3. Lurk. Visit online forums that are directed at people in your target audience. No need to post a message… just hang out and see what others are saying. This is another wonderful place to get insights on what people in real world are thinking.

4. Visit. Stop by some of places your target customers might visit. Are you selling back supports to truck drivers? You might need to visit a few truck stops. Just sit back, order lunch special, and keep your ears open!

5. Talk. Want to know biggest complaint about retaining wall contractors? I actually had to find this one out for a client! Talk with those who would hire a retaining wall contractor. I jumped on telephone and made a few phone calls. Amazingly enough, almost everyone I spoke with had same complaints. I was able to use that information to position my client in best possible light before his target audience!

6. Join. Local associations create a tremendous environment for people to express their opinions, discuss pressing issues, and solve problems. Don’t join ones that fit YOU best, however. Join ones that your target customers would join!

7. Think. Put your thinking cap on, and come up with more ways to get to know your target audience. Perhaps you could visit a company that falls within your target customers’ line of work, and observe them for a few hours. Maybe you could host a free conference call where people within your audience could voice their opinions. With a little creativity, you’ll have all ins and outs of your target customer nailed in no time!

But yet, it gets worse.

Now new mall is getting ready to open in a week. So Easy Target Mall, who obviously has been planning this new strategy for months, changes all of their billboards that are near new mall to a new series of "Hey, can you figure this out" billboards.

Because Easy Target Mall has more department stores than new mall, they decide that will be their new angle. "We're bigger, so we must be better." So what do their new billboards say? "You Need Big." Followed with visuals of big blown up pictures of various merchandise like sunglasses and a purse. This might work if mall was trying to attract local residents. They could follow it up with TV and magazines and newspaper ads so that people would eventually get it. Which is what Easy Target Mall has been doing.

BUT, they are trying to mostly attract tourists! Who will maybe only see billboard once, if they are lucky. So tourist says as they drive down I-4, "You Need Big." And all of these billboards are right outside this new BIG mall that they are looking at as they read billboard. All tourist is getting in his mind is "Big Mall." Like one we're staring right at. Yeah, let's shop there!

One of big blown up pictures on billboard looks like cigarettes cris-crossed on top of a red background (at least that's way it looks at 60 miles an hour). I thought "No way, they CAN'T be promoting buying large cigarettes at Easy Target Mall. It took me several times of really trying to stare at billboard (and not get in a wreck at same time) to finally figure out what it was. It was a blown up picture of white shoelaces on a red tennis shoe. All you see are white shoelaces. Trust me, it doesn't look like big white shoelaces.

And here's REAL fun part. The creative types for Easy Target Mall have made logo for Easy Target Mall so SMALL (not big) that you can't READ what mall it is! So you just assume it's mall you're currently staring at, new mall.

If I were new mall, I would send a great big thank you letter and fruit basket to Easy Target Mall for advertising their new mall, for FREE!

What does all of this mean? You can get a great, free education by just studying variety of TV, newspaper and magazine ads out there to learn what you shouldn't do with your advertising! It's everywhere. And, feel grateful that you aren't spending $6,000 a month for a billboard on I-4.

Easy Target Mall should have used this for their copy:

We have more stores than they do. Easy Target Mall

Just 3 miles down road