I was interviewed recently by Larry Dobrow for a story that appears in this month’s OMMA (requires free subscription) about marketing to the military. As the article points out, active duty and reservists, military families and veterans have been grossly overlooked and misunderstood when it comes to marketing budgets and messages. So as we enter the holiday season, I thought I’d provide some specific tips for marketers who are looking for niche opportunities that can yield high ROI:
- Know your audience–the military today is not the military of 20 years ago. The US Armed Forces is 20% female, very internet savvy (for many the internet is the preferred means of communication), and are tightly networked. Make sure your military marketing strategy includes a heavy-duty online component that reaches deeply into the social media networks and promotes word-of-mouth advertising.
- Don’t over-patronize. You don’t have to use a waving flag in every creative.
- Don’t make uniform mistakes. If you choose to show someone in uniform, make sure the model is 100% authentic. If your brand is positioned with someone in fake fatigues, it shows that you don’t really care.
- Use discounts and special offers to say “Thank You for Your Service” rather than to promote savings. Military households tend to have above average disposable incomes.
- Customize your messages, creatives and media buys to reach the sub-groups within the military market (e.g. gamers, golfers, spouses, families, Hispanics, Asians, African Americans). We have found in working with clients that are marketing to the military, it is more beneficial to create your own custom network than to rely solely upon traditional media buys. The more microscopic and targeted your message, the better.
So this holiday season while all your competitors are fighting over the masses, why not reach out to the military community. If you do it the right way, your bottom line will thank you.
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Great information on the “Military Marketing Tips”. I am actually a Sergeant in Kansas Army National Guard and was recently deployed to Iraq in response to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Very very true about the “very internet savvy,” especially in Iraq or Afghanistan. That was our only source of anything, we could browse a site and get news faster via our laptops vs. the newspapers, or even the websites based in the US.
Something to add to the 5th point, most military advertisements do not benefit families of military. How is an ad targeted at just the soldier going to benefit his/her family. This a major sub-group that has been sort of left in the dark. Do not forget the relatives of the soldier (ie: aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.), how can we as designers, marketers, and sales companies focus on saying Thank You.
Left by Jacob McDaniel on December 8th, 2007