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It’s a new year and time to try some new innovative marketing ideas to help you stand above the other businesses in your space. Bonza Bottler Day is a great way to have a fun monthly promotion that the competition will never think about.
This is also my first post of the year in my new format where I will be focusing on new and different ideas for you to try that don’t have to be complicated or expensive.
I recently discovered that it is hard to push water up a hill. For me that is writing, while I enjoy it as a leisure activity, it is not the best way for me to deliver my message. So Blog if your love to write, Shoot video if that in person, on stage is what you need and do a podcast if you you find comfort in talking and not being filmed.
With summer in full force it has been a while since I have taken the time to show some of the gems that I have found in the world of guerrilla marketing and innovative ideas for business. Enjoy!
Giant Broccoli
For Tibits, a Swiss vegetarian restaurant chain, oversized forks were installed on to trees in major parks and in outdoor shopping areas all over Switzerland, The freshness of Tibits food could be demonstrated to people walking by. and hey for a guy who actually likes broccoli, it made me hungry.
Agency: Wirz/BBDO, Switzerland.
The Haunting Girl
During the fist phase of this campaign from New Zealand, die cut images of a haunting little girl were plastered around the city. The real size cut outs were spread out so that the little girl would seem almost omnipresent, like a spirit haunting the area. This teaser phase caught people’s attention during 2 weeks as no message, logo or signature appeared on the visual. Then during week three of the campaign a sticker was placed over the girl revealing the line, “The kids you kill never leave you “Slow down near schools.” Agency: Colenso BBDO, New Zealand.
Have a great weekend.
With all the stellar advancements in Web technology it can be extremely easy to get carried away and soup up your site with all the latest technical bells and whistles. And if you go through a professional website programmer, then there’s a good chance they will try to talk you into more than a few types of bells and whistles. As much as additional site elements—flash graphics, talking avatars, interactive questionnaires—may be legitimate add-ons, adding viable value to your site, bootstrapped business owners shouldn’t even start to consider these add-ons until they’ve got some positive cash flow consistently coming in. Even if you have a small business loan to fall back on, that loan can quickly dissipate if you stray from your path of essential business-building tools.
Unless you’ve got a friend who specializes in Web programming and website design with whom you can strike a barter deal, you’re going to want to keep your first website as basic as possible to relives some stress on that precarious budget of yours. But you fellow bootstrappers will be delighted to know that you can build your own website in a day (if you work really hard). And you don’t even need any prior experience to build a successful site.
A site hosting company is a business that provides a server for your website and allows it to be seen live on the Web. Essentially, they plug you into the Web for approximately $10 per month (I use Host Gator). Many times, your site hosting company will also offer you free site-building software with your monthly hosting service. This type of software helps you construct your own website using a simple plug-and-go format ( I recommend WordPress and Joomla).
The software incorporates preexisting tablets and preprogrammed coding, which means that your site is essentially already built for you. All you need to do is select a few elements that will help to personalize your site, such as selecting your favorite color schemes, uploading a photo of yourself, and adding content about your business. And it’s incredibly easy to add your own copy, usually just requiring simply copy and paste procedures. Other website programs include a content management site (CMS) that allows you to write your copy directly into the site and choose your formatting options.
Most of these complimentary site-builder software programs will be accompanied by simple instructions, but you can easily search for keywords such as “how to build a website,” “easy-to-create websites,” and “website building resources” to find even more extensive information on how to do it yourself.
After you have gotten your feet wet trying it out yourself, and you are ready to add new things it is a good time to talk to some web professionals about what is out there. I am one of those people that can set you on the right path, send me a note.
So what if people look at you funny, there’s nothing wrong with being a guerrilla. Look at it this way, you get to scratch yourself wherever and whenever you want, how great is that? Alright, alright, so maybe you don’t want to be an actual guerrilla, but if you’re a bootstrapped business owner, employing guerrilla marketing is sure to help you stretch your budget and tap into some awesome potential.
Where do you start? First, don’t concern yourself with thinking outside the box, forget the box altogether. Because by trying to come up with ways to think outside the box, you naturally start to align yourself with thought patters similar to other businesses trying to think differently. So, the key then is to think differently without thinking differently. Ha! How do you like that notion?
The point is, you’re all creative beings and hold an infinite amount of potential—you simply need to take a few minutes to relax and tap into your inner thoughts. You’ll be surprised at what you allow your brain to come up with when you give it a chance to plug into the subconscious and recall your past experiences and pair it with your expansive knowledge base. After you’ve given yourself some time to meditate and think deeply on how to make your business stand out, grab a pen and paper (or keyboard) and just start writing down all the different ideas that pop out of that beautiful brain of yours.
The key here is to allow for a stream of consciousness. As soon as you begin to question the legitimacy or plausibility of the ideas you come up with, you’re going to start suffocating the creative process—similar to waving your finger at your brain and punishing it for expressing itself. This is one of the leading reasons businesses have so much trouble being different, they don’t allow themselves creative license. Open yourself up and you’re going to love what you come up with. And you’ll be able to multiply your mental results by getting your team together and brainstorming together. If you’re truly a small business and don’t have any employees or teammates, then buy your friends a couple of beers and ask if they’ll come over and help you brainstorm. (Don’t have too many or they’ll have you convinced that standing on the corner naked screaming your site’s URL is a good idea.)
Here are a couple of quick ideas:
Fundraisers: There’s no shame in setting up a charitable event or fundraiser to garner lucrative exposure for your business. You will create the chance to help out a good cause and to get your name out in the public.
Chamber of Commerce: Many businesses seem to have forgotten about the good ol’ Chamber of Commerce. Joining this organization provides you with the opportunity to help your community while creating great business contacts.
Contests: Think of some contests that you can offer up to your business prospects and local community. Whenever you get people actively involved in something, you significantly increase the likelihood of lucrative conversions. Besides, they’re fun!