Capturing the Transient Consumer in San Diego

One of the biggest challenges in small business marketing in San Diego is learning how to market to a transient culture.

By transient, I don’t mean homeless, which is the connotation that a lot of people associate with the word, I mean “passing through with only a brief stay.”

CAPTURING THE TRANSIENT CONSUMER IN SAN DIEGO

One of the biggest challenges in small business marketing in San Diego is learning how to market to a transient culture. By transient, I don’t mean homeless, which is the connotation that a lot of people associate with the word, I mean “passing through with only a brief stay.”

A lot of San Diego is made up of people who have just gotten here or are only planning on staying for a period of time. The enormous military community is part of this culture, as they get moved from base to base. Another factor are the 3 major universities: San Diego State, UCSD and USD. Then of course there is always the “I don’t have anywhere else to go and I hear the weather is nice” crowd. Any way you slice it, this transient culture that is unique to marketing in San Diego affects your business. Constantly connecting with new customers and clients is even more important when there is constantly new people moving in and out of the state.

HOW A MARKETING CONSULTANT CREATES REPEAT CUSTOMERS IN SAN DIEGO

One of the main challenges to creating repeat customers is developing a sense of loyalty. Working for NBC here in San Diego I started to notice the challenge of distinguishing your station from the 5 other competing stations with a very similar product. Often it seemed to come down to which anchors people preferred. It is that recognition factor that keeps people coming back and creates loyalty.

There are a couple ways that I approach building recognition and loyalty when working with small businesses in San Diego that don’t have the marketing budget to purchase billboards and ads. All you need is a fish bowl and an email account.

SAN DIEGO SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTANT MARKETING STRATEGY

A mailing list is the best way to contact your customers and alert them of your specials, promotions and news. To start building a list, first create a promotional giveaway. It could be free lunch, a free massage or something pertaining to your product or service and encourage people to put their business cards in a fish bowl for a chance to win. This method is a pretty standard and trusted way of collecting business cards, but what is more important is what you do with these cards once you have them. Next, use the business cards to create a mailing list and send them anemail. The first email is the most important, I can’t stress this enough. You only get one shot before you end up getting marked as spam. What you include and leave out in this email makes or breaks your marketing campaign and it is specific to each industry. Sometimes it takes some experimentation to see what people respond to.

If you are interested in marketing your small business in San Diego and need a San Diego marketing consultant, visit RaindropAds.com and find out more about how to capture the transient San Diego culture and create repeat customers.