I wish everyone in advertising understood 'target market'

In the last two weeks, I have been 'accosted' in my store by four - count 'em - four newspaper advertising salespersons. I say accosted because that's how they made me feel. And it seems they all recently attended a class on "Don't Take 'NO' for an Answer!"

These are all papers (or almost all; I actually never heard of one of them before) that you would know if you live in the area - a daily, two weeklies and a monthly publication. None called for an appointment.

I was nice. I didn't ask their rates because the cost is irrelevant (of course, if it was free to advertise in their papers, I'd be in every issue of all of them). After their initial "pitch," I explained that my target market was pregnant women. I told them that I focus my marketing and my advertising on that target.

I don't believe any of them understood the concept. It seemed all they heard was "No, I'm not interested." Each one said something like, "Well, pregnant women read our paper." I explained that the shotgun approach just didn't work for me. They repeated, "Well, pregnant women read our paper."

They just didn't get it. One explained that his "neighborhood" paper went to young families. Another asked if I would be interested in their Holiday Gift Guide.

None seemed interested in me, my business or wanting to know more about target marketing. It was obvious I was a hash mark on their daily marketing report.

How do you handle situations like this?

Books, books and more books

I love books. I don't remember enjoying them much when I was a small child (like my granddaughter Emme does - books are her favorite 'toys'). But I remember falling in love with reading in high school. My favorite author back then was John Steinbeck. I loved English class, both the reading and the writing, in high school and college.

Years ago when our first house was up for sale, the Realtor who handled our open houses told me she enjoyed spending time at our home because when there were no potential buyers there, she could look at all the books. And she told me that so many homes she had been in are boring - nothing to do when times were slow.

I began collecting books about that time. I've since purchased thousands of books and have kept most of them. My husband and both of our sons also love to read. How cool is that? But son Dave and I are the only ones who tend to keep the books we've bought.

Both sons even have an ongoing feud over who is going to get my Great Books of the Western World when I'm ready to pass them on. Guess I'll have to keep them and let them fight over them when I'm gone.

My favorite genre is true crime - give me a juice serial killer book any time over a fictional crime story. The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh is probably one of the best I've read, although my favorite author is Ann Rule.

Earlier this week, I was the coordinator for a fund-raiser for local literacy programs. The event was also a celebration of a friend's (Debby Peters) contributing authorship to a recently published business book (Masters of Sales). We set up interactive displays where we asked various questions related to others' literary preferences.

The question "What is your favorite genre?" elicited the following responses:

true crime
historical novels
classics
suspense
adventure
spiritual
business/leadership

Do you love to read? If so, what is your favorite genre?

I'm not obsessive-compulsive, but . . .

I sure can't survive long without checking e-mail. I don't know why. My son Dave makes fun of me. My husband is used to it. And I don't know why I am that way.


I check it first thing in the morning when I get up and last
thing at night before I go to bed whether it's midnight or 2 am
(now who the heck is going to e-mail me that late?) and quite often in between if I'm at home. (I know myself well enough to NOT have e-mail access when I'm at work).



And it drives me crazy if I e-mail someone a question or response, and they don't respond as quickly as I think they should. (I know, shame on me.)




Maybe we all have obsessions (thoughts that we can't get rid of)
or compulsions (actions that we feel we have to engage in often).

The one that comes to mind is that of our granddaughter Emme.

She is obsessed with washing her hands!


Don't know why she can't pass a sink without 'playing' in it. It drives my daughter-in-law crazy, but if she doesn't let her do it, she has hell to play (Emme's two - enough said?).

What is your obsession/compulsion that you're willing to share in this public of a forum?

Never say "Never"

Many think I'm a 'people person.' I guess because I'm generally friendly and greet people with a smile. And my business requires me to be with people all the time and of course, I do that willingly and happily. But when push comes to shove, I enjoy solitude much more than most would understand.

I crave time alone, a fact which really bothers my husband. He shouldn't take it personally. It is what it is (my new favorite saying).

A classic example is when we travel. When we fly (frequently on flights of 4 hours or more), the husband alternately reads and sleeps. I've never been able to sleep on a plane so I read. And when I am forced to sit next to a stranger, I make a vow of silence. And I almost always keep that vow.

And then along came Rose.

Two weeks ago, we traveled once again to the Puget Sound area to see our oldest son, his wife and our beloved Emme; this time our youngest son and his wife were able to join us (more on the trip in another post).


It was a three-leg, two-plane flight out. The longest leg was St. Louis to Salt Lake. The plane was full, which meant I had to sit next to a stranger - the most delightful stranger I ever met.

I don't even know how the conversation started but I was a willing participant from the begining. Our flight attendants were unlike any I'd seen - our first clue was the announcement, "This is a non-smoking, non-complaining, non-whining flight," shortly after takeoff. And the banter never stopped.

Rose and I chuckled often and the words just flowed. We could have been old friends or sisters - it was just so comfortable and easy. She was almost old enough to be my mom, but that seemed totally irrelevant.

Rose revealed that it was her birthday. And then we found out it was the lead flight attendant's birthday. She started to make presents for Rose (she felt badly that she didn't have anything more than "wings" to give her) - a decorated blown-up rubber glove and a tiara made of bags of snack peanuts, bandaids and drink stirrers. The entire plane sang "happy birthday" twice.

We had the attention of the flight attendants for most of the trip (we sat in the very first row) - something that didn't go unnoticed by others. I bet they were jealous of the fun we were having. (Either that or they thought we were crazy.)

When I told Rose that I rarely if ever talked to strangers on airplanes, she didn't really seem surprised and I wonder why. Wouldn't it be funny if she were the same way?

Rose and I have already e-mailed each other and I sent her these photos. I hope I run into her again on another long, otherwise boring flight to the West.

Have you ever had a turn-around experience that really made you rethink what you're all about?