Street Marketing Inc.

Last night around midnight, I was driving home through the Tenderloin of San Francisco. Now the Tenderloin is an interesting enough place during the day but at night the word interesting takes on new meaning.

I had just finished playing in my hockey game and I was still pumped with adrenalin and I was wide awake. At a stoplight, I looked around to take in the various characters and creatures that tend to inhabit the Tenderloin and there she was; the first dwarf prostitute I had ever seen.

Now having lived in places like Tokyo, fetish capital of the world, I generally wouldn’t be too awe-struck by the sight of a little-person prostitute because, after all, they are people with problems just like the rest of us. But I had never seen an honest-to-goodness, street-walking, small person in mini-skit and fishnet stockings. I wonder where you buy super-small fishnets?

As she was obviously targeting a niche market, I began to realize that she was probably in desperate need of marketing help. It seems that with a little bit of demographic marketing, she could not only get off the street, but she should set up shop with web sites, conference speaking engagements and other targeted marketing.

Then it occurred to me that the whole street employment market is vastly underserved. I previously had written about Bush Man’s need for marketing help. As after 19 years serving the San Francisco tourist market, he still doesn’t have t-shirts, nor does he have a web site. I believe he is leaving vast amounts of money on the table.

And what of The-Guy-Who-Stands-On-His-Head, or the Two-Large-Opera-Singers, both of whom operate near Union Square? I would definitely buy t-shirts from them all. What better alternatives than the ubiquitous “I escaped Alcatraz” shirts that are brought in, and purchased, by the (literally) boat load.

So that’s it, I’m starting a new company to offer marketing assistance to all these street performers. I’m calling it Street Marketing.

Stay tuned for my new e-commerce engine.