| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
The Top 10 Wild and Wacky Ways to Market Yourself for Big Visibility
In today's competitive world of business, it takes moxie and pizazz to sell a great product, idea, or service. This list will provide you with ten unusual and creative marketing strategies which will help you to stand apart from the competition and to increase your visibility. 1. Celebrate the Wacky World Holidays with your Clients and/or Customers. Did you know that August 17 is Number 2 pencil day? Send your clients Number 2 pencils with your name and logo embossed on the pencils. What about Homemade Pudding Day on September 19? Send your clients and customers your favorite pudding recipe, and invite them to your business to sample a "taste." If you are the owner of a toy store or a children's clothing company, you may want to set aside November 18 to celebrate Micky Mouse's Birthday. Creative marketing is the future of big business, and celebrating offbeat holidays will allow your customers and clients to experience something unusual and will set you apart from your competition. For a list of non-traditional holidays, visit www.earthcalendar.net. 2. Add a Company Mascot to your Business. With the help of a few very clever cows, Chick-fil-A's unaided brand awareness has grown 81 percent, and its sales have increased nearly 120 percent since the mascot was added to the team in 1995. This attention-grabbing ploy, encouraging folks to "Eat Mor Chikin" has helped make this Atlanta-based company the third largest quick-service chicken restaurant company in the United States. 3. Throw a Gala for Hair Stylists in your Community. What do hair stylists do while they are working their magic? They TALK! By throwing a memorable event for the hair stylists in your community, you can reach thousands of potential clients through fantastic word of mouth. Host a breakfast, lunch, or dinner and roll out the red carpet for this crowd, and watch new customers and clients flock to your place of business. 4. Host a Game Night. Are you an investment advisor? Host a game night using the game "Cash Flow." Are you a Life Coach? Throw a party and play the game LIFE. Are you a cat groomer? How about a Cat-Opoly Night? For travel agents, try the game Route 66, taking your guests on a road trip across the country. Playing board games can create a rich and wonderful opportunity for interaction with potential customers, which can allow them to get to know you in a fun and non-threatening way and can create an opportunity for building rock solid strategic alliances. 5. Host a "Big Brain" Week-End. Want to learn from the experts? Borrow experts one time per year to develop a cutting-edge marketing plan for your company by hosting a "Big Brain" Week-End. If you cannot afford a full marketing staff, you can borrow key experts for a quarterly brainstorming session which can enhance product and service ideas for your company quickly. You can pay a small per diem and travel expenses and pick the brains of 6-8 people who really know their stuff. 6. Sponsor a Night Light Golf Tournament (a golf tournament held in the evening after the sun sets.) This grassroots approach can land you accounts, customers, and an amazing amount of visibility. Short on funds? Invite ten strategic alliance partners to help cover the costs. This collaborative effort will triple your visibility. 7. Put Yourself in the Dunking Booth! Carnivals and festivals are great fun for the entire family, and one of the hottest attractions at these events is The Dunking Booth. By volunteering to be the person "dunked," you will have all eyes on you, and folks will be talking about you for weeks, creating "buzz" around your name, your products, and your services. 8. Fly a Kite! Your company name, logo, and contact information on a wild and brightly colored kite can send your business to new "heights." Spend a windy day at the beach or in the park, and give away free kites to visitors. This approach can be valuable and can quickly expand your visibility. 9. Send Unusual Gifts and Freebies. Giving unusual gifts and freebies is another way to set yourself apart from the crowd. Are you in the middle of an ice storm? Send leis to your customers to brighten up their day. Do you have a customer who is recuperating from a broken leg? Send a movie on video, a box of popcorn, and a pack of M & M's. Do you have a customer with a new baby? Send a basket with bubble bath, herbal tea, a cooling eye mask, and a set of ear plugs (humor works!) 10. Design Two or Three Marketing Goals with No Purpose in Mind Other than to Amuse Yourself and Your Friends. Two of the biggest goals of marketing are to appear larger or more well known than you are at this moment and to have great fun! Gather your friends, and throw a Hula Hoop party, dress up for Halloween, or stand on the corner of town and interview folks with a question such as "If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?" Sound strange? You bet it does! Strange and mischievous approaches to marketing work, and people will stand up and take notice of what you have to offer. Cheers! About The Author Bea Fields, Southern Pines, NC, USA Bea Fields is an Executive Coach and a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach. She is also a Consultant, Trainer, Public Speaker and author of the Five Star Leader e-course. Her area of expertise is that of Leadership Development and Marketing for Executives, Managers, Small Business Owners, and Political Leaders.
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Marry Your Marketing Plan Make a vow to keep up your marketing schedule in good times and not so good times.I have said it time and time again that marketing, no matter what type you choose, is a building process. Why Cutting Prices Is Like Cutting Your Own Throat Why cutting your prices is like cutting your own throat. It's the oldest sales tactic in the world? And one of the worst? Price cutting. Developing a Contact List- Part One One of the most essential things to successful networking is your Contact List. When you start a business, developing one is the first step in promoting and marketing your company. Marketing Strategy and Template for Independent Professionals Having a marketing strategy and marketing approach is very important. Thus, instead of recreating the wheel, here is a short, sweet, easy-to-understand marketing strategy template to help you place your ducks are in a row in designing your marketing strategy. 10 Proven Ways To Accelerate Your Profits 1. Make copies of your web site in many differentlanguages. Client Attraction Technique #1: Niche Marketing When asked "what business are you in" many business owners often identify an industry, for example, "I'm an accountant" or "I run a beauty salon " or "I own a restaurant." But claiming to be part of an industry is not what attracts customers. How To Create A Complete Referral Marketing System These steps are taken from the Referral Flood Marketing Program. Referral Flood is an insider's shortcut to referral marketing and features over 4 hours of audio training, 54 real-world referral marketing systems, and a host of referral marketing tools, letters, postcards and forms. How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 1 In the following 'special report,' I will reveal some very powerful marketing strategies and psychological motivators that can easily help you make more profits from your business, no matter what business you're in.Be sure to read it thoroughly, and take notes as needed so that you can take maximum advantage of the information being covered. 10 Start Up Marketing Tips This list has been compiled as a result of years of working with business owners who didn't quite lay the right groundwork when they started up, and ended up paying for it later. Sometimes, what seems like a means of saving money actually ends up costing more in the long run. A Different Perspective On The No-Call List The other day I received an e-mail from an internet marketer who was bemoaning the fact that calling people on the no-call list is now illegal and that puts such limits on marketing. He is far and away not the only one with that viewpoint; I find it almost everywhere I look. Key Marketing Strategy - You Need To Stay Visible! If you want to get consistent results from your marketing, you need to stay visible to clients and prospects. But, how do you do that?It's not going to do you a whole lot of good if you produce a bunch of great marketing stuff and nobody ever reads it. Developing A Focused Marketing Strategy You want all of your marketing messages to have a single focus, so they pull together instead of competing with each other. Great! So how do you come up with one?First, there are several things you need to know. Why Trying to Get the Appointment Can be a Recipe for Dis-Appoinment Why Trying to "Get the Appointment" Can be a Recipe for Dis-AppoinmentLast week, this e-mail from Jack arrived in my inbox:To: Ari GalperFrom: JackSubj.: Help! I need to get more appointments Dear Ari,I've just coined a new disease for the medical books,and I'm hoping you can help me cure it. What Is Multi-Level And How Should It Be Worked Multi-level marketing is really a partnership. You go into business with someone that has the same interests and goals you have. Fax Marketing : Reaching a New Niche of Customers Traditional marketing and advertising assumes that all of your customers are traditional people. Even newer technologies like email assume that the best way to reach people is when they are at their computers. Whats Your Selling Sentence? What's your Selling Sentence? If you have abusiness, you need a selling sentence.Sometimes called the Defining Sentence or theSecondary Statement, the Selling Sentence is thegroup of words that clarify and refine the thenature of your business when seen or heard withthe name or logo of your business. Getting the Maximum Marketing Mileage Out of Your Nametag As a small business owner, you must always explore creative ways to promote your products or services. One of the most effective yet underappreciated tools you can use to keep your company "on stage" is your nametag. Use a Guarantee In Your Headline To Increase Trust Sometimes you can use a guarantee effectively in your headline. Doing so often creates increased trust in the reader. Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDA Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization. Niche And Grow Rich Unless you've been living under an Internet rock, you'veprobably heard the buzz about Niche Marketing. Right nowit's the hottest marketing topic online.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
