MARKETING MIX COLUMN BACK TO BASICS IN THE BUSH

Three months ago I took a huge plunge – I packed up my house, my daughter and my city life and moved to Hoedspruit, which, for those of you who don't know, is a small (very small) town in Limpopo , roughly 120km from Tzaneen and 160 kms from Nelspruit. I mention these distances only because they give you an idea of how far I have to drive to get to my closest Woolworths!

Hoedspruit, according to my map, has 18 streets and not a traffic light in sight. We are therefore not pestered by people selling super glue or cell phone chargers - in fact, the only trader of that nature that I have seen is the car guard, who tries to sell catapults on the side. We have a Friendly 7-11 store that closes at nine pm and, until recently, only a Spar for groceries. And, when the long-awaited Pick ‘n Pay Family store opened last month, it was as if the circus had come to town – a real carnival atmosphere with loud music, sweets for the kids and balloons! Hoedspruit has no CNA or specialised bookstore, but there are two garages, the ever present Wimpy, a gem of a bottle store with a selection of wines I consider vastly superior to most in Johannesburg, and lots of hardware and building supply stores (for which I am grateful as these have forever been on my list of favourite places to shop!)

As a professional marketer of some twenty five years standing, I have been intrigued by the methods of marketing implemented in small towns such as Hoedspruit – and it occurred to me that so many of us (professional marketers, that is) spend most of our working days (and nights) slogging it out in tall buildings, analysing the pros and cons of advertising in the Sunday Times or scraping huge budgets together for a new campaign on 94.7 Highveld Stereo or M-Net, and that perhaps we have lost touch with the millions of people who don't live in the concrete jungle.

Marketing here is as basic as asking the friendly owner of the gift shop to shove your pamphlets into her customers' paper bags, or taking a small advert (usually designed in Microsoft Word) in either the Hoedspruit Week or the Kruger 2 Canyon – both of which are read from cover to cover and back again, probably because you are almost guaranteed to see someone you know featured and because they have become the local "directory" of services, especially useful for the town newcomers like me.

Rubbish bin advertising is still extremely popular, and it works, because when you want to find a specific store in Hoedspruit you just drive around the 18 streets and look for it, hence the rubbish bins are a very useful guide.

The road signage is also very effective as they show telephone numbers written in nice large visible letters – that's how I tracked down the local beauty spa!

There is a large notice board situated near the ATM, so whilst you are waiting in the queue (of normally only one or two people), you can peruse what's for sale, employment opportunities and what new events are happening on the weekend. Apart from the notice board, most stores or restaurant windows feature notices such as the feeding times for the friendly Hippo down the road, or the contact details for the local hockey club.

Also, hugely impressive to me after living in the city for so long, is the high level of service (a marketing method so many huge companies seem to leave out of their plans). I can phone the local butcher and he will select, cut and wrap my order quite happily for me to collect later in the day, and on purchasing some furniture, the shop owner said that delivery is no problem at all as the "the lady at the clothing store has a bakkie".

And, none of this "small time" marketing is due to lack of money – it's just that it works!

Think about it, Hoedspruit is set amongst the best of the best of South Africa 's game lodges, it is about 40 kms from the Kruger Park , it has a small but beautiful award-winning commercial airport that ferries tourists in on twice daily flights, it is surrounded by big farming estates and has a large and active air force base. Many people are self-employed city life "refugees" or business owners in and around town – for these people, forget all the fancy competitions, the glossy magazine advertising and the massively expensive newspaper ads and get back to basics. Don't you think that this "non-city" market is perhaps one that marketers should assess and consider? It might be worth its weight in gold.

Ends.