As many of you know, I’m active with the Boy Scouts.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, our council, The Chippewa Valley Council, sponsored an air show at our local airport.
This is the third air show that our council has organized over the past seven years. The Blue Angels are our main attraction, and there are many other acts, too.
An air show of this magnitude involves time, money, and lots of volunteers to make it successful. And success for an air show is counted by how many tickets we sell. Did we make a profit?
All the money from the air show goes to our Boy Scout council to support the programs that are provided throughout the year.
The council has been advertising the show since the Blue Angels agreed to be in the show. It’s been advertised in the local area through TV, radio, flyers, newspapers, and sponsors who sold tickets. We also advertised online via a website, Facebook, and other social media sites. The link to the Facebook page is here.
So none of this is outrageous, but it was effective and the tickets sold well. What is outrageous is the last-minute advertising done for the show.
There is a practice show on the day before the show. The dress rehearsal. A few people are invited to the show, but if something’s not working correctly or people are in the wrong place, things can be adjusted before the paying audience sees it.
As you can imagine, when an air show is going on, it is noticed by all within several miles around. When an F-16 takes off, or when the Blue Angels go up, you know they’re in the area. Especially when they’re flying lower and faster than usual.
The afternoon and evening after the practice show, more than 1,300 last-minute tickets were sold online. That is outrageous advertising. We sold out the next day. And that takes a lot of people. We used the airport grounds for this and the area can handle thousands of cars.
How can you take this concept and make it work for your business? Most of us can’t get an F-16 to promote our business, but we can do something outside the box that our audience will notice.
Every business is unique and has different marketing assets. What do you have available that you can use to reach your target audience in a new way?
Only you can answer these questions for your business. That is the challenge for you.
Tip: The asset you have most likely will be something you take for granted.
What do you do in your business that’s unique? What do you do for fun that others find exciting or interesting? Many times I’m talking with clients and they can’t find anything remarkable, then I’ll bring up a topic in passing, and they’ll have a flash of insight.
Take some time to discover how you can be outrageous in marketing your business. We all do things in our business that others see as remarkable, but to us it is just what we do.
Take the time, find your uniqueness, and use it to grow your business.
Have a great week!