Do You Have a Red Zone?
Over the weekend I was watching the playoff games, and saw a commercial by Prudential that I thought was a brilliant concept and a good lesson in branding.
If you look around at the many marketers online, you’ll notice they have branded themselves as the Audio Guru, Postcard Guru, Email Guru, Squidoo Guru, etc. They’d like you to believe that they are THE “go to” guy or gal with regard to this subject.
One of the easiest ways to own a niche is to be the first one to label it as your own.
Such is the case with Prudential and their new marketing campaign. I think it’s brilliant on several levels:
1.They are taking advantage of the millions of soon-to-be or already-retired baby boomers. If you look back in history, this crowd has huge influence and money.
2.They are “calling” the retirement needs of this group as their own. They’ve trademarked “The Retirement Red Zone” as the five years before and after retirement.
3.They’ve further branded themselves with a website and advertising which will further position Prudential as the experts for anyone in or entering “the red zone”.
Note: They’ve put a pop-up survey on their website to track advertising effectiveness in driving traffic. If your promotions are both on and offline, this is a great way to find out what is bringing visitors to your site.
The beauty of this is that I can promise you that Prudential is not the only company providing investment advice to those about to enter or just entering retirement. But, they were the first to call it out and NAME THE NICHE and now stand a very good chance of owning it!
Can you imagine how many millions of people will identify themselves as being in the red zone … and contact Prudential.
Brilliant marketing! Now….how can you use it in YOUR business?
Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse
January 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Debbi this is excellent information and a subject that I am currently studying up on after eleven years of branding myself as an online marketing expert. Right now I’m studying about the search engines, developing niche markets, etc., and getting my head around first deciding who your target market is and then how to reach them. It’s all fascinating and exhilarating to learn something new.
Thanks for the heads up!
Sue
Online Business Coach
SueSeward.com
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Hi Sue,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I always find it fascinating to study what big businesses are doing and how those methods can be adapted to our business.
Heck, just look at Kleenex and Xerox machines for perfect examples of corporations owning a market segment. Who knows…we may all be referring to the Red Zone as an identifier in the future!
Stop by and share anytime, Sue!
Debbi