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Vicinal Marketing -- where the roads to riches are footpaths. by John H. Melchinger It's a lovely day in the neighborhood... and that's what vicinal marketing is all about -- developing the local area and the people in it as a market. Why vicinal marketing? How important can this be? Don't ignore the possibility, however, that a tightly knit neighborhood in an urban or suburban setting may be ripe for vicinal marketing. For years brokers from non-urban environments have asked me about marketing in rural areas, often farm country. They usually raise their questions after sitting unsatisfied through workshops, seminars or other training that focus on target markets segmented by occupations and specialties (to decide decisionmaking styles and values), group participation (such as church), associations (as Kiwanis), race (as African Americans), ethnicity (Latinos, Chinese, etcetera) or other demographic and psychographic groupings with which the in-practice professional has certain personal affinities. Segmenting markets these ways makes no sense to them; their situations don't allow it. But many have forced the issue. Sadly, however, trying to focus on rural lifestyles and markets seems always to have fallen short of its mark, especially when applying urban and suburban marketing strategies to non-urban situations. I finally discovered why. The real issue is not rural versus urban and suburban; this debate about comparing different lifestyles just leads us away from the real issue. Neighborhood -- how the culture works in the vicinity of the provider and how that in-practice professional fits in the community -- make the real issue. That's exactly why I am coining the term Vicinal Marketing and debuting its underlying idea in this article. To market a professional practice exceptionally well in a local community means to study the microcosm and satisfy it. What is Vicinal Marketing? The term vicinalcomes from Latin. Yes, you will find it in the English dictionary, next to vicinage, which I will also use. Vicinal means neighboring; nearby. Vicinagerefers to the people living in a particular neighborhood or vicinity; the people nearby where one lives, in this case. To understand how vicinal marketing differs, let's first review what other types of marketing there are and draw some comparisons. The first step in urban, suburban or national private practice marketing is to choose suitable targets. The underlying presumption is that enough good prospects populate your development lists that you can segment them into viable target groups, then go about serving each group's peculiar needs and interests. However introspective you are at analyzing your best relationships to show past success patterns you can ride to a particularly profitable future, it helps first to decide if this type segmentation is practical in your marketplace. If so, there will be groups comprising enough good prospects to call on and enough good reasons to call those prospects. The first step in vicinal marketing is to determine simultaneously 1. the pertinent nature of the entire local culture 2. how you participate in it now 3. how you want to belong to it, both as a practitioner and as a participant Belonging is a key ingredient in vicinal marketing. A few out-of-our-business examples may help you see how the local culture can be significantly different than suburban and urban cultures. Don't ignore the possibility, however, that a tightly knit neighborhood within an urban or suburban setting may be ripe for vicinal marketing, such as the Italian and Portuguese communities in the Ironbound section of Newark, NJ; the Ken and Barbie Land communities in Southern California; the established communities such as Pelham Manor in New York. In rural situations, however, Physicians serving smaller communities and having comparatively little competition tend less to be specialists, more often performing a wider array of medical services and becoming more involved in the broader issues their patients face. While urban physicians are viewed more often as clinicians and somewhat aloof - if not isolated - from the community they serve, rural physicians are more often perceived as healers involved in their community and contributing to its overall welfare. These are emotional perceptions. Attorneys in vicinal marketplaces will tend to be generalists or specialists in those certain types of law that address specific, recurring problems relating to their vicinage's situations (such as small-business, real estate and environmental impact law practices in farming, ranching and mining areas). Rural civic leaders will more often do their elected and appointed civic duties in addition to plying their normal trade for their livelihood, whereas urban and suburban mayors, councilmen, judges and such may do their civic duties fulltime as their livelihood. In essence, when people live in neighborhoods in which they participate, their integration is at a deeper level than in other settings; more people know more about each other and what the others do. The impact of this integration on marketing makes differences you might benefit from knowing. In traditional target marketing for an in-practice professional, demographic segmentation is meaningful for defining target groups matching similar values, characteristics and decisionmaking styles between provider and prospects is important providers have several choices of segments and prospects; they can even create inventive segmentations to establish marketing advantages. The vicinal marketplace is a segment in itself, making it quite naturally alluring for a participant to market to it as a whole. In vicinal marketing, cultural awareness is the most meaningful marketing information you can develop it is critical to demonstrate that your values are similar to your neighbors' values by participating in the neighborhood the providers' market choices are limited; segments may be non-existent or segmentation irrelevant; prospects are relatively scarce and therefor are rarely expendable; each requires cultivation through long-term relationship development to build trust the providers' reputations are better known and more openly discussed among the vicinage, making it more critical for providers to maintain unblemished reputations. In a nutshell, everybody knows you or will know much about you in a vicinal market- place. This is good. One of my clients chose his small town office space on the second floor (front) above the local department/dry goods store, in part so everyone who drove by at night could see his lights on and note his always-hard-at-work ethic; it serves him well. Even though he was not allowed to hang out a sign that said who hewas, it did not take too long for people to recognize him and ask how he was doing if they saw his light had been out several nights in a row. They quickly learned that he was either on vacation or out of town on business, such as at a school to improve his knowledge and skills. The word spreads through the coffee shop where he has breakfast every morning -- at his "favorite" table --and meets local businessowners for very early meetings. He does most of his selling between 7:00 and 10:00a.m., and most of his paperwork in the late afternoons and evenings. In between he walks the town, delivers papers and notices, obtains signatures from clients. Whenever he can he drops in, says hi, how are you and works at developing good new relationships and keeping the good relationships solid. Of course, he weaves most of his factfinding into these seemingly casual visits, and when he hears some news about someone, makes a point of giving them a call immediately to compliment them on their accomplishment, sympathize with their plight, and offer assistance if he can. He is not a giant producer by urban standards, but he is an MDRT qualifier every year, has persistency that few practitioners can match, and is a pillar in the community. Heís involved. Another client of mine runs a full- service agency in semi-rural farm country. Two big cities are nearby, but he avoids them. He is known to drop in on heads of local companies -- some of which are very large -- and hunker down for a few minutes of plain talk about group insurance and qualified plans. Now he's taken on an associate he is personally introducing to his group and pension clients and prospects for estate planning discussions, and a lot of life insurance is being sold this way. He's computerized and streamlined services for maximum efficiency and maximum high touch relationship building. Client surveys indicate that he is successfully meeting evolving client expectations in a turbulent marketplace. His office, a converted house, is well known to his clients and prospects, as is his name, which is also his company's name. Low key and relaxed on the surface, this fellow is bright, educated and very much in tune with his marketplace and their local style of operating. He is low key on the surface and very sophisticated in practice, using the latest in computer hardware and software in support of his dedicated staff to manage client services and maintain constant contact with clients, centers and prospects. Another client in a similar situation let it be known that he upgraded his computer system with some interesting software that shows pictures of concepts about money and financial decisionmaking. He encourages people to drop by to try it out, creating opening interviews and factfinding sessions his assistant can lead (without intimidating the prospect, and actually encouraging them), and gathering all the information he needs to make an effective, low key sales presentation. Others doing vicinal marketing openly support local causes such as the volunteer firefighters, neighborhood sports teams, local fairs, civic associations and such. Some try their hand at politics and other similarly involved activities. Many regularly knock on doors; I guess they didn't get the word that in- person cold calling is dead -- or if they did they don't believe it! One of my favorite clients, who works what I would call the bashful, reluctant and skittish family market that desperately wants help but can't trust themselves to qualify and select the professionals they should get that help from, has an answering machine that people can call to hear the recorded planning concepts and her compelling, sincere voice, then leave their name and number if they wish to arrange a telephone interview. As long as certain key standards we've set are maintained in this effort, it works pretty well and greatly reduces the cost to acquire new business in this market. The Key to Vicinal Marketing The key to effective vicinal marketing is to be involved with your market; to participate; to be part of it. In other target marketing efforts, being creative, innovative, even clever, make the big difference. But in vicinal situations your personal involvement forms a critical pillar upon which you build your reputation. For the Zenmarketers among you, this means to become one with your market; breathe as they breathe, think as they think. For the down home types among you, just hunker down. For everyone interested in doing vicinal marketing, think through these questions: What constitutes my marketing neighborhood? Is there a community I belong to that I should participate in more? Who am I now to the vicinage, the people in this neighborhood or community? What do I want to be to these people? Will they accept me this way? What must I do to become this to my community? Am I willing to do this; to take the time to develop long-term relationships, a fine reputation and a certain place in the community? Does doing this really interest me? If you live and practice in outlying areas or pocket communities that look attractive as marketplaces, try thinking about them as vicinal markets and see if they don't fire up your marketing imagination and help you move your practice forward. John H. Melchinger coaches financial planning and estate planning professionals who market and sell to high income and high net worth buyers. His consultations on developing their professional practices through effective marketing are highly profitable for his clients. John's career experiences in financial services and products--since 1977--make him exceptionally qualified to have developed innovative, non-traditional marketing and skills development programs in estate planning, financial planning, business planning, ethics and consultative selling. His how-to books, articles, bulletins, workshops and presentations have become classics in the industry, and his clients are among the most profitable and productive in their fields. John is available on the Internet at jhmco@ix.netcom.com, by telephone appointment at (403) 459-1472, by fax at (403) 419-2936, and by mail John Melchinger 3 - 11 Bellerose Drive, Suite 117 St. Albert, AB T8N 5C9 Canada Web Site http://fsc.fsonline.com/fsm/jhmco.html