A May-December Media Strategy Could Help Locally Focused Startups

Editor’s note: Jonathan Sills is an executive in residence at Battery Ventures, where he helps advise portfolio companies on marketing strategy. Battery is an investor in Relay Foods and HotelTonight.

In Silicon Valley, it’s sometimes easy to focus solely on social and other types of cutting-edge, digital advertising when advising startups on their marketing strategies. But these businesses, particularly those serving specific geographic markets, can also amp up customer acquisition by combining their Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest strategies with old-school, traditional media marketing campaigns.

Radio spots. Local newspaper ads. Billboards. Cable airtime. These are all time-tested tactics for companies trying to acquire new customers, but they’re often looked down upon as liver-spotted has-beens in the thumping nightclub of today’s digital and data-driven marketing environment.

Detractors say these old-codger strategies lack the flexibility, adaptability and low-entry cost of a self-service cost-per-click (CPC) campaign. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Based on recent testing, I’m convinced that a certain kind of retro/digital mashup — a May/December marketing romance, if you will — can pay real dividends for startups willing to experiment and look past their first impression.

Retro meets digital

Consider Candy Crush Saga, King.com’s megahit game for mobile and tablet devices. Launched in November 2012, it quickly attracted a massive following fueled not only by organic and viral distribution online, but also relevant mobile advertising. Data collected by iSpot.tv and other third-party sources shows that Candy Crush then took its marketing retro: In March of last year, King began layering national cable advertising onto its marketing strategy, and significantly ramped up those TV buys in the subsequent quarter.

These commercials showed up on old-school networks like Game Show, TV Land, and the Hallmark Channel (Little House on the Prairie, anyone?). iSpot estimates Candy Crush aired 4,515 national cable spots in all (a lot!). The program that featured the most Candy Crush ads? Re-runs of the late ‘80s hit “The Golden Girls.”

Another innovative May/December strategy is the one recently pursued by Relay Foods, an online grocery retailer for natural and sustainable foods based in Charlottesville, Va. Right now, the company operates in only a handful of metro areas throughout the mid-Atlantic region. So it has to think locally when it comes to advertising to its target customers: educated, affluent women who love attending the farmers’ market but rarely have time.

Until recently, Relay acquired new customers mainly through branded delivery trucks that drove around its target markets, as well as word of mouth and targeted “street teams” that canvassed public spaces and offered Relay gift cards. But the company wanted to find new ways to amp up customer acquisition without breaking the bank.

The company tested almost a dozen different tactics, but finally hit upon an old-school/digital hybrid strategy that worked. On the digital side, the team ran CPC campaigns on Facebook with page-post ads that linked back to the Relay site. These spots targeted women 25 and older in the geographies Relay serviced and were purchased at around a one-dollar cost per click.

On the retro side, the team tested running “remnant” ads on local radio stations. These were inexpensive time slots that were discounted because they “remained” after other advertisers bought specific inventory but still hit the target audience. In Richmond, Relay paid about $25 on average for a traditional, 60-second radio ad, which meant the company could run 200 spots a week for $5,000. This gave Relay a pretty heavy mass-media presence in that market. It also cost far less on a CPM basis than what the company was quoted by digital-music service Pandora for ads targeting the same region.

Finally, Relay topped off the campaign with retargeting, working to re-engage and convert potential customers who didn’t sign up immediately, through both Facebook’s exchange and the broader web.

The results? The company started averaging about 1,000 new customer acquisitions a week, up from fewer than 100. Sales, gross margin and contribution margin shot up, and Relay was able to mine this radio audience for months before shifting back to a mostly digital strategy.

Print style

Even out-of-home advertising — the good old billboard in all its current forms — can help complement cutting-edge, drive-to-app and mobile web advertising campaigns.

HotelTonight, the last-minute hotel-booking app that services over 250 destinations around the world, recently was able to secure billboard placements in select airports at a fraction of the normal price. This was really an endemic placement for them, since business travelers represent a core user base.

Similarly, VistaPrint, the e-commerce leader selling business cards, stationery and marketing collateral, among other items, has for many years maintained a dual presence on digital and traditional media. One of the company’s arguably octogenarian tactics that I’ve admired from afar is the use of package inserts, which are printed offers placed inside the shipping box of an online, catalog or TV order.

Carrying an implied endorsement, they cost much less to get into people’s homes than individually addressed direct mail and can scale significantly. It seems like a great fit for VistaPrint, and Relay Foods also has used remnant alternative print channels successfully (with a regional distribution focus of course).

I could also see companies combining content syndication campaigns on Outbrain or Taboola with remnant print-newspaper ads, or Twitter with local cable. These types of mash-ups may become more common as we see other online/mobile companies build businesses serving particular cities or geographic areas, at least early in their life cycles — provided those target customers reside in the same markets. So this strategy would work better for local-meal delivery, for instance, than it would for car rental.

Old-school strategy pay-off

Yet many companies don’t consider old-school, local marketing because 1) it seems too outdated, and 2) it can actually be more expensive compared to national advertising, at least in audience-adjusted terms. Car dealers, restaurants and furniture stores traditionally have inflated the costs of such advertising, since they’re essentially held hostage to local media and may not apply a strict ROI lens to their media buys as they try to achieve strong reach in certain metro areas.

But by strategically marrying inexpensive, remnant local advertising with a well-thought out digital campaign — then spreading retargeting on top, like the icing on a wedding cake — online businesses can dramatically boost customer acquisition. And that’s a love story both young and old marketing professionals can embrace.

Image by ischte/Shutterstock

How to Stay Focused When You Get Bored Working Toward Your Goals

S

We all have goals and dreams, but it can be difficult to stick with them. Each week, I hear from people who say things like, "I start with good intentions, but I can't seem to maintain my consistency for a long period of time." Or, they will say, "I struggle with mental endurance. I get started but I can't seem to follow through and stay focused for very long. Don't worry. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone else.

This post originally appeared on James Clear's blog.

For example, I'll start one project, work on it for a little bit, then lose focus and try something else. And then I'll lose focus on my new goal and try something else. And on and on. When everything is said and done, I've stopped and started so many times that I never really made much progress.

Maybe you have felt this way too.

This problem reminds me of a lesson I learned while working out one day…

The Myth of Passion and Motivation

On this particular day in the gym, there was a coach visiting who had worked with thousands of athletes over his long career, including some nationally-ranked athletes and Olympians.

I had just finished my workout when I asked him, "What's the difference between the best athletes and everyone else. What do the really successful people do that most people don't?"

He briefly mentioned the things that you might expect. Genetics. Luck. Talent.

But then he said something I wasn't expecting.

"At some point," he said, "it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day and doing the same lifts over and over and over again."

That piece of advice surprised me because it's a different way of thinking about work ethic.

Most of the time people talk about getting motivated and "amped up" to work on their goals. Whether it's business or sports or art, you will commonly hear people say things like, "it all comes down to having enough passion."

As a result, I think many people get depressed when they lose focus or motivation because they think that successful people have some unstoppable passion and willpower that they seem to be missing. But that's exactly the opposite of what this coach was saying.

Instead, he was saying that really successful people feel the same boredom and the same lack of motivation that everyone else feels. They don't have some magic pill that makes them feel ready and inspired every day. But the difference is that the people who stick with their goals don't let their emotions determine their actions. Top performers still find a way to show up, to work through the boredom, and to embrace the daily practice that is required to achieve their goals.

According to him, it's this ability to do the work when it's not easy that separates the top performers from everyone else. That's the difference between professionals and amateurs.

Working When Work Isn't Easy

Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated.

When I was an athlete, I loved going to practice the week after a big win. Who wouldn't? Your coach is happy, your teammates are pumped up, and you feel like you can beat anyone. As an entrepreneur, I love working when customers are rolling in and things are going well. Getting results has a way of propelling you forward.

But what about when you're bored? What about when the work isn't easy? What about when it feels like nobody is paying attention or you're not getting the results you want?

Are you willing to work through 10 years of silence?

It's the ability to work when work isn't easy that makes the difference.

It's Not the Event, It's the Process

All too often, we think our goals are all about the result. We see success as an event that can be achieved and completed.

Here are some common examples…

• Many people see health as an event: "If I just lose 20 pounds, then I'll be in shape."
• Many people see entrepreneurship as an event: "If we could get our business featured in the New York Times, then we'd be set."
• Many people see art as an event: "If I could just get my work featured in a bigger gallery, then I'd have the credibility I need."

Those are just a few of the many ways that we categorize success as a single event.

But if you look at the people who are consistently achieving their goals, you start to realize that it's not the events or the results that make them different. It's their commitment to the process. They fall in love with the daily practice, not the individual event.

What's funny, of course, is that this focus on the process is what will allow you to enjoy the results anyway…

If you want to be a great writer, then having a best-selling book is wonderful. But the only way to reach that result is to fall in love with the process of writing.

If you want the world to know about your business, then it would be great to be featured in Forbes magazine. But the only way to reach that result is to fall in love with the process of marketing.

If you want to be in the best shape of your life, then losing 20 pounds might be necessary. But the only way to reach that result is to fall in love with the process of eating healthy and exercising consistently.

If you want to become significantly better at anything, you have to fall in love with the process of doing it. You have to fall in love with building the identity of someone who does the work, rather than merely dreaming about the results that you want.

In other words…

Fall in love with boredom. Fall in love with repetition and practice. Fall in love with the process of what you do and let the results take care of themselves.

How to Stay Focused When You Get Bored Working Toward Your Goals | James Clear

---

James Clear writes at JamesClear.com, where he uses behavior science to help you master your habits and improve your health. For useful ideas on improving your mental and physical performance, join his free newsletter. Or, download his 38-page guide on Transforming Your Habits.

Image by MS Planet.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Andy.

View the Original article