12 Unconventional, Extra-Mile Marketing Ideas

12 Unconventional, Extra-Mile Marketing Ideas


Here are a few marketing ideas that go beyond the traditional Web site, business cards, leave-behind materials, and social media. All involve some combination of time, effort, or money - but they are ideas that will get you noticed. The goal isn't for you to implement every idea on this list - or necessarily any of them. It is to get you thinking about creative new ways you can market your business.

1. Once a month, give something away for free. If you deliver pizzas, pay for the pizza yourself and give it to the customer at no cost. If you're a hair stylist, give away a free shampoo and cut. If you're a REALTOR, give one of your clients a magazine subscription. The idea here is the element of surprise. Be as creative as you can.
2. Partner with 3 or 4 other professionals in your industry (or allied industries) to host a fundraiser for a charitable organization. If the others are in your specific field, you might want to invite them from surrounding communities. (1) Decide on a theme. (2) Select the nonprofit beneficiary. (3) Choose a date. (4) Find a venue. (5) Invite everyone from each of your lists - and the charity's list! (6) Use social media to spread the word. (7) Do a media release and send it far and wide.
3. Host a drive to collect goods for a worthy charity: US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq; no-kill shelters; teachers in low-income school districts; group homes for teens or the mentally ill. Invite your clients, vendors, friends, and family to participate. Write up a media release about your success. With the organization's permission, make a video of yourself delivering the goods you collect.
4. Host a party/event for your A-list clients. Do something intimate and interesting: visit an art gallery; have a wine tasting at a local wine bar; play laser tag; paint some pottery; plant an herb garden; give each other mani-pedis. Make it a regular event.
5. Hire someone whose only job is to attend the myriad networking events available to you. Find a way to make them memorable: they wear your company's colors to every event; wear a cool hat or carry a unique bag; sing their 30-second commercial.
6. Nominate yourself - or have a trusted friend or colleague nominate you - for an award. This one seems obvious - but many awards go to less-qualified candidates simply because the better qualified folks never even tossed their hats into the ring.
7. Hold an online treasure hunt. For one week, use social media to post a question a day about your company - and send people to your Web site or blog to find the answers. For example, a restaurant owner could ask participants to name the third ingredient in one of her dishes. Make the prize worthwhile, like a gift certificate for your products or services.
8. Write and release a free eBook. Include links to your website throughout, and encourage your readers to share the book. If the eBook is good enough, it could go viral and drive lots of traffic to your site or blog.
9. Go to the beach and write your Web address in the sand. Of course, you want to make sure you're out of the way of the tide, and that the letters are large enough to be seen from a great distance. An alternative to this - but one that costs considerably more - is to hire a skywriter to do the same thing. NOTE: This will work best with short URL. And make sure to check the weather in the days before your ad goes up, up, and away!
10. Always carry an supply of extra business cards with you to leave behind in coffeehouses and shops that allow around such promotions. You can get GREAT deals on business cards and postcards for this at www.gotprint.com.
11. Run a contest related to your business, and make the prize a service you’ll perform. The only limit is your imagination, but here are a few ideas to get you started: messiest office; garden makeover; Web site makeover; biggest weight loss; chili or other food cookoff; best video. 
12. Use www.gotprint.com to make stickers with your logo and Web site. Hire some kids to pass them out at a highly trafficked event like a ball game, street fair, or concert. People are a lot less likely to throw away a sticker than they are a piece of paper.

BONUS IDEA: Blog for 30 straight days. That's right ... T-H-I-R-T-Y days in a row. Choose two or three keywords to focus on. Share your blog on facebook and twitter. Use a relevant image in every post.


Please notice, you didn't see the phrase "outside the box" anywhere in this post. While it may have been a clever phrase the first 1,000 times it was used, it is now as cliched as "teach an old dog new tricks." Time for someone to come up with a new term!


For more great ideas about mischief, guerilla, and unconventional marketing, read:


Mischief Marketing: How the Rich, Famous, & Successful Really Got Their Careers and Businesses Going, by Ray Simon


Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business, by Jay Conrad Levinson


101 Ways to Promote Yourself: Tricks Of The Trade For Taking Charge Of Your Own Success, by Raleigh Pinskey


This is Day 11 in the 60-Day Content Challenge. See you tomorrow for the next post!
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Sign up today for Laura's next workshop, Want to Charge More? Start Writing! Or e-mail your marketing questions to Laura.

Marketing Mishaps: Making a Poor First Impression

Marketing Mishaps: Making a Poor First Impression


Anyone who knows Donna Tucker of Career Pros Résumé Center is familiar with her tagline: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. We've been hearing this message for years, yet it's surprising how many entrepreneurs fail to understand all of the things that can negatively affect this first impression.


Hygiene is important. That should go without saying. But every time something should go without saying, it seems all the more imperative that it be said. Make sure your hair is combed, teeth are brushed, and that you've had a shower recently. My friend Karen Langston, nutritionist extraordinaire known as The Extreme Food Whisperer, recently told me a story about a guy she met at a networking event:


"He came up to me and he just reeked. Smelled like he'd just smoked 100 cigarettes in his car with all the windows rolled up. To be honest, I don't even remember what he said he does because I was so distracted by the smell. He was talking, and the whole time, I was thinking to myself, 'I wonder what his house smells like. I wonder if he has a girlfriend. I wonder what his lungs look like.' I literally could not wait to get away from this guy."


I'm  not a smoker, and I'm making no judgment about smokers here. I'm simply offering a word of caution: you are so used to the smell that you probably don't notice it anymore. That doesn't mean that everyone else is equally immune.


And speaking of smells, another thing I come across quite often is the perfume/cologne bather. Folks, sometimes less truly is more. When you walk through a crowded restaurant or conference room and your scent trails after you like an ocean wake, you are not making a good impression - regardless of whether it's a classic like Chanel #5 or a store-brand knockoff of Jean Naté. For one thing, olfactory allergies and sensitivities are more common than you may realize. But sometimes, you don't even have to be allergic to find the over-scenting overbearing.

Speaker trainer to the stars (e.g., Oprah, Barbara Walters, Bill Gates), Joel Bauer offers this singular piece of advice about making a good first impression: "Make sure you wrap your package." In other words, dress the part of the successful individual. Ladies, this means that you always wear a jacket or outer shirt. Gentlemen, at the very least, a collared shirt. In Arizona, we've come to accept business casual, so ties are rare - but you certainly will stand out (most likely in a good way) if you wear one.


Things not to wear: flip-flops, t-shirts, tank tops, shorts, short skirts (hint: if you have to keep pulling at it as you walk, it's too short); tops that overemphasize your décolletage. The only exception is if you have a REASON to wear something outlandish or unusual. Personal trainers who wear workout clothes to networking events make sense to me. 


Lastly, pay attention to the way you introduce yourself to new people. At a large networking event where lots of people are circulating, look for entry with either (a) someone you already know, (b) people who are alone ("Hello" is usually all the opening you need), or (c) a group with an open posture that appears inviting. Definitely avoid crashing a conversation between two people - even if you very badly want to meet or speak to one of them. It's perfectly fine to wait patiently a few feet away - but don't hover or hang about looking overanxious. The last thing you want to do on your first meeting with someone is be remembered as the guy or gal who interrupted a very important conversation.

This is Day 10 in the 60-Day Content Challenge. See you tomorrow for the next post!

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Sign up today for Laura's next workshop, Want to Charge More? Start Writing! Or e-mail your  questions on any aspect of marketing or the client cycle - to Laura.

3 Keys to Business Success: Be a Resource, Be a Connector, and Be Compassionate

3 Keys to Business Success: Be a Resource, Be a Connector, and Be Compassionate


Back when I was first starting my business, it took me a l-o-n-g time to ramp up. In fact, it was nearly two years before I had enough regular clients to even really consider it a business. Those two years didn't go to waste, though. I spent them seeding my business - attending tons of networking events and meeting as many new people as I could. That enabled me to  begin one of my favorite parts of entrepreneurism: connecting other entrepreneurs.

In his book, Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends, Tim Sanders discusses the three things that will make any business owner truly successful:

1. BE A RESOURCE. By this, Sanders specifically means to read every book that is related to your industry - as well as books outside your industry - and then recommend them, as appropriate. While I wholeheartedly agree with this concept, I suggest you take it a step further and not limit your resource list to books. You will create tons of good will if you can also recommend relevant blogs, Web sites, magazines, white papers ... any tool that gives the recipient a new idea to help them improve their own business.
2. BE A CONNECTOR. This is the thing I worked so hard at during those first two years. Meet people. Listen carefully. And when you hear someone say they have a need, be ready to connect them to the person who has the solution. Sanders makes one very important caveat: do this without expecting anything in return. He explains that when people come to understand that you're always hanging around, waiting for a referral fee, they will stop using you as a resource. Goes back to that whole Go Giver idea of giving without expectations.
3. BE COMPASSIONATE. At the time Sanders first published his book (July 2003), this was still a brand new concept. Would be great if compassion caught on like the texting craze - but the business world is still largely wary of authenticity and emotion, let alone emotions as sappy as love and compassion. The thing is, putting people first will always get you further than putting the bottom line first. So don't be afraid to be loving.

Recently, I've had the opportunity to be a resource and a connector for some new clients who are launching a book/Web project called Find-Fulfill-Flourish. This has included introducing them to tools, Web resources, vendors, people in the community ... anything or anyone I know of - or come across - that I think they might find helpful. Robin paid me the hugest compliment today when she thanked me for all the resources I continue to provide.

It seems like a no-brainer, to be a resource for your clients. Chances are, though, that there are far wider ways you could do so. Open your eyes and ears. Start listening for the things people are telling you they need. Then, scan your network, library, Web favorites ... and when you have something helpful, offer it. Doing so will just make you all the more attractive to your clients and the people you refer.

This is Day 9 in the 60-Day Content Challenge. See you tomorrow for the next post!

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Sign up today for Laura's next workshop, Want to Charge More? Start Writing! Or e-mail your  questions on any aspect of marketing or the client cycle - to Laura.

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What Are You Waiting For? Start Raving About Your Clients!

What Are You Waiting For? Start Raving About Your Clients!


We've all heard about the importance of turning our clients into our vocal advocates - people who willingly and enthusiastically encourage others to use our product or service. Ken Blanchard even wrote a book about it, Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service. And don't get me wrong - having an army of raving fans spreading the word about you is like gold.

Here's the question, though: How often do you rave about your clients?

I don't know about you, but the client deals that have fallen apart for me - or the ones that have been tremendously challenging - have usually been projects in which I was not 100 percent on board. One of my earliest clients was a guy who wanted to write a marketing book with a Mafia theme. Seriously. Edgy and uncomfortable as I was about the material, I took the job anyway - but later we wound up firing each other.

On the other hand, some of my longest-term clients are people and businesses I absolutely love. My former personal trainer, Scott White, amazing sales coach and trainer, Connie Kadansky, and the holistic health journal AZNetNews all come to mind. 

When you love your clients, it's easy to talk about them, recommend them, and champion their products and services, usually because even if you don't use them personally, you know how good they are from your work with them.

Ways You Can Toot Your Clients' Horns

• Put links to their Web sites on yours.
• Profile them on your blog.
• Like their Facebook fan pages and recommend them to others.
• Share their good news on twitter.
• Carry their business cards with you at all times and be ready to recommend them.

Don't abandon the old paradigm of creating raving fans ... but shake it up a little bit. What can you do this week to outrageously recommend your favorite clients? They will appreciate you for it, remember you, and perhaps recommend you, when the time is right.


This is Day 8 in the 60-Day Content Challenge. See you tomorrow for the next post!

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Sign up today for Laura's next workshop, Want to Charge More? Start Writing! Or e-mail your  questions on any aspect of marketing or the client cycle - to Laura.

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