea to give away a
BBQ, create, a special new phone number or email address to track calls and
chart the data. Does your radio station
draw more than your community newspaper? Your own data is extremely reliable; collect and consider it.
Like many small businesses, spending money on building the business is
perennially an important consideration
for marinas. Plan your advertising and
then follow the plan. Don’t get mad, get
MADS. By setting objectives and pursuing those objectives as efficiently as possible, you can minimize the pain and
maximize the last pie piece, the one you
get at the end of the day.
