So I Hear There's A Rodeo. How did I Not Know About This?

Every year Reno puts on a rodeo event. I know this, not because I live here, but because every year approximately one person asks me, “are you going to the rodeo?”

Now granted I’m not a rodeo fan, but how is it that I don’t ever know about this event, save for the lone person asking me if I’m going? Is anybody even advertising this thing?

Ok, so I may not be the average consumer. I don’t watch commercials (thank you, TiVO!); I listen to commercial-free satellite radio or my ipod exclusively (thank you, XM and apple); I get all my news from the internet (thank you, Al Gore), rarely hitting local news sites; and I don’t get out much (thank you, blu-ray.) So it got me thinking….

What’s a local company to do — to reach someone local like me?

I had to think about this for a bit and realize that the one single form of advertising I see a lot of is Billboards. I always know what concerts are going on locally because all the casinos advertise on billboards. I’ve seen exactly zero billboards for the Reno Rodeo.

I’m about as commercial-free as one can get. While I may not currently be the “average” adult male, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that I’m the future “average” adult male.

This means finding ways to reach an audience is going to become more and more difficult. Especially when it comes to building awareness. SEO and PPC only work for those who are looking for something. I’m not looking for a rodeo, but might find it fun to take the kids. If I knew about it, that is.

What are you doing to reach your audience?

I think it’s getting more and more difficult for local companies to reach their audience. Not only as we become more nationalized and globalized, but because we are finding new ways to avoid traditional marketing and advertising. When it comes to local advertising, it seems that billboards and word of mouth are about the only way I can be reached.

What about you? How do you reach your audience?

I would be interested to hear if any local companies are finding marketing to their audience more or less difficult, and if more difficult, what they are doing about it.