Marketing Lessons From The Shore

By Bill King

I just got back from a week’s vacation at the New Jersey shore. And what a vacation it was. A true getaway from the information overload that has become the daily and the common. For the entire week, I didn’t watch TV, listen to the radio, stream anything, read any news and most of all, answer any email.

And yet I couldn’t turn off the messaging reflex completely. Most of my days are spent working with clients and our editorial team to brainstorm unique and informative ways to outperform the competition in capturing your audience’s attention. Too much of what is created in the water and wastewater industry remains safe, created to counteract competitors creating the same or similar.

And so, here are a couple of moments from my trip to the beach which caught my attention and got me thinking why.

The first was the aerial billboard that came flying low over the shoreline on my second day on the beach. If you’ve been to the shore, you’ll be familiar with the assortment of local ads being flown up and down the beach offering a variety of discounts and promotions. First and foremost, the aerial ad is a great example of flying high above the competition (pun intended). You’d be hard pressed to find a better example of effective display advertising. A large collective audience generally looking out to the ocean sharing both geography and purpose.

This ad was different. Here came the image of an iconic can of beer. Instantly recognizable but what captured my attention was the irony. It wasn’t the brand, or the few words associated with the flying can (might have been “Need Beer?”) but the fact that Ocean City, NJ is a dry town without a bar, liquor store or beer distributor to be seen. You have to drive over the bridge to Somers Point for provisions.

It struck me as a great example of going where no other provider had thought to go. Something we should all be looking for in our content marketing planning.

The second moment took place on our last night on the Boardwalk. We were looking to purchase two T-shirts that we had seen earlier in the week. My girlfriend had found the first but was sure the other was in a store to the left. And I felt sure it was to our right. And once again, irony hit as we were standing right outside the Boardwalk’s information center.

The lady inside was able to look up the store’s address and get us moving in the right direction. But before we left, she went a step further in researching a 10% off coupon for us and handing us the relevant coupon book opened to the vendor’s coupon. It was such an unexpected find. Who would have thought that in the midst of such a crowded shopping bonanza there would be this wonderful denizen of knowledge providing useful information with bonus discounts!

The point being that help is wonderfully alluring to a potential customer. Especially when it truly helps without any bias or salesmanship. If only every day was like being down the Shore!