May 9, 2011

If you could imagine the worst possible time to try and promote your business, what would it be?  For many of us, it would be that moment when a potential customer has just chosen to buy from a competitor. The smart thing to do would be to consider that a lost sale and move on to other potential customers.

For Turkish Airlines, however, that moment is what they have based an entire component of their marketing strategy around. The first time I encountered this was while in Beijing for the Olympics back in 2010. The world was in China to see the Olympics and in the back seat of many of the taxis was a print ad for travel to Turkey on Turkish Airlines. The underlying message was clear: for your next trip, you should consider Turkey.

Last week, while I was traveling in South Africa, I again saw video ads for Turkish Airlines at the Waterfront in Cape Town, talking about how luxurious an experience it would be to travel there and other reasons to consider Turkey for your next vacation. It was a popular tourist spot, and once again Turkish Airlines was capturing attention in a moment that many other travel brands might not have even thought about targeting.

Clearly, the majority of the audience who might be riding in taxis during the Olympics were travelers from other places. On the Waterfront in Cape Town, it was nearly all tourists. Many of them in each case may have just used up their entire vacation budget for the year (or more) just to get to China or South Africa.

Still, we all realize on a human level that while we are on vacation, we can’t help dreaming about the next vacation we might take. There is nothing like planning another vacation to take your mind off the post-vacation blues once you get home.

Consider this form of marketing a way of planting a seed in the consumer's mind—one that may turn into a full-fledged idea and trip plan at some time in the future. This is long-term thinking at its best, and one thing that many small and large businesses do remarkably poorly.

So the next time you are developing a marketing strategy, consider reaching potential customers who have just chosen a competitive product or experience. You might manage to come out ahead when they are once again in the buyer’s market at some point in the near future.

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• Marketing

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Rohit Bhargava, Article, marketing strategies, Duct Tape Marketing, Turkish Airlines