Where does your tribe hang out? Take your message to them.

A delightful and innovative story from the LA Times about the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program tickled my marketing fancy. I love to hear about folks with something valuable offer who figure out how to reach and impact their target markets (or as Seth Godin terms them -- "their tribe").

The article reinforces a couple of entrepreneurial success secrets:

1. Pay attention to your environment -- the much-needed solution may be staring you in the face.
   "Releford, a podiatrist with a Miracle Mile-based private practice, was getting a bald fade at Inglewood's Finest Barbershop one Sunday, when the solution to a long-pondered dilemma came to him: African Americans have the highest rates of diabetes and heart disease of any group, yet black men are among the least likely to see a doctor regularly. So if the men wouldn't come to a doctor, he would bring a cadre of volunteer doctors and nurses to the barbershop."
2. Be creative -- the much-needed solution may not always be what we assume it to be.
   '"It's taboo to go to the doctor, so he comes to them," said Dr. Pamela Blakely, a podiatrist and program volunteer. "The one place he can find them on a weekly basis is the barbershop."
   Many men balk at going to the doctor, and various studies have tried to get at why. They see being sick as a sign of weakness. They don't like waiting in doctors' offices. They're scared of what they may find out."
   
3. Find out where your potential customers hang out and go to them -- don't wait for them to find you.
   "Barbershops have a long tradition among African American men of being a place where everything is discussed," said Dr. Lawrence Sanders, associate dean of clinical affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine, a historically black medical school in Atlanta. "Because of this history, it represents an opportunity to promote health and to promote behavioral change in an environment where people feel less threatened."

Remember -- the audience is listening! Where do your people hang out? And how creative can you be to get your message to them?