Horton Hears An Opportunity - Listening For Pop Culture And Media Cues In A Busy Jungle

Microscopic dust or multi-million dollar niche? Do you promote with a squeak or a roar? Learning to make the right decisions can do a whole lot more than help you survive - make the right choices, and you may just find yourself being crowned King of the Jungle.

It truly is a jungle out there - and it can be difficult to raise your voice above all the noise around you. If you dont have size on your side, you need to rely to your other assets.

What to do? Why not borrow a page from Dr. Seuss playbook; specifically, his beloved childrens book, Horton Hears a Who!

Indulge me for just a moment, and youll quickly discover that Horton is much more than a beloved bedtime story - it is also a source for some sage marketing advice for small businesses.

Dr. Seuss 1954 book details the story of Horton the Elephant. Horton hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet - and home to a city called Who-ville, inhabited by microscopic folks known as Whos. Eventually, the other animals in the jungle hear their desperate cries, but initially only Horton is able to hear them.

What Can We Learn from Horton?

One of the most common challenges that small business owners face is the lack of funds to properly promote themselves. One way to stretch those promotional dollars is to focus on leveraging creative marketing opportunities.

But that is only one part of the equation. Developing a keen marketing ear is equally important - without it, you run the risk of missing out on potential opportunities to serve niche markets that your competitors dont see.

Developing a Keen Marketing Ear

Training your ear to listen for marketing opportunities may be a bit difficult at first; but once you master it, you will find an almost never-ending source of original ideas for tie-ins and promotional hooks. It takes practice, patience, and most of all, the ability to think outside the box. Creativity is one of the most powerful weapons in your marketing arsenal - dont be afraid to use it!

Using the internet allows you the unique opportunity to gain a pop culture snapshot at any given time.

* For all of your movie and television news needs, check out the Internet Movie Database.

* Cant keep up with the recent crop of reality shows? Never fear! The Fox networks Reality Remix website can provide a rundown of the highlights.

* Visit individual talk show websites for information on the topics and guests that they are featuring.

* Tabloid websites provide up-to-the-minute gossip - while they arent exactly the pinnacle of journalism, they can certainly provide a bit of inspiration in the way of what is in and what is out.

* All of the network television news sites are fertile ground for sprouting creative and newsworthy promotional ideas.

* Major book sites like Amazon, Borders, and Barnes

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

About the Author (text)

Traci Hayner Vanover, The Promo Diva(R), is the publisher of Create the Dream magazine, www.createthedream.com, and the president of Market Outside the Box Trade Association, www.marketoutsidethebox.com. She works with private clients as a publicist, copywriter and consultant.

printed polythene bag

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated