Cheeseburger Cupcakes

Originally uploaded by KateDW

I found this gem of a promotion idea on Flickr and want to share it with everyone. Check out all the pictures she added showing how these were created. Using creativity and coming up with an idea like this will have people talking about your business and you for a long time.

Successfully using Online or Offline Marketing requires that you Stand On Your Head from time to time. What I mean by that is, using thinking to set you apart from everyone else. When we walk into a meeting with a black arm band everyone notices. The black arm band will mean something different to each person in the room depending on how their world is constructed, but everyone will notice it and notice that you are the one wearing it. No one else is wearing it, just you, Your noticed and associated for a brief time with wearing a black arm band.

I’m attaching a movie about a high speed camera that is capturing visuals never before captured with a camera. This last statement is theirs not mine, I have no independent confirmation that it is true but it got me to watch the video. These people are presenting something new to most of us and they are standing out from all those around them. Standing On Your Head once in a while will get the blood to flow there more often.

It’s always something and I think many of us will agree that’s a good thing. The more daily reality forces us to stretch our marketing muscle the more our business will grow and equally the more we will as well. So my thought is embrace the recession as a time to do all the marketing things you have been putting off.

I found a little YouTube video that does a decent job of talking about offline marketing and wanted to share it. The women has a good grasp on the topic, her website is also helpful and worth a look.

A few other offline marketing things to do are:  Sign-up to sponsor a local kids sports team, have your blog advertised at bus stops or in a church bulletin and visit every business within walking distance introducing yourself and giving each one a flier about your blog.

That’s right I said it, read Marketing Blogs everyday. Make it part of your routine like brushing your teeth or reading your snail mail. If you don’t have a feed reader get one and pick out 5 Marketing Blogs that speak to you and your situation.

Yes there are thousands of people who dole out millions of lines of both online and offline Marketing Advice, I’m sure it seems as attractive as putting you finger in a light socket trying to find just the right few for you. No need to fret here are two that will lead to more. The first is the Canadian Marketing Blog a rich source of great information and the second is the Church of The Customer a down to earth and straight forward look at everything.

Everything we do in business comes down to two simple things.

1. everything is local
2. everything is marketing

Now think about those two things as you go about your day building your business.

Setting out on the path of marketing can seem at times like a path full of danger. Either you do your own marketing or you hire a firm to do it for you but either way there are few if any guarantees the money you spend will create positive results.

In the end marketing really can be no more effective then shooting dice in Las Vegas except your not dealing with vacation money. The money you spend to market your business is an expense that needs to be accounted for.

I suggest before you do a large spend on outside marketing you step back and do all the simple things you can to burnish your companies image in-house. Think of your business as being on a street corner with people walking past looking in the windows all day long. What is is you want people to see when they look at your business? They could be looking at either your website, brochure, billboard, waiting rooms,trucks, balloons or hundreds of other items and ideas associated with your business.

What do people see when they look through your windows? Wash your street level windows everyday.