This common lament of teenage angst is similar in nature to the quandary facing many startups - how to create a unique company brand identity while simultaneously “fitting in” with others in their industry. The fear of being different runs deep in our collective DNA. Staying with the masses offers a sense of belonging and protection, but it comes with a cost.

Developing a sound-a-like, look-a-like company brand, however, results in company names that are predictable vs. memorable. This group-think formula produces brands that are familiar sounding precisely because they follow in the footsteps of previous leaders, thus reaffirming your position as a follower.

The result is brand dilution - having a company name that is watered down by similar sounding businesses in your industry.

Diluted Insurance Brand Names

• AllState
• State Auto
• State Farm
• Farm Family
• Farm Bureau
• Farmer’s

A good many of these are legacy names, from a day and age when being literal made sense. There wasn’t nearly the noise or competition in the marketplace. So it made sense to put “farm” in a name when many Americans were farmers. But that’s all the more reason why not to anchor your name to an industry or trend - they change with the times!

By contrast, the awkward but original sounding Geico leveraged the image of a talking gekgo to aggressively grow its share of the market. Their name wasn’t perfect, but in a sea of sameness, they took what they had and made it work.

A similar trend developed in the 90s with the emergence of office superstores. These businesses launched with industry descriptive names that soon blurred the lines between them.

• OfficeMax
• OfficeDepot
• OfficeWorld

By contrast, Staples makes use of a double entendre name, (staples as in supplies and staples as in a stapler) These two points of reference help to anchor and differentiate the brand from the other carbon copy names.

And it doesn’t stop at office supplies. In an attempt to attract the penny pinching consumer we now have…

• Dollar Tree
• Dollar Store
• Dollar General
• Dollar Days
• Family Dollar

And what if, (heaven forbid,) the prices go over a dollar!

The convenience market business is perhaps the most fraught with industry buzz words.

• QuikStop
• QuikTrip
• KwikTrip
• QuickChek

When starting a new business, ask yourself “Is it more important to fit in, and gain acceptance, or to stand out and gain recognition?” I tell clients that, much like riding a bike, it may feel safer to start off branding in first gear, with a name that’s safe and predictable. But just like an 18-speed bike, you won’t build momentum if you stay in that gear. You’ll pedal your heart out while spinning your wheels. It’s really pretty simple -

Branding Truth: To be memorable, your brand must be remembered!

So whether it’s geographic references (e.g. Southwest, MidCounty, Downtown) or industry descriptor terms or a keyword-stuffed brand name, avoid the temptation to dilute your brand by making it sound like others in your space. Instead, think of more novel naming solutions. For instance, make use of a metaphor, like some well known brands have done…

• Amazon (abundant source of supply)
• Apple (appealing, consumer friendly)
• Crocs (rugged, durable, earthy)

Look for company names that point to the attributes, the benefits behind your products and services, to underscore their value. Paint a picture, tell a story, use the imagination and create a memorable and distilled version of who you are and what you do. Rely on your tag line, or insert a literal descriptive phrase under your brand name, to provide specifics about your business.

• ParkPlace… “The Ultimate Garage Space.”
• OneLily… “Making Brands Bloom”
• EarlyMoments… “Sharing the Gift of Reading”

Most people searching for your company will search for your name. And if your name blends in with highly competitive search terms, you’ll have to fight with every other SEO-optimized web site out there. So don’t be driven by this need to put keywords in your company name. Be who you are! Express yourself creatively in a way that makes your customers want to inquire, know more about you, and tell their friends. Instead of being diluted, your brand will pack a punch - one that delivers its message full strength for years to come.

Inventors and entrepreneurs are invited to submit new product ideas to Rubbermaid.

The following product categories are of particular interest to Rubbermaid®:

• Beauty and Style
• Beverage
• Cleaning
• Closet Organization
• Food Storage
• Garage Organization
• Home Storage
• Insulated Storage
• Kitchen
• Laundry & Utility
• Outdoor Storage
• Waste, Trash or Refuse

About Rubbermaid
Rubbermaid is a leader in developing innovative, high-quality solutions that help consumers keep their homes in order. Widely recognized and trusted, Rubbermaid designs and markets a full range of organization, storage and cleaning products to keep the home – including closets, garages, kitchens and outdoor spaces – neat and functional, freeing consumers to enjoy life.Rubbermaid is part of Newell Rubbermaid’s strong portfolio of leading global brands.

About www.InventionHome.com

InventionHome offers a low cost, low risk solution for helping inventors through each step of the invention process.  They have created a simple and streamlined process for connecting inventors with manufacturers for the purpose of licensing inventions for royalties.

For more info visit:

http://inventionhome.com/success/

http://inventionhome.com/why-inventionhome/

http://inventionhome.com/about/

Here are five marketing lessons small business owners can learn from Google.  I’m sure there are more, leave your thoughts in the comments below!  We always love to hear from you!

1. Be Really, Really Good at One Thing

Before Google took on the Earth or built the Android, it did one thing better than anyone else, Internet Search.  As the foundation of all things Google, their search engine and search technology was innovative in the beginning and continues to be innovative today.  By committing to being really, really good at this one thing and maintaining that commitment, Google built a reputation in the market as a trusted resource.  This kind of relationship with the consumer is pure marketing gold.

2. Don’t Rest on Your Laurels

Once Google had secured their place as the top search engine, they didn’t stop there.  Rather than reveling in the fact that they owned online search, they continued to refine and revise their search algorithms and functionality to make the customers’ experience better.  They understand that the competition is feverishly at work trying to copy their success.  To that end, Google works to stay one step ahead of their competition, improving their main product, inventing new ones.  This step is critical and something many small businesses fail to do.  Having a great product may put you on top but it won’t keep you there.

3. Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

Even though Google owns the Internet marketing space and continues to redefine the way other companies market online, they continue use a variety of other marketing methods that includes email marketing, direct mail marketing, and even telemarketing.   By using a variety of marketing strategies, Google ensures they are reaching all of their potential customers, not just those who are already invested in and interested in Internet marketing.  If Google isn’t relying only online search to market their business why should you?

4. Be Innovative

Even though Google continues to do their one thing really well, they also recognize the power of expansion and diversity.  The company is committed to creating a culture that embraces and inspires innovation.   This innovative attitude has created things like Google Earth, the Android Operating System, and Google Maps.   Even though not all products are successful (Google Wave for example) the innovation required to create these new products becomes a stepping stone for creating new (and often successful) products in the future.  You’re not always going to hit a home run in your marketing, but you always should be swinging.

5. Have Fun

Google also embraces the idea that business doesn’t have to be boring.  I love this! What other company do you know is able to routinely modify their logo without compromising their brand?  This is something Google does on a regular basis with Google Doodles, the alternative logo designs that grace the Google home page for special events and holidays.  Not only does this create a lot of fun for Google Users, (and I’m sure Google employees as well) it also creates a lot of marketing buzz for Google.  They’ve often been featured on television, radio and newspaper just because of their fun Google Doodle.

Another thing that Google does is hides little surprises (or jokes) in the search engine function.  These surprises, called “Easter Eggs” are search terms that produce unexpected screen behaviors or interesting page results. For example, when you type in the words “do a barrel roll” into Google and you screen starts spinning around.  Google’s antics not only create buzz for the company and increase customer engagement, and I’m sure, satisfaction as well.  It’s a well-known fact that humor sells.  Google uses humor as a part of its regular routine.

Google makes it clear that when it comes to marketing your business, you need to have a diversified strategy.    What other marketing lessons can we learn from Google?

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney the Founder of 23 Kazoos, a Marketing and Public Relations firm in Phoenix, Arizona, that is relentless about results.  She is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

1.  Have a Giveaway

Tip #1- Do giveaways on Facebook, your blog, and/or other blogs that have a lot of traffic. Give away something small from your business about once a month and ask that to enter the contest, you must “like” your Facebook page. There are several free giveaway apps on Facebook that will even send the message to their followers and also run the contest by picking the winner for you. I’ve watched my fan page grown from about 200 likes to almost 3,000 likes in around 6 months just from giveaways, and I get many customers and a lot of feedback also from these giveaways.

Thanks to:  Megan Andrus from My Accessory Business

One budget friendly way to market your business is to sponsor a giveaway on a blog or Facebook. I have sponsored giveaways and regularly give things away on my Confessions of a Coupon Queen Facebook page. (I call it “Win It Wednesday.”) Here’s how it works. A small business will give me a gift certificate or some product to give away to my fans, usually in the $25 value range. I plug the company at least three times before the giveaway. I use Rafflecopter to administer the giveaway. It allows me to require my fans to like the sponsor’s Facebook page, subscribe to their Twitter feed, etc. I have sponsored giveaways for other blogs and Facebook pages which, in one instance, netted me over 500 new fans. People love free stuff! And $25 is pretty cheap advertising.

Thanks to: Christine Luken of Strong Tower, LLC

2.  Feature Your Customers

We are a company that designs and supplies custom embroidered patches for clients such as Boy Scouts, motorcycle clubs, fire departments, and more.  I sent out an email to all of our previous customers telling them that we want to hear their story and we want to feature them on our blog. I asked them to reply with a little background about their organization and how they use their patches. I even told them if they’d like, they could send some images of their patches in use. The response was overwhelming. It turns out our customers love us! I got so many responses of stories as well as high praise.

This fosters great customer relationships. If we took the time to write about someone and promote him or her on our website, whom do you think that person is going to return to when they need the same type of services again? There’s little question. Not only that, but we get free promotion too. Everyone loves to see his or her name in print, so they share and tweet the article and tell their friends about it. If any of their friends need this service, whom do you think they are now going to use? Also, when potential customers see it, it will convince them to use us, because they will see what a great relationship we have with our customers.

Thanks to: Marisa Brayman of Stadri Emblems

3.  Use Local Media Outlets to Spread the Word

If you need local traffic, contact your local media contact like newspapers or local TV stations to get your business written up by the business editor or featured on the TV and the story is usually assigned by the assignment desk.  This also works for state business publications or regional newspapers.

You can also submit info to talk radio stations.   Most local radio stations will trade radio commercials for gift certificates.  Some will do full trades, others half trade and half cash.  If you are a retailer, the trade can be product or certificates and the cash can come from your co-op advertising dollars that your vendors offer or just your cash.   Don’t have time to search for your co-op dollars?  Call your local radio station and ask for a sales rep.  They will do the search for you as they are members of RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau) for free but want you business.  You will need to give them all your vendor names in order to do the search.  Most co-op dollars that do radio also do TV print, etc.

Thanks to: Tina Janke Midtown Marketing Group Inc.

4.  Partner with Other Local Businesses

I, like everyone else am trying all kinds of things to get the word out about my new product.  The latest thing I did was join a Gym. In particular the Gold’s Gym in Gastonia, NC. They have a program that helps promote small businesses by advertising for us if we offer a discount to their members. In addition I get a discount for myself and all my employees. Truly a round of winning.

Thanks to: Marni Peters of Idea Incubator Inc.

5.  Spend $5

I’d recommend Fiverr.com as a great way to market your business on a budget. Fiverr is a global marketplace where people can buy and sell goods for as little as $5 and currently lists more than 500,000 gigs. Businesses can use anything from SEO enhancement services to promotional video making - all for the price of a latte!

Thanks to: Allison Brady or Atomic PR

6.  Use YouTube

One of my favorite budget-friendly marketing ideas is employed by Expert Laser Services, an IT consultant and printer repair service that created a “Destroy Your Printer” YouTube contest. People submitted videos of themselves destroying their nonfunctional printers in creative ways: throwing printers out the window, hunting them down and shooting them in the woods, etc. The contest itself didn¹t attract the large number of entries that they expected…but ultimately created a buzz online that lead to more than 4,000 views and thousands of dollars in new sales.

Thanks to: David Langton of Langton Cherubino Group, Ltd.

7.  Give Customers Something that Creates Conversations

Randomly sending some of our best fundraisers a Go Get Funding T-shirt. That surprise and low-cost gift helps to build a great relationship. And as a bonus, they’ll have a story to tell anyone that asks a question about the shirt.

Thanks to:  Sandip Singh from Go Get Funding

8.  Use Creative Handouts

When speaking with local organizations to even national ones, I create a personalized bookmark and give them to everyone. The bookmark is double sided with one side holding the key point of the speech and the other size a place to write some sort of goals.

These have been very successful and only cost me the ink to print and the cardstock. In using a Microsoft word document, I secure 4 bookmarks per 8-1/2×11 sheet of cardstock.

Thanks to: Leanne Hoagland-Smith of Advanced Systems

9.  Stand Out in a Crowd

If you’re a woman, seeking female customers, and you’re at a meeting, trade show, sale or elsewhere, get noticed by carrying a truly unique accessory like a red purse smothered in crystals, a standout scarf made from recycled sweaters, or very bold jewelry. This works amazingly well in attracting attention. It’s up to you to move the conversation from your accessory to your product or service.

Thanks to:  Lynn Colwell from Celebrate Green

10. Create Great Shareable Content

An easy and very cost effective marketing method we use at my company, Pig of the Month BBQ is to create 3-5 downloadable pdf files around free information (in our case, recipe guides, wine and beer pairings, and grilling tutorials) that are simple and created in Google docs and then shared from our website. We then contact the top 100 or so bloggers in a related field and ask them to share it with their readers as well. The bloggers get nicely done and interesting content to share and as people are reading though they see our logo, website, and a link or 2 thrown in so they can follow it back to learn more or see more recipes on our site.

This could be applied to several different business models as well and is dirt cheap. For example, a dentist might create an easy one page downloadable printout showing how long and the best way to brush kids’ teeth every day. It could be hung in bathrooms and then seen by prospective customers daily to create awareness.

Thanks to: Lea Richards of Pig of the Month

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney the Founder of 23 Kazoos, a Marketing and Public Relations firm in Phoenix, Arizona, that is relentless about results.  She is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

From Mother’s Day Contests to Mother’s Day themed promotions, here are 5 creative Mother’s Day Marketing ideas that will help you bring more customers in your door.

1. Create a Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Many people like to buy their mom a special gift on Mother’s Day.  You can tap into that need by creating a special Mother’s Day Gift Guide.

Stephanie Penn-Danforth of Daily Venus Diva, an online life, style and fashion magazine for curvy women, says that by dedicating a shopping guide to Mother’s Day gift ideas and promoting it with a press release; they attracted a substantial amount of new customers to their online retail store last Mother’s Day, and is going to do the same promotion again this year.

2. Hold a Mother’s Day Contest

Sarah Plasky from Aquavation, a site that creates customized 22 oz. sports water bottles for a cause, suggested that you hold a Mother’s Day themed contest. Invite people to submit their favorite “Mom Memories” to be entered in a drawing and then feature their entries as a post on your blog.  Entrants will share their “featured post” on your website with everyone they know which drives people to your website and increases visibility.

Other Mother’s Day contest ideas include holding a “Moms that look like Celebrities” look-alike contest, Mom of the Year, Why My Mom Rocks, Mother’s Day Makeovers, and even “Best ‘Adopted’ Mom”  (honoring those people who influenced someone’s life but was not their biological mother.)

3. Offer a Mother’s Day Gift with Purchase

This Mother’s Day marketing idea is one of the most popular, from restaurants to retail and every kind of business in between.  Build more buzz by offering a free bonus with purchase, such as a free dessert, for example.   This kind of promotion is very popular at department store beauty counters.  You’ll see high end retailers offering free limited edition beauty kits (sample sized items) with purchase and women love it!

Whatever you offer, make sure that it’s something that moms want (or people want to give to their moms).  Other free gifts with purchase include free flowers, free drinks, free appetizers, free cash (think “Kohl’s Kash”) and more.  The Arizona Diamondbacks has a popular Mother’s Day giveaway every year.  This year they are giving away a free pair of Arizona Diamondbacks themed earrings to the first 5,000 moms in attendance.

4. Offer Mother’s Day Themed Items for Sale

Create a special Mother’s Day only offering which builds a sense of urgency to buy from you before the deal is over.  Flancer’s Restaurant in Gilbert, Arizona, has created a special Mother’s Day Brunch, and I’m sure it will be an astounding success given the fact that Flancers does not regularly serve brunch and whatever kind of food they cook is always amazing.  Having a Mother’s Day Special offer of any time can create excitement and additional sales for your business.

Another idea comes from Amanda Koraska from Flat Creek Estate Winery & Vineyard in Marble Creek, Texas.  They often create custom wine labels for weddings and translated that idea in a way that allowed them to offer a once in a lifetime Mother’s Day gift.  As part of their annual Mother’s Day brunch, they hosted a family photo shoot at the vineyard and used the pictures to create custom wine labels that could be placed on a guest’s favorite bottle of wine.

And you don’t have to have a tangible product to sell either.  Debra Cohen from the Homeowner Referral Network, a Nassau County, New York, online referral network for home improvement professionals, created a special package specifically for husbands to give their wives for Mother’s Day.  For any package purchased as a Mother’s Day gift, she offered an additional 3 hours of free consulting which increased the value of their purchase.  It worked for her!!

5. Create Content Featuring Moms

If you want to do something more subtle than hang big signs or banners touting your Mother’s Day sale, you can create content about mothers, for mothers, or celebrating mothers.  If you are a photographer, you could create a photo display featuring local mothers or offer free Mother/Daughter pictures on your Facebook page and then feature each picture in the days leading up to Mother’s Day.

Racheal Cook of The Yogipreneur, a business consultant who specializes in mindful marketing training specifically for healing and helping professionals. generated several hundred leads for her business last year by creating a series of video Skype interviews with her favorite mama-preneurs - women who have built and run small businesses while raising young children.  The videos were featured on her blog and on her YouTube channel and were a big hit.

There are many more marketing ideas that you could do on Mother’s Day to build buzz for your business.  What are some of your ideas?  I absolutely LOVE hearing from you!

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney the Founder of 23 Kazoos, a Marketing and Public Relations firm in Phoenix, Arizona, that is relentless about results.  She is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

1.  Blog

If I’ve written it once, I’ve written it at least a hundred times.  Blogging is the foundation of all of your marketing activity.  Blogging is a great way to offer potential clients and customers a broader view of who you are and what you do.  It’s “the” place where you can begin to establish yourself as an expert in your industry.  So if you implement only one “new” marketing activity this year, I recommend you start a blog.

2.  Testimonials

Have you ever driven to a restaurant and seeing that there were no cars in the parking lot decided to go somewhere else to eat?  This illustrates the concept of social proof.  People want to know that they are making the right decision and they do that by seeing if others have made the same decision too.  Give people the proof they need to make their decision to do business with you through the use of testimonials.  The best way to get testimonials is to ask your raving fans to give them to you!  Use them on your blog, on your brochure, online or anywhere!  (Make sure you get permission to use them first!)

3.  Yelp

Love it or hate it, if you have a brick and mortar business that requires customers to go to your location to do business with you, Yelp is a must.  That’s because the popular iPhone application Siri, uses Yelp reviews to recommend businesses close to you.  Businesses with more positive testimonials have more appeal to users, so while you’re at it, make sure you have plenty of good reviews on Yelp.

4.  Stake Your Claim

Claim each and every listing for your business across all the different online business listing sites like Google Places, Yellow Pages.com, Manta, etc.  Many of these sites are populating their contents from info across the web anyway and you may be already listed.  Take the time to make sure your listing is correct and optimized meaning that you have taken advantage of every place possible in the listing to fill it up with information about your business.

5.  Give Thanks

One of the most important things that you can do as a business owner is to say thank you.  There are many opportunities to do this; when you get a positive review online, after a sale, or just because.  Set yourself apart from the crowd by taking a minute to make your customers feel important, appreciated, and special, and you’ll inspire loyalty and create a relationship that will drive future sales and referrals.

6.  Be Visible

“Visibility + Credibility= Profitability.” This quote from Ivan Misner, the Founder of Business Networking International (BNI) should be hanging on the wall of every business.  It’s not only about who you know, it’s about who knows you.  To sell more you’ve got to be known by everybody.  This is the concept behind advertising of course, because it’s simply foolish to think that if you “build it they will come.”  So work to establish visibility for your business by becoming well and favorably known everywhere.

7.  Get Social

Speaking of visibility, one of the best ways to gain visibility is to be social.  Join networking groups, professional development groups, and professional associations and get out there and get your face, your business and your brand known.    You can do this on social media including Facebook and Twitter too, but there’s nothing like meeting people face to face.  Go out and get connected.

8.  Be a Winner

Ever go to a movie just because it was starting an “Academy Award” winning actor?  The idea was that if the actor had won awards, therefore becoming known as one of the best, certainly the movie they were in would be a “best” movie too.  The same concept can be transferred to your business.  Apply for and win awards and establish yourself as “the best” in your industry or community.  There are hundreds of awards you can apply for including the “Best of” awards run by your local newspaper.

9.  Be the Best

In fact, if you’re going to win awards, you might as well make sure that regardless of what you sell that yours is the best that anybody’s ever had.  Only then will you be able to guarantee that they will keep coming back for more.

Of course, there are many more big marketing ideas out there that will make a big difference in your business.  I would love to hear yours!!

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

Sometimes it is as important for business owners to understand what not to do as it is to know what they need to do.  It is also important to remember that not every tactic or strategy is right for every business.  What can turn out to be the worst marketing advice for one business may be marketing gold to another.  Having said that, there are some pieces of marking advice that qualify as the world’s worst for any business.

1. Focus on the Products

Countless business owners have been advised to do things like “Build a better mousetrap,” or “Just make it and people will buy it.”  Michael Greaney, of Universal Values Media discovered that focusing on the product isn’t always the best advice. After spending all of their money on developing their product, they didn’t have any money left for getting the word out about it.

The fact is; even companies with the best products in the world, (such as Apple) use marketing and advertising to get the word out about their product.

2. Directory and Phone Book Listings

One of the biggest challenges all small businesses face is figuring out which channels are the right match for their business.  Spending valuable marketing money on ineffective channels is bad news for any business.  Ryan Schmudlach of Wisconsin Canoe Company said that he was advised to invest a significant portion of his startup funds in phone book listings because “That’s where people will find you.”  But Ryan went with his knowledge of where his customers hung out and invested in adwords instead.  He’s glad he did because his business has doubled in sales every year since.

Martha De la chaussee from Advocate Tax Group LLC has a different story.  She paid for expensive online directory  listings, participated in social media platforms, and invested in several different kinds of advertising mediums.  None of these channels provided her with the leads, prospects, clients, or cashflow expected.  Honing in on where her niche customers were and finding ways to reach them directly provided far better results with less effort and expense.

This is a great example of how things that work for one business can be ineffective for others and emphasizes the need to laser focus on your niche.

3. Give it Away for Free

Another thing I hear about all the time from small business owners is that “everyone” in their field said that if they did this one thing, they would have all the clients they could need.  Unfortunately, that is rarely true for any business and putting all your eggs in one basket can leave you with a lot of eggs but no cash flow.   Zenobia Garrison, of Success Transitions, took this advice when she was starting out in her coaching business.  She focused on building private clients by offering free sessions which was touted as the fastest way to positive cash flow and a full client list.  But without a specific focus on the right niche, she discovered that spent a lot of time helping people for free without gaining a single client.   Once she focused her marketing efforts on the right prospects and adopted marketing strategies that fit that niche she started to see results.

This is a great example of why it is important to understand who your target market is because even though offering free sessions is a good tactic, it doesn’t work for all prospects.

4. Social Media Marketing

Another area where bad advice can really take a bite out of a marketing tactic’s benefit is when it leads to using a great platform for the wrong thing or in the wrong way.  Ian Aronovich, the CEO of GovernmentAuctions.org made this mistake.  Based on the advice from others, the company initially used its social media presence for promotion purposes only.  Posting to their Facebook page meant plugging the business and linking to the website.  They found it difficult to build a following or expand their fan base because they weren’t doing anything to engage or encourage interaction with their fans.  Once they changed gears and started using contests, giveaways, and casual interactions with fans to give people a reason to “Like” them, they were able to build a valuable social media community.

This is a great example of how the right thing used the wrong way can be just as ineffective as doing the wrong thing or nothing at all.

5. Guerilla Marketing

While guerilla marketing can be effective in attracting attention to your business, it may not be the attention you desire.  Merrick Pickens from Oak Mortgage Group in Dallas, Texas was advised to “Pay some dude to tattoo your logo on his chest and go workout at the gym where he can recruit for you as a walking billboard. It might be expensive but if you pay him a commission he can get it removed later.”

6. Websites

Michael Esser, copywriter and author for hire was told “build it they will come.” What he discovered was that just because you have a website doesn’t mean people will find it.  It takes time to build content and gain top search engine rankings.  And while having a website is one tactic in your marketing strategy, it’s not the only thing you should do.

Lesson learned. Diversify your marketing.

Can you relate to these stories of the worst marketing advice received?  I know I can.  The lesson for me are don’t take advice from people who don’t know your business, your customers or your market.  Also, I suggest that before you invest heavily in any marketing strategy, test it out first to see if it works.

Have your own “worst marketing advice” story?  Share it here!

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Tiffany Manley (blogger, homeschooling mom, and one of my awesome 23 Kazoos marketing team members) about how Girl Scouts go about selling so many boxes of cookies.  Tiffany’s daughter Ava, who is 9 years old, sold 500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies last year which is pretty phenomenal.  This year, Ava has set her sights even higher and is working hard to achieve her goal of selling 750 boxes.  Ava, along with four other girls is part of Troop 763 from Chelsea, Alabama, have already pre-sold 1000 boxes of cookies for this season.    With pre-sales that high, it’s no doubt Ava and the other scouts will meet or exceed the sales goals they have set for themselves.

So what is the secret to their success?  I asked Tiffany for some insight to share with small business owners.   Tiffany explained that “They don’t want to fail; they work really hard to reach their goal.”  She added that she lets Ava run the cookie sale the way she wants to because “it’s her own little business.”  With the support of their parents and their eyes on the prize, the Troop comes up with their own ideas about how to market the cookies and increase their sales.  When I heard what Ava and her troop were doing to sell their cookies I thought, “These girls are brilliant!”   I immediately wanted to share their marketing practices with you.

Here’s how they do it.

1. They set a goal. (The number of boxes they want to sell.)
2. They have rewards. (Prizes for each level of sales)
3. They formulate a marketing plan to reach their goal.

To come up with their plan, Ava and her mom visited retail and grocery stores in their local community.  Ava noted what she liked and didn’t like about what the stores were doing and used the best of their ideas to create the Troop’s marketing plan.

Here’s their Girl Scout Cookie Marketing plan.

1. Talk to everyone you know.

When the order forms come out, the girls hit the streets to visit friends and neighbors and ask them to order a couple boxes of cookies.  Business owners can do this too by getting out of the office and talking to people wherever they go about their business.

2. Go to where the most customers are.

The girls visit area businesses and ask the business owner and employees to buy cookies.  One of their marketing tips: Business owners buy more cookies.  I think it is an act of solidarity as small business sales teams have to stick together.  Business owners can benefit from this strategy by doing the same thing, going to networking events, attending chamber of commerce events, and putting themselves in the path of prospective customers at every opportunity.

3. Build a customer list.

The girls keep their order forms from previous years so that when the new order forms arrive, they hit the phones and call all previous customers to ask them how many boxes they want to order.  Customers from previous years will refuse to buy cookies from other Girl Scouts because they have an existing relationship with the Girl Scout who calls them personally every year. This strategy helps secure repeat business but also frees up the Troop members’ time which allows them to market to new customers.  Most business owners know how important it is to build their customer and prospect lists; this example from the Girl Scouts just reinforces the importance of list building and highlights how much difference a personal touch can make.

4. Boost sales by bundling.

The girls tie three boxes of cookies together, wrap them in a bow, and sell them as a unit.  Even without a reduction in price, this increases the total number of boxes they sell.  Business owners can use similar tactics to bundle products and services in complimentary packages and increase their sales.

5. Tie marketing promotions to holidays.

To attract more business and differentiate themselves from other Scout Troops, the girls are turning their bundles of cookies into special Valentine’s Day bundles wrapped in Valentine’s Day ribbon complete with a Valentine’s Day card.  They make it easy for buyers like me who have little imagination and even less time to shop for the holiday.  Business owners can capitalize on this strategy all year long by tying promotions to the various holidays and using the promotions to generate business buzz and attract new customers.

6. Support a charity.

The girls are also taking donations of money that is used to buy cookies to send to the troops overseas.  This is a win for everyone.  It creates good will for the Girl Scout Troop, offers people a creative way to support the troops, gives soldiers a little taste of home, and helps the Troop sell more cookies.  This is a perfect example of how business owners can do good deeds for their community in a way that also boosts their bottom-line.

7. Be prepared for objections.

One of the most common objections the girls hear is “I’m on a diet.”  Their standard reply is, “Well that’s okay, we are also collecting donations so we can send boxes of cookies to the troops overseas.”  This strategy has a 90% success rate at converting an objection to a sale, according to Tiffany.  The girls have learned that if they stick with it, and keep asking, most people will buy at least one box.  There are two great takeaways here for small business owners.  First, be ready to answer objections.  Second, perseverance pays off.

8. Dare to be different.

Like other Troops around the country, the girls set up booths in front of local businesses with lots of foot traffic to sell cookies.  The Troop took this sales tactic to the next level by creating “Girl Scout Cookie Billboards” out of strapping and empty boxes that they walk around in to funnel customers to the table.   This is the kind of “out of the box” thinking that can be sales gold for small businesses.

9. Have a contest.

The girls set up a drawing for a free box of cookies at their booth which helps pull people over to the table where the girls can talk to them and make the sale.  As part of the drawing, they collect email addresses and get permission to email people when their order is in or when cookies come out next year.  This is a great example of how business owners can use a low-cost contest to generate interest for their business and build their customer list for future promotions.

10. Follow up after the sale.

The girls don’t stop after the cookie orders have been delivered to customers.  They send handwritten notes to each customer thanking them for buying cookies and letting them know that they have extra boxes for sale in case they want to buy any more.  They sell lots of extra cookies this way.  And the handwritten thank you notes go a long way in cementing the relationships the girls have built with their customers.  This is another great example of how powerful personalized service can boost sales.  Small business owners can mimic this type of tactic to build customer relationships and attract future sales.

Girl Scout cookies may seem easy to sell because they support great programs, are sold by cute little girls in green uniforms, and they sell a product that most people love.  However, Ava and the girls from Troop 763 in Chelsea, Alabama, are proof that it’s having a marketing plan along, and paying attention to details,  can make the difference between an average cookie selling season and a Troop of cookie selling superstars.

In case you haven’t heard of it, Pinterest is like a virtual version of the bulletin board that you keep in your office.  Users have their own “boards” where they can post images of things that they find interesting, inspiring, or memorable online.  Users can follow other uses, “like” each other’s pins, and comment on each other’s boards.  They can also “repin” images to their own boards.  It’s social, fun, and visually stimulating in a way that other social media sites aren’t, which may be why so many people find it addicting.

Pinterest is now second to Facebook as far as how much time each visitor spends on the site per visit.  This is tremendous growth especially considering that the site is still accessible to users by invitation only!  Judging by the adoption rate and the time spent on site per user, Pinterest may very well be the social networking site that small business owners want to pay attention to.

There are two benefits that Pinterest can provide for small business owners.  One is visibility and the other is referral traffic to your website.  Think of Pinterest like a sign on the road that says “turn this way.”  If your image is engaging enough you may just distract Pinterest users enough from what they were doing to turn from what they were looking at to go to your site and find out more.

So is Pinterest right for your business?  It depends.  Here are 5 tips on using Pinterest to market your business.

1. Make sure it’s right for you.

Seventy percent of Pinterest users are females under the ages of 45.  (Although men are starting to adopt it as well.) If this is not your demographic, then Pinterest isn’t likely going to be a good fit for you (at least right now).  There are, however, some specific types of businesses that I think may benefit from exposure via Pinterest.

• Clothing retailers
• Cosmetologists, makeup artists, fashion designers
• Personal shoppers
• Grocery stores, food stores, anything food-related
• Restaurants and Caterers
• Personal Trainers
• Fitness gurus
• Florists
• Photographers
• Chefs
• Toy Companies
• Stationary Stores
• Interior Decorators
• Home Improvement Stores
• Unique Gift Shops
• Handmade Items
• Graphic Designers
• Other businesses with a visual product or service

2. Follow the rules.

If you decide that Pinterest is a good fit for your business, make sure you follow the rules.

• Avoid too much self-promotion.  While it’s okay to share things from your website, if that’s all you do, you may find you have little interest.
• Share things you love, not just the things you sell. (But make sure they are related to what you sell)
• Take this opportunity to share a different side of yourself or your business with current and potential customers.
• Use Pinterest to build relationships and rapport that can lead to sales in other arenas.

3. Share things that are visually appealing, new, and fun!

• Keep your target demographic of women under age 45 in mind all the time.
• The best way to know what to share is to see what people are “liking” and repining.
• Since the whole point of Pinterest is for members to discover new things, look for ways to share new and interesting things that will attract and inspire your ideal clients.
• Make “share something new” your Pinterest motto.

4. Credit your sources.

• A crucial part of the Pinterest environment is giving credit where credit is due.
• Crediting sources and linking back to the content creator helps preserve copyright while allowing people to share the things they love.
• Take the time to locate the original source in order to ensure credit is given appropriately.

5. Host a Pinterest contest.

Challenge followers to create the best board featuring ways to use your products or offer a prize for the most repins of a specific subject matter or for a topic relating to your business.  Be creative and make sure your contest appeals to the people you want to participate.

The most important thing to remember when looking to Pinterest as a way to market your business and build your brand is to use the visual atmosphere of the pinboards to your advantage.  Inspire customers and prospects to interact with you and with each other in new and interesting ways and you may bring in new customers without a single sales pitch.

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.

Small businesses, especially ones like the ones at my local farmer’s market, have a special place in my heart.  I immediately wanted to go give them marketing tips to help them be successful.  My mind raced with ideas for how these small businesses could spread the word about what they do, bring in new customers, and secure repeat business.

What I realized was that there was one marketing strategy that they were missing out on that would make a significant impact on their business, and that marketing strategy is email marketing.

Customer and prospect email addresses are one of the most important assets a small business can have.  Because email, unlike social media, goes directly to the consumer.  Social media on the other hand is a hit and miss proposition.  Even though you may have 100 fans on Facebook, the actual number of people who see your marketing message is only a fraction of that.  While you can’t guarantee that people will open your emails, if you have their correct email address you can at least make sure that all of the people on your list are receiving your message.

In order to use email marketing effectively in your business, you need ways to gather email addresses of current and prospective customers.  Here are some of the best ways small businesses can gather email addresses.

1. Give Something Away

Everyone loves to win free things and one of the best techniques for getting people to give you their email address is to have a free drawing for one of your products.

2. Offer an Educational Opportunity

Do you have a special skill or is there something customers and prospects would love to learn that you can teach?  Hosting a free online webinar or in person seminar where people have to register, including their email, to attend, is another way to gather email addresses.  As an added bonus, this can boost your image as an expert in your field.

3. Create a Preferred Customer List

Let customers sign-up on a piece of paper in your shop, stand, or stall to be preferred customers to get advance notice of sales and special discounts and promotions.

4. Share Something Special

If you are known for your ability to grow amazing tomatoes, write an ebook about how to grow tomatoes and offer it for free to anyone who signs up.  You can even do this offline at a farm stand without electricity by having people sign-up and sending the ebook via email.

5. Appreciate Your Customers

Remember, everyone likes to win and when you position it as a monthly customer appreciation drawing, you give customers the chance to win while letting them know you appreciate their business and gathering their email addresses.  It is a win for everyone.

The key to effective email marketing is getting the email addresses of your customer base.  With a good email list, you can send personal emails, a regular newsletter, and announcements about sales and promotions.   Marketing experts say you generally need to connect with someone seven times to make a sale, email marketing can make it easier to reach out and connect with your customers.

Want to get more inexpensive and practical small business marketing ideas, grab a free e-book called “Build Buzz for Your Biz, 23 Creative and Inexpensive Marketing Strategies That Will Get You Noticed” at http://23kazoos.com.

Wendy Kenney is the bestselling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Business available on Amazon.com, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday.