Clever Marketing Placement for Business Owners

If you’re a business owner, you already know—marketing opportunities are everywhere. Magazines, radio, bus stops...you name it. If you’ve got the budget, there’s a spot with your name on it.

But here’s the thing. The best marketing doesn’t always show up in the flashiest places. It shows up in the smartest ones.

When I work with clients on building a marketing plan, I’m always looking for clever marketing placements that don’t just get their name in front of people. I want them in front of the right people.

Because here’s the bottom line: a hundred eyeballs from the wrong crowd won’t move the needle. But ten from the perfect audience? That’s gold.

So where do you start? Look for places where your ideal customer already hangs out - places that have customers in common with you. Don’t worry about eyeball volume. Worry about relevance.

Let me give you a few of my favorite creative placements to get your wheels turning:

🚕 The Stall Door Strategy

I grew up in a college town, and one of the most memorable ads I ever saw was inside a restaurant bathroom—right on the back of the stall door. It was for a local taxi service. Genius, right? The perfect audience: someone out for dinner and drinks who might need a ride home. Quiet moment, no distractions, and the ad is right there. If the taxi company decided to do a commercial instead and it played on a TV in that same restaurant? There's a great chance it would be missed. It's all about the right placement.

📚 Coupons with a Wink

The college town I mentioned before? It's where I also went to college. During freshman orientation we were handed student planners, and in the back? Coupons. One that stuck with me? Discounted attorney’s fees for drinking tickets. Hilarious at the time, but now I see it for what it was: brilliant. Speak directly to your audience’s very specific reality. Because drinking tickets were handed out like, well, coupons.

🏟️ Target the Sidelines

One of my longtime clients is a pediatric dentist, and we’re always trying to get in front of parents. So where do we go? Kids’ sporting events. Banners on the fences, logos on concession stands, branded stadium seats...so many opportunities! Parents are there, sitting for hours, watching their kids. It's the perfect moment to plant a seed.

🏒 Hockey Teeth, Meet Marketing

I recently went to my first NHL game, and can you guess who the major sponsors were? I most definitely could have. Dentists, orthodontists and oral surgeons. Because when you think of hockey, you think of missing teeth. That’s the kind of placement that makes people nod and say, “Well, of course.”

So if you’re mapping out your marketing game plan, remember: you don’t have to be everywhere. You just have to be in the right places. Coming up with clever marketing placements is a great way to use your budget wisely.

Need help with crafting an actual marketing plan for your business instead of winging it (no shade, we've all been there), check out my FREE Marketing Planning Guide below! 👇