You never know where the next provocative idea is going to come from or, more particularly, from whom. Once you open yourself to the ideas and suggestions of others, someone can come along and knock your assumptions upside the head.
I had a fun time the other day speaking with Susan Klein, who I met marketing on LinkedIn about her company Exit-Offers, which prints out targeted coupon offers where people buy their beer on Long Island. She wrote that she had some ideas about reaching my demographic, and my initial reaction was, “huh?”
My assumption has been that my audience is probably: reflective, march-to-their-own-drummer, new ager, yoga, environmental, meditator, spiritual/philosophical, boomer types. My assumption has been they’re everywhere on the web and nowhere in particular.
Susan introduced me to Alexa and said maybe I’m thinking too narrowly. She suggested: well-educated, with disposable income, skewed toward women with children 8 and over. Seth Godin, whose blog I read faithfully, would probably add, people who buy books.
Susan was talking to me about a small coupon campaign targeted in the Hamptons to build traffic. Now, I have no idea whether or not Susan’s idea would be a cost-effective way for me to use my limited advertising dollars, especially since I don’t have an advertising budget yet. But she definitely got me thinking differently. And she has experiences and knows things I don’t. It’s just like your parents told you: ask questions and listen.