Notes

Use Marketing Savvy to Stand Out From the Crowd
When your organization is part of an industry that's saturated with businesses like yours, how does one get noticed? It's about targeting a particular audience-finding a client base with a need you can meet and then getting the word out about what you should offer.

The wedding industry is a classic example. Most wedding shops focus on the bride. But not TheManRegistry.com. The Man Registry, based in Shawnee Mission, Kan., is the world's first gift registry for the groom, and it's really a booming business.

"I started to see a large amount of my friends getting married, and just couldn't get worked up about buying them linens or other conventional registry items," says Jimmy Horner, co-founder of the website. "I wanted in order to get something that they would both use, such as a barbecue grill or sporting equipment."

And you won't find linens on this website. Instead, participants can register for guy-friendly items like a 6-drawer tool chest, a 2-person tent and digital video cameras. As well as the registry, the site also offers "Groom 101," an accumulation of informational articles that address topics including "Popping the Question: Guidelines" and "De-Stressing Before the Big Day."

Approximately 250 couples have registered since the site launched in March 2008. "People really appear to like the idea because there's nothing out there enjoy it," Horner says.

Whether you're starting small or expanding an established company, follow the lead of the business in making your business stand out:

Look for a unique niche. The people behind TheManRegistry.com saw their possibility to target the groom-a previously ignored audience-and ran with it. They demonstrate why it is critical to think outside the box when analyzing your marketplace. Is there an untapped audience that you could be calling? What about something which can be offered in an innovative way?

Do your homework. Researching your market is probably the most essential things. Once they selected their target audience, Horner and the other co-founders thoroughly researched the economy and all areas of the marriage industry as a whole-not just the groom segment-to ensure their idea was feasible. "It is a recurring industry with a new client base each year," Horner says. "It's recession-proof-people are still likely to get married."

Expand marketing efforts. Scope out opportunities to drive traffic to your business. "You must look for various ways to bring in people from different areas," Horner says. For instance, readers can register with receive the site's free monthly online newsletter, which contains links to articles on the website, top 10 registry products and polls. Couples that register on this website between specific dates also have the chance to win a NINTENDO WII GAMING CONSOLE gaming system, a promotion which has increased participation on the webpage. It doesn't matter how you take action, the more you get your name out, the better.

Get online. There's no doubt about any of it: The popularity of online networking is growing rapidly, thanks in no small part to its convenience. check here is why it's important to set up a presence on these sites. TheManRegistry.com has capitalized with this by establishing a presence on popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Wedding Wire. .

Boost media coverage. To really expand awareness of your business, aim to increase media coverage by writing and sending out pr announcements to media outlets. Highlight something unusual or newsworthy about your business to pitch to reporters. That's what Horner and his coworkers did. T here fore, TheManRegistry.com has been featured in stories by ABC News, theknot.com, Entrepreneur magazine, The Kansas City Star and numerous blogs. Once TheManRegistry.com was mentioned in a few stories, other media outlets gained fascination with within the business. "We've gotten a substantial amount of coverage in the media," Horner says. "Oftentimes, one story results in another."

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