FreeFormed Marketing Ideas: November 2006

Little things that make the difference

Buzzoodle Ron just left a comment on my last post where I mentioned a piece he'd written.

It was a small thing but I'm an avid reader of his Buzzoodle blog on creating word-of-mouth buzz, so it was nice to know he noticed.

For all I know he may post a hundred comments like that every day but he's the first person that I've linked to that's bothered to comment or get in touch.

It made me think what kind of opportunities businesses miss every day to help build those all important relationships.

Evolve your marketing

With every new client we always stress the importance of doing something a bit different. If you continue to do what you've always done (and what everyone else does) you'll continue to get the same results.

With that in mind we're always looking for a new strategy or outlet we can add to our clients marketing, so that, over time they grow from doing 1 or 2 things to 15 or 20. Simple maths will tell you that your chances of generating business improve as you cast your net wider. But, of course, for most small businesses these new ideas have to be 'low cost' and 'no cost'.

This Buzzoodle post has some simple day-to-day principles in the same vein.

A few ideas from ...

Just go this list in through the inbox:

"Guerrilla Rick Crandall, who is a marketing consultant, editor, author, and newsletter publisher, gives us 20 simple and inexpensive marketing ideas:

Send unusual postcards.
Request testimonials from good clients.
Go on a local talk show.
Refer business to a client.
Test offers with small classified ads.
Put a "take a card" holder in a neighborhood business.
Give a guest lecture at a local school.
Send a lottery ticket with a note: "If you want better odds, talk to us."
Find a new online discussion group.
Have a contest for the best and worst of something related to your area.
Try to bring back an ex-client.
Give evening seminars in your offices.
Create a flier and pay kids to pass out copies of it.
Approach a competitor about mutual referrals.
Sponsor a talk by a visiting expert on a topic for your clients.
Call ten people you've been meaning to talk to.
Find a marketing mentor and meet with that person regularly.
Put a company logo or sign on your car.
Change your phone greeting to "How can I help you?"
Take a client to a ballgame."

taken from the Guerrilla Marketing neswletter by Jay Levinson and Amy Levinson

More fusion : Wine Fusion!

I'm on a bit of a fusion trip at the moment. It's amazing how many businesses, big and small, are joining forces.

This one landed in my inbox this afternoon

Forbes Wine Club powered by WineExpress.com

Forbes make money from running a wine club and WineExpress makes money from Forbes running a wine club ( and gets a bit of a mention to tens of thousands of potential customers to boot ). What makes this smart is that they both using an existing asset (Forbes database and profile, WE's wine) to generate additional revenues and exposure with a marginal increase in costs.

Top of the list: fusion

I've been chatting to these guys over at UsefulGarbage.com

It's a nice site and a great idea, connecting "dumpers" and "finders" of useful and useless stuff. Top of their list for marketing techniques? Building relationships with as many other businesses and non-profit groups as possible to help them promote the site. Smart.