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.

86 common sense marketing tips for startups.

From Chris Yoko of Yoko Co - Interactive Marketing

1.      Be engaging and responsive - whether in person, on the phone or through social media, enable customers and fans to talk about you by talking to them.

2.      Use video! Explain your product or service, how it works, why it’s useful. You can illustrate elements text just can’t convey.

3.      Show proof. Even if you have to give it away a time or two, get some information that proves it works and is worth it!

From Kristin Marquet of Marquet Media, LLC

4.      Have a marketing plan - I don’t care if it’s on paper or in your head, just make sure you have a marketing plan!

5.      Don’t max out your credit cards on advertising.

6.      Hire a copywriter who understands your audience.

From Mark Huggans of AffordableHealthcare.US (Click-Shop-Insure.com)

7. Your marketing must indicate you can solve a problem.

8. Craft your message based on existing customer feedback or comments.

9. Old but true, have a call to action, press their buttons so the prospect will react.

From Brandon Spalding of Hirschler Fleischer, P.C.

10.  Always be truthful. Your investors, once outside the close friends and family stage, will do due diligence on your company and trust is a major component of early stage investment. Be realistic in your valuation, financial projections and time horizons and be prepared to defend each of them. Prepare a best case, expected case and worst case set of financial projections for your investors that you believe to be conservative in each case. Once trust is lost, it can’t be regained so don’t tell your investors just what you think they want to hear. This will also help keep you away from securities laws problems.

11.  Nail the business plan. Truly understand all of the relevant facets and players in your target market and how you are different or better than your potential competition. You must also have a clear and articulable method of monetizing your business. A great idea, without more, is not going to attract investors once your business is outside the close friends and family stage.

12.  Preserve your equity. You may need to go through a number of investment rounds before your business reaches profitability and each round will dilute your original ownership. Accordingly, be mindful of not offering up too much of your ownership to investors early in the life of the company. In addition, consider phantom equity plans to incentivize and reward early employees and advisors to also help you maintain as much control of your company as possible.

From Andrea Bailiff-Gush of HoneyApps, Inc.

13.  Test every marketing channel to see if it will work for your business. After a specified period of time, if the marketing channel doesn’t result in more website traffic or conversions for your business, stop using it. Don’t assume a marketing channel is or isn’t a good fit for your business until you have tried it.

14.  Define a list of metrics your startup will track on a specified basis. Your business will use these metrics to measure your success as a business and find out where you’re succeeding and where you’re falling behind.

15.  Stay current on startup marketing trends. Startups are agile, as there are lower barriers to making changes, therefore startups can start and stop marketing activities very quickly. Startups should use this to their advantage by staying current on what other startups learned while marketing their business and try some of their suggested tactics. You might just discover an easy and successful way to reach prospects. Use Quora, blogs (The KISSmetrics blog is a great one), and Twitter to stay current.

From Lindsay Durfee of Cookerly Public Relations

16.  Don’t market for the sake of marketing. Before launching a marketing campaign, you must know why you want publicity in the first place. Your marketing goal should be intrinsically linked to your business goals. Are you seeking to drive sales? To build your reputation? To raise awareness of an issue and motivate people to action? Define these goals first.

17.  Consider your options. Somewhere between hiring a PR or marketing agency and going it alone, there are accelerators out there that work with tech entrepreneurs to launch and build successful companies. One example is our client, the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). Many of ATDC’s members are able to use ATDC’s communication and media channels for an extra visibility boost.

18.  Know your resources. Your team was assembled from some very talented professionals. Do you have strong writers on staff? A videographer? A former journalist? Look within to find resources you may not know you have-and to see where you may need to supplement. Additionally, your team is most likely the most passionate about your company, and you can use that to your advantage when connecting with journalists or drafting marketing documents.

From Adam Rodnitzky of Favo.rs

19.  Always be credible - don’t make claims to the public that you can’t back up in reality with your startup

20.  Find your unique angle - the world won’t care if they’ve heard your message dozens of times already from other startups

21.  Be available - When nobody recognizes your startup, you’re the only thing that will let people know that it is legit. Respond to users, bloggers, and the media whenever they reach out to you so they know there is a face behind the app.

From Louisa Gehring of Semper Finest Care Packages

22.  Don’t underestimate the power of social media: it’s (mostly) free, and can result in word-of-mouth marketing and viral buzz

23.  Don’t place ads that aren’t trackable: money is always tight with startups, so you can’t afford to pay $ for an ad if you don’t know if it’s successful. Create separate landing pages for each ad placed (particularly with print ads) so you can see how effective it is.

24.  Don’t lie about your age: if you’re just starting out, having impeccable service and a great product will speak for you. Don’t market yourself older/more established than you are, or you will suffer when clients find out.

From Albe Zakes  of TerraCycle

25.  Now is the time for PR: Editorial consideration is easiest to get when a story is fresh. If you are in the startup phase, that describes your story. Pitch any and all media outlets covering any relevant topics. Using PR can help you save those precious startup dollars. Then you can switch to more traditional marketing as you are more established and have additional revenue coming in. Now is the time to get it for free.

26.  Don’t overlook the blogosphere - From ‘Green Blogs’ to ‘BizBlogs’ to ‘Mommy Blogs’ these online assets need interesting content and you should have an interesting story for them. Blogs many seem small and far to common, but they can quickly go viral and make for great social media messaging and cross-promo opportunities with the blogger themselves. Start building your blog and social networks now and they will be a powerful tool for you later.

27.  Use Industry Associations and Consumer Groups - These third party affiliations can help you establish your brand and reputation, create PR opportunities and cross-promotional value on Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes these groups are looking for membership fees, but they are often willing to help startups in their industries now, in return for future considerations (think Alum associations). Even if you can’t talk your way around the fees, they are still a whole lot cheaper than most advertising options.

28.   Get your Guerrilla On - Guerrilla tactics might seem passé at this point and certainly their peak has passed. But they are still a great low-cost of getting your brand out into the public eye and driving good PR. Just be sure it doesn’t back fire and create negative media or wrongly portray your brand.

From Sarah Sypniewski of Bark Pet Photography

29.  Design a beautiful and professional-looking website–and keep it updated.

30.  Get your social media presence established immediately–and post often.

31.  Build in-person relationships with already-established partners and entrepreneurs in your field and related fields. It’s important to surround yourself with people who are ahead of you in the game so they can be role models. Plus, you never know who they will introduce you to down the line!

From Mike Scanlin of Born To Sell

32.  Don’t overpromise and under deliver. Only market features you currently have, not ones you will have in 3 months.

33.  Don’t publicly slam your competitors. Focus on your positives, not their negatives.

34.   Don’t overspend on unproven marketing tactics. Do a small test with everything, measure results, and only do more if it’s profitable.

From Shel Horowitz of Green And Profitable

35.  Keep your marketing expenses low by using partnership marketing, expertise marketing, and publicity

36.  Understand what makes you special and different–why people would want to buy from you instead of someone else

37.   Marketing is not about your slogan, logo, colors, etc. It’s about your relationships and the customer/prospect’s *perception* of your firm.

From Marisa Brayman of Stadri Emblems

38. Be willing to spend money to make money.

39. Utilize all the free tools you can find.

40. Don’t forget the power of word-of-mouth.

From Victor Kwegyir of Vike Invest (UK) Ltd.

41. Identify your target market.

42.  Establish what marketing category you want to establish yourself in. That is, whether you want to become a market category leader, challenger, follower, or niche player?

43.   Communicate the benefits of what your business offers to your target market.

From Drew Stevens Ph.D. of Stevens Consulting Group

44.  Strategy is vital to success. Over 94 percent of business owners use tactical things that get them nowhere; having a marketing strategy is vital to the success of business.

45.  The business must be built as a brand much like you shop for products and services. This requires building awareness and community.

46.  Marketing - At the beginning, middle and end of the day you are in the marketing business and it must be consistently and relentlessly applied to all you do.

From Ciara Pressler of Pressler Collaborative

47.  Start with the most desirable crowd. Don’t try to market to everyone at once.

48.  Don’t position yourself as “the new ___” - if another site is already doing it well, don’t compete. Show what’s different about you.

49.   Don’t skimp on branding. A successful business becomes iconic, and your logo, colors, and verbiage are a huge part of driving that.

From Carole Holden of Gelmtree Advertising Consulting

50.  Determine who your ideal customer/client is.

51.  Figure out where to find them.

52. Speak their language.

From Sean Star of Media Star Marketing

53.  Develop your positioning strategy: who you are targeting, the size of the market, and how you are creating a divergence that is unique and beneficial
to the current market.

54.  Develop your identity concept: logo, colors, and printed and web marketing materials layout (business cards, brochures, banners, website, email
signature, etc.)

55.   Develop an advertising, social media and public relations strategy for the first 12 months (you will update this throughout the year).

From Shannon Mouton of Topaz Consulting

56.  Get business cards that are easy to read, with all of your contact information and utilize the back. It’s space going to waste.

57.  Tell everyone you know family, friends, former co-workers and folks in your bowling league. If you don’t tell them, how will they know?

58.   Get a new, professional sounding email address. “Drinking Buddy” and “PinkSwan” are fine personal email account usernames. You’re in business, you want to be taken seriously and you want to get paid for your products and services.

From John Parker of Guy Parker’s BBQ Sauce and Marinade

59.  A small business must understand their market- who are their customers, whether wholesale or retail.

60.  Find every advantage possible that your product or service has, and then explore non conventional paths to take.

61.  Never ever mislead your audience. You must lead your customers by the hand, but in the right direction.

From Lisa Manyon of Write On ~ Creative Writing Services, LLC

62.  Defy the norm and use the new marketing model for success. Instead of creating marketing messages based on the antiquated model of “Problem.  Agitate. Solve.” use the “Challenge. Solution. Invitation.” Formula.

63.  Challenge: Know your ideal clients have challenges. Acknowledge them. Understand them. Don’t dwell on them or try to “agitate” or exaggerate the situation.

64.  Solution: Offer a genuine solution to eliminate or alleviate the challenge. Come from a place of service first. Build relationships with
your solution.

65.  Invitation: Avoid hard sell tactics at all cost. Instead extend a friendly invitation to take the next step and move towards the solution.
This is also considered your “call to action”. It’s extended in a way thatbuilds relationships and treats people as people, not numbers.

From Tom Gullen of Scirra Ltd

66.  Honesty and integrity, these go a long way in every aspect of business including marketing successes. Sounds cheesy but it’s totally true

67.  Play to your strengths, white hat SEO is best for startup businesses for long term success.

68. When ‘cold’ emailing reporters, keep the email concise as possible.

From Katie Hughes, PhD of Dance Yourself Fit LLC

69.   Know who is going to buy your product and get your ads there (ex. If they go to a conference, then you sponsor the conference; if they all pay attention to Facebook, pay for highly targeted Facebook ads). If there are “connectors” in your target market, spend your money getting your message to them first. It helps to be or have been a part of the market you are selling to so you know about their habits.

70.  Make sure the selling points are truly from the point of view of the customer (not just how awesome your product is but what the customer is going to get as a result of using it) - know WHY they should pay attention to you versus your competition.

71.  Make your company and your ads look professional and reliable (not like you’re a start up) using good designs/photographs and credibility indicators.

From Elena Barbera of Worthy Words Writing

72.  Market every day. So many startups (especially solo entrepreneurs) get so caught up in a whirlwind of trivial tasks that they don’t spend time every day bringing in new business. If you reached 10, 20, or 100 new people every day, you’d get business. But if you’re spending too much time organizing your files or setting up your QuickBooks, you’re keeping yourself busy, but not earning.

73.  Only target your niche. This bears repeating, so here goes: Only target your niche. Don¹t try to get everyone as a customer. Unless you’re the electric company, everyone doesn¹t want your products and services. So don’t spend time and money marketing custom skateboard wheels to Florida retirees.  Market to the Warped Tour crowd and you¹ll be off to a much better start.

74.  Don’t expect social media to do it all for your business right in the beginning. It’s no secret that social media can have a HUGE impact on business. But in the beginning, it’s all about planting seeds and then watering them so they grow. The harvest doesn’t come until the fall. So putting all your eggs into that one basket won’t get you quick returns.

From Joy Gendusa of PostcardMania

75. Understand and isolate your target market.

76.  Find out what their buttons are - what will make them respond - using surveys.

77.  Formulate your message based on the buttons and pound the same message home over and over again to that audience using several marketing
channels.

From Travis Robertson of The Don’t Settle Group

78.  Don’t try to outspend the more-established competition. You don’t have their budgets (yet!).

79.  Don’t forget the phone. Everyone is focused on social and email marketing. The phone will often get you straight to a decision maker. I’ve made a lot of money by picking up the phone.

80.  Don’t be an inch deep and a mile wide. People spread their marketing efforts to wide. Rather than making great use of a few strategies, they chase every shiny, new tactic and then give up when “it doesn’t work” after only a marginal attempt.
From Michael Pesochinsky of GovernmentAuctions.org

81.  The more you plug your business the less you market it. Let your product or service speak for itself. It will testify to the solidarity of your brand. If you just keep saying you are great then no one will listen.

82.  The best kind of marketing is word-of-mouth. This is an old adage that still applies in this digital age. If your brand generates a buzz then it would spread like wildfire among people who can use it.

83.  Any publicity is not good publicity. Bad press could severely hurt a startup. For example if you develop an app that is untested and has glitches right off the bat and release it without marking it BETA - its bad reviews will diminish its potential for adaptation into virtual non existence.

From Jocelyn Saurini of Red Blue Voice

84.  “Set Goals. Track Progress.” Just because your business is new and your goals are modest, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set tangible goals and track against them. Even if the goal is only one new conversion per month, good marketing happens within a system. Set up that system from the start. It will keep you on track and help you with rule number three.

85.  “Think Small. ” The reason for creating a startup is because you think big, but when it comes to marketing you need to think in small, manageable steps. It would be great if your startup were immediately featured on Mashable or in the New York Times. However, if that’s where you put your energy you’re shooting at stars. Sure, you may hit a star, but the odds are against you. Think in terms of small gradual steps like content creation, social media, and networking. The results will be slower, but you’ll be working with proven methods to increase and grow awareness rather than hoping for a big hit that may not come (and may not give you long-term results even if it does).

86. “Don’t Get Distracted. Stay the Course.” When it’s your startup, it’s easy to panic and start to “throw things at the wall” if your initial marketing strategy doesn’t work. After all, you have a lot riding on this. But if your marketing strategy was well thought out, you need to give it time to develop. Yes, be nimble and ready to adjust to things that you learn about your market and product, but don’t start changing the strategy out of panic or without a clear roadmap.

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 think the new Facebook Pages for business is a good thing.  This format offers businesses a greater ability to develop relationships with new customers and deepen relationships with existing ones.  In fact, Mashable reported that the release of Timeline for individual pages resulted in a 37% increase in the amount of time people spent looking at another person’s profile page.  This can only be a good thing for business.

So before the official roll-out, take some steps to make sure your page is ready.  Here are 5 tips to optimize your Facebook business page for Timeline.

1. Choose a Cover Image.

A Timeline cover image is your chance to tell the world what your business is all about and I don’t mean what you are selling.    For example, Coca Cola’s Facebook Timeline Cover image shows happy, people having fun and enjoying Coke!  The image tells me that the brand is all about friends, good times, good memories and fun!

The Timeline cover image is 851 X 351 pixels and there are some very specific rules about what you can put on it, or more specifically, what you cannot put on it.

Your cover page cannot be an advertisement.  It cannot have a call to action such as “like” or “call now” or a special offer such as “buy one, get one free.”  It cannot have your phone number, URL or email or physical address . This information is supposed to be documented on your “About”  tab which is on the left hand side of your business page, just under your cover image.

So what should you put up as your cover photo? Any kind of image or collection of images that tells the story of your brand.   Here some more examples of some excellent Facebook cover images from Mari Smith, Starbucks, Cool Fords , and even Facebook. Here’s  a tip:  Need a graphic designer to make a custom Timeline cover image for you?  Hire one on Fiverr.com or Elance.com.

2.  Familiarize Yourself with the new Display.

The new Timeline gives page owners a couple of different options on how information is displayed on the page.  It can be “pinned” to the top of the page for 7 days (pin your info by clicking the pencil icon on the top right of your post; a yellow flag will appear at the top.).   Hint:  Use this feature to post a call to action.

Posts can also be highlighted  by clicking the star icon on the top right of the post which will make the post or image stretch across the full width of the page.  (Great for images).

3. Add Important Events to your Timeline.

With timeline you’ll now be able to record and showcase important dates in the history of your business.  Think; grand opening, anniversaries, special events, any date that is important in your business should be documented on your timeline.  Don’t forget to add photos.

4. Clean up Your Business Page.

This is the time to take irrelevant posts off  your business page.  You can either hide them or delete them.  No more explanation is required.

5. Determine Which Applications to Showcase.

Gone are the navigation links (or tabs) on the left hand side of the page which was labeled “photos, events, wall, etc.”  Those are now positioned on the top right hand of your business page right underneath your cover photo.  Make sure that the first four are the ones that you want your fans to see first.   You can edit which tabs can be seen by clicking on the icon that has a number and an arrow next to it which is just to the right of the rightmost tab.

Change can be a good thing, and I think the new Timeline for business pages is going to be good for all business.

Do you have your Facebook business page optimized for Timeline already?  Share it here so that members of StartupNation can learn and “like” your page too!!

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.

But there is a downside to going guerrilla. Guerrilla marketing strategies can easily backfire, leading to negative press for your company, fines, and the loss of both new business and existing clients.  Shifting your focus to attention getting stunts takes away from time spent building the customer relationships that make small business sustainable.   When you start using guerrilla tactics, you compromise the cohesion of your marketing strategy.   The end result for some small businesses is that going guerilla turns your sound marketing strategy into what I call “spaghetti marketing” where you are just throwing your marketing dollars (or spaghetti) at the wall just to see if they will stick.  Here are four reasons guerilla marketing can make spaghetti out of your marketing strategy.

1. What Happens After the Blast

Guerrilla marketing tactics focus on getting the word out in a creative, in-your-face way.  But you also need a plan to reconcile that with your day to day marketing campaigns.  If you cannot successfully tie the two together in a meaningful way and continue the messaging of the guerilla campaign in a more traditional marketing format, you risk losing any momentum gained by going gorilla.

2. Measuring Success

Spaghetti strategies are hard to measure.  The variety of tactics can make it difficult to determine which ones are working and which ones are not.  If your sales go up, was it because of the traditional ad in the Sunday paper or the sticker bombing of two downtown streets over the weekend.  Some might think, sales are up, why do I need to know which tactic worked, but knowing what lead to the increase is critical to understanding where to focus future marketing money.

3. Diluting the Message

One reason guerilla tactics can turn your marketing strategy into spaghetti is that it can dilute, mishandle, or otherwise mess with your message.  You might sacrifice sophistication to create a guerrilla campaign that is guaranteed to appeal to the younger generation in the hopes that they will take it viral.  But if they aren’t your demographic, it won’t matter how much of their attention you gain, especially if the message reaches your ideal customer base for which the sophistication your company offers was a serious selling point.

4. Cost Effectiveness

Although a guerilla campaign can be inexpensive, spaghetti marketing is not.  As soon as you start marketing in multiple mediums with multiple messages, you run the risk of skyrocketing costs whose impact on customer acquisition is difficult to measure.

While guerilla marketing campaigns can be integrated into a comprehensive and cohesive marketing strategy, small business owners need to understand this and do the work required so that they ensure the success of the overall plan.  Otherwise, even the best guerilla campaign will only end up as more spaghetti stuck to the wall.

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 use my smart phone all of the time and I’m always looking for new apps.  Here are 23 of my favorites.  Will you take the time to share some of yours?

1. Square- This app lets customers square-up with you in a fast and easy fashion by processing any major credit card via swipe from your smartphone.  The company charges a flat fee for every transaction, deposits money directly to your bank account the next day, provides a free card reader, and works on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone.
2. Evernote - This got-to-have app lets you record notes, snap pictures, clip webpages, collaborate with clients or co-workers, and keep it all organized, synchronized, and accessible from any device.  A must-have for business people on the go.  Available for all major platforms.
3. Mapquest- The MapQuest App is your free GPS, providing turn by turn directions on both the iPhone and Android platform.  There is now an option for businesses to get listed for free.
4. Where This app from the makers of PayPal lets you and your customers find local businesses, get information about deals at local businesses, get recommendations on local businesses, and share your recommendations and favorites with your friends.
5. Hindenburg Field Recorder) This app puts the power of professional audio recording in your hands and lets you capture a client interview, podcast, or other voice recording with one touch of your finger.  Only available on iPhone and iPad.
6. Dragon Dictation - This app provides easy-to-use speech recognition technology that instantly types as you speak.  Great for business owners on the go who need to record a blog post while on the train or capture notes from a customer meeting while driving back to the office.  Available for iPhone, iPad, and iTouch.
7. Group Text! - Now you can create distribution lists and send text messages to select groups of people at the same time without having to enter each individual contact.  Available for the iPhone.
8. iTunes GarageBand) - This app, available on your iPhone or iPad, lets you create your own podcasts and makes it easy to add music and other elements to the recording.
9. Instagram - This iPhone app allows you to take photos, edit them on your phone, and share them with your customers, clients, or social network no matter where you are.
10. Meeting Map - This handy app lets you record the names and locations of people attending a meeting to help you remember who was there and where they were sitting.  Perfect for business owners who attend networking events or client meetings.  Available on the iPhone and iPad.
11. Minibooks by Freshbooks - Put the power of Freshbooks in the palm of your hand with the Minibooks app for the iPhone and iPad.  You can track your time and invoice clients while you are out and about and on the road.
12. Scan Biz Cards - This app is great for business owners who network or interact with lots of new people.  Unlike other business card scanning apps, ScanBizCards offers additional functions like sending automatic intro emails and setting calendar reminders for following up.  Available on iPhone and Android platforms.
13. Things - This app makes it easy to keep track of your to-do list while you are getting things done.  Available for the iPhone.
14. BasecampHQ, - Although this app isn’t a mobile app, it is accessible via the browser on your phone and makes the powerful project management tools of BaseCamp available wherever and whenever you need them.
15. Summit - The simplified mobile access point for BaseCamp that makes it easy to manage all your to do lists, milestones, and projects from your iPhone.
16. Capsule - Capsule is a CRM application that you can use to track customers, manage customer communications, and stay on top of everything that needs to be done.  Works on all three smartphone platforms.
17. Line2 - Turn your iPad into a mobile communication station with this app and never miss an important phone call again.  Great for mobile business owners.
18. Track My Mileage Easiest way to keep track of your business mileage. Love this app!
19. SoundHound Don’t know the artist or the name of a song that’s playing?  SoundHound does!
20. ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner Scan barcodes or QR codes in an instant.
21. Pulse News- Get caught up with what’s new with this app that makes fun and engaging.  -One of my favorites.
22. Google Currents- Similar to Pulse, but you can add content from your Google Reader.  Also one of my favorites.
23. Scramble With Friends - My new favorite game.  Want to challenge me?  I’m 23Kazoos.

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.