What I learned from Redbook

It’s not often you’ll find me flipping through my wife’s Redbook magazine, and even fewer times you’ll hear me admit to it. But this weekend I found myself browsing this magazine trying to kill some time during the long weekend.

I came across an article titled “Should you DUMP him?” Always wanting to head off any potential problems in my marriage, I thought I’d check out the article and see if I was giving my wife any reasons to dump me. I spoil my wife, but hey you never know and a little knowledge can’t hurt. So I read on.

“If this sounds like your plumber, ,then the answer is yes.” What’s this, a comparison of your husband/boyfriend to a plumber. Interesting. “You can’t tell what’s more disgusting. Your stopped up toilet or the tools he’s using to fix it.” What are they talking about. I do not profess to understand the female gender much, but what are they talking about I thought.

So I continued to read the entire article. At the bottom I read: “You deserve better – Tell him he’s simply too good of a plumber for you. Try to do it without laughing. Then call Mr. Rooter.” Then there it was, the Mr. Rooter logo.

“No way, this is an advertisement.” I thought to myself. I read it a few more times and was truly impressed with the execution and design of this placement. I think there is a lot affiliate marketers can learn from a placement like this.

1. For one thing, who would have expected a Mr. Rooter ad in Redbook? Not that I read this often, really, but I would expect to see their ad in Handyman, Sports Illustrated or a publication like that. But, guys aren’t the only ones with stopped up toilets, clogged drains and plumbing problems. What a great way to reach another segment of your audience.
2. Speaking to your audience. Mr. Rooter (or their agency) definitely understood who they were talking to, women. Do you know who you are talking to? Do you know what type of customers are coming to your site? Have you put together a demographic profile of your average customer? Do you have different segments of consumers you reach? Those are some great questions to ask yourself as an affiliate marketer.
3. Reaching your customers. Mr. Rooter must believe that they have a large group of Redbook readers as customers or potential customers. Knowing this, they crafted a great piece to reach them.
4. Speaking their language. Would an add like this work in Handyman? Would it work in The Economist? No way. Redbook readers expect articles on relationships, breakups, women’s health, makeup and beauty and more. A great fit for this audience was an article just like this one. “Should you DUMP him?” fit in perfect with what this audience was expecting when they picked up the July 2006 edition of Redbook (ok, so I am a little behind in my Redbook reading). Merchants, do you currently send the same creative (banners, text links, etc.) to all your affiliates? Have you, or are you able to identify the types of customers coming from each of your affiliate partners? You may be able to do some analysis here and recreate some banners and links for specific affiliates targeting specific customer groups.

We can often learn how to do our jobs better from all sorts of places. This was a fantastic ad that I wanted to share with you and start a conversation on the topic of reach, demographics, tone and conversation. How are you engaging your customers? With a “one size fits all” strategy or with targeted campaigns?