Tips for Advertising in the Great State of Oregon
If you are blindly applying “general” marketing practices for your business to Oregonians, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice and potentially losing out on big bucks by not advertising to the unique cultures that the Pacific Northwest is known for. If you want to market to Oregon, you need to know your audience. Folks that live and breath in the forest filled state aren’t a one size fits all, but there are several differences that stand out and you should know about them.
Appeal To Oregon's Environmentally Conscious
Oregon often leads the nation in environmentally friendly initiatives and there is a real reason for that. You can make great use of this group-think and appeal to people’s connection to a greener earth by adding certain elements to your advertising. A great example is a shoe making company based in Portland Oregon called Keen. The company partners with initiatives that focus on reducing human impact and conserving resources. Here are some ideas for you:
- Use your “About Us” page on your website to tell your audience you care about the impact your business has on the world around you. Be transparent and don’t be afraid to say your goals in this area, even if you can’t use all recycled materials right now.
- Partner with initiatives that do good work for the environment. Partnering with organizations like the Corvallis Environmental Center makes sense for businesses local to them and can be a huge brand building partnership for you. (see them here)
- Showcase your efforts on social media. Make a post with a picture featuring even a small effort of building sustainability. Did you just buy the staff reusable water bottles? People are watching, even if you don’t know it. Find people like Green Girl on Facebook and partner up.
Oregonians Love The Word "Local"
There are a lot of trending words in the world of consumerism in the United States, but if you want to instantly grab attention in your advertising to Oregonians, mention local. People naturally form alliances and loyalty to their geographical tribe. Your customers will have no problem shelling out premium prices if they know that they’ll be supporting people that live near them.
A good practice for advertising is to craft your message with a clear audience in mind. If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one.
Depending on the reach of your business, putting city names or regions within your message instantly connects your brand to your customers.
Be Yourself and Gain Trust
For some reason, when businesses start writing messages that the public will see, they become unnaturally articulate and fake. You can’t identify with that. I know the urge, you want to make sure you’ve got the words just right so that someone won’t call you out. My biggest fear used to be that if I didn’t perfectly script all my messages that I used for advertising, I’d appear unprofessional and lose trust.
However, I was dead wrong. More of the right people will connect with who you are, then will be turned off by what you say. Check out this Portland restaurant’s post, much like many of their posts, it just shows character.
Use Nature Imagery to Your Advantage
There are three safe images to use in advertising that have a high likelihood of customer engagement. Children, animals, and nature. For Oregon, your imagery can connect on an emotional level by using the beauty of nature.
Throw these images in the background of some of your designs and see the response:
- Mount Hood
- Crater Lake
- The Oregon Coast
- Tulip Fields
- Hiking Trails
- Waterfalls
For an amplified effect, go on some Oregon hiking groups on Facebook and ask the owners of photos shared in that group if you could use their imagery if you put credit to them on your website. Most photographers on Facebook do not do it for money and will gladly jump on this deal.
Small Business is on a Pedestal
Making your advertising reflect a small and personal atmosphere, you’ll connect with an audience that identifies as being part of an Oregon that stay’s small. Small business is an important aspect of Oregon’s growth and community building.
Try using some of these words in your advertising and see how people respond:
- Secretly
- Limited
- Select
- Few
- Authentic
- Uniqueness
- Exotic
- Rarity
- Edition
Conclusion to Come to?
Advertising in the great state of Oregon can be rewarding when you connect with it’s people. There is a lot of passion packed into that green square of a state. Take these tips and make your advertising stand out because Oregonians can smell an outsider from a mile away.
Feel free to reach out to Clark Five if you’d like to discuss how we’ve helped Oregon small businesses make real impacts in the community.
Our advice is always free.
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