Marketing can improve your sales and profits. However, it is not about the number of marketing ideas you put out there, but in the quality of your marketing.
This article discusses creative marketing ideas to help you get your company and product or service to your customers: guerilla marketing ideas, social media marketing ideas, urban marketing ideas, content marketing ideas, contest marketing ideas, and contest promotion marketing ideas.
© Shutterstock | Maksim Kabakou
Even with these ideas, keep in mind to use detailed planning, tests, and evaluation of the marketing results in order to optimize your sales and profits. Try to conduct research on your marketplace to know about the message to share with your audience. Run advertisements and promos in small locations and check on the results before you spend your whole budget. Find ways to integrate a couple of ways to monitor your marketing ideas in action.
104 CREATIVE MARKETING IDEAS
As we have previously mentioned, having creative marketing ideas is great for boosting your sales and profits.
Moreover, if you are a startup company or a small business and you do not have the funds for expensive ads like your larger competitors, stay on their level by marketing smarter with these creative ideas (if you want to think of some out-of-the-box ideas, you can brainstorm with your business team and connections).
Guerilla Marketing Ideas
Guerilla marketing concentrates on strategies to promote you products and/or services in an unconventional manner, even with a small budget.
#1 Frame it as something different.
You need to attract attention. If, for example, you have a construction business, paint some of your trucks pink. If you sell women’s shoes, get men in military uniform to sell your sky-high heels!
In a way, take in the stereotypes of your industry or business and then break out of their mold. This will get your business noticed.
#2 Go to where your customers are.
Figure out where your customers spend most of their time and develop your marketing idea there. If you own a dating service, for example, make customized shot glasses with your ad at the bottom of each glass. You can do this by paying local bars to make use of your shot glasses. It also does not have to be super creative.
For example, a photographer got more customers when she found out most of her clients went to a certain bar. Hence, she put advertisements up on their bathroom. Does not sound very elegant or classy, but it worked!
#3 Think about the delivery.
Consider creative ways to deliver your products to your customers. Case in point, in South Africa, Windhoek, they used drones to deliver free beer to people in the OppiKoppi festival. The people could order through their smartphones that are GPS-enabled. Talk about enjoyable!
#4 Make an odd partnership.
Did you hear before that M&M’s were asked to be featured in E.T.? They turned it down, so the movie went with Reese’s Pieces. Although that small hurdle did not put much of a dent on M&M’s sales, it made Reese’s Pieces a household name.
The lesson here is that it would not hurt your business if you teamed up with an unusual partner or even, place, for promotion purposes.
#5 Allow people to look twice.
If you want to advertise, make people look twice. For example, Frontline bought a complete floor space in a mall that had a couple of floors. From the second floor, customers could lean over and see a giant dog scratching his ear.
Their tagline was to get fleas or bugs away from your dog. This allowed customers to take another look, which is what any company wants.
#6 Give them a preview.
Allow users to have an experience of your product or service. Case in point, Swiss Skydive used the floor of an elevator for a creative guerrilla advertisement. They painted the elevator floor in a 3-dimensional way to show how it would feel like to free fall into a sky dive.
Think of how scary and exhilarating it feels would be as you go down the building!
#7 Take the funny route.
Do not be afraid to pinch your customers and would-be customers’ funny bones. For example, Ambience Media bought a space in bathrooms — particularly, the hand dryers.
They put in a picture of a man who looks like he is blowing your hands dry, showing the strength of the hot sauce. For sure, you will remember this product.
Some really awesome guerrilla marketing campaigns.
#8 Hide a message.
This is also called the fortune cookie effect. Keep your customers engaged by putting hidden or fun messages in your packaging (if you are selling a product).
Some examples of products that use this technique to bring interest to their branding are beer, ketchup, chocolates, and of course, fortune cookies. Embed a message in your product to gain interest and conversation around your message, your product, and your brand.
#9 Make it smell.
Good, that is… Put together a fragrant smelling environment through the use of oils or vaporizers. Has it happened to you that you pass through a café or a restaurant and was attracted by the delicious aroma?
Research has proven that consumers stay longer in environments that smell great. Remember, the smell is the only sense that is unfiltered by the brain. So pick a scent that goes well with your branding.
#10 Personalize it.
People love it if they have a product of their own. Think about the “Share a Coke” campaign. Due to the fact that Coke saw an opportunity to have personal connections, the company saw an estimated three-percent (3%) increase in sales.
Thus, if you give personalization through a tagline, a picture, a monogram, and the like, this can increase your sales.
#11 Collaborate with companies you are not in competition with.
Think of what products work well with your product. These are companies that do not take shares of your profit that can result in higher sales for the both of you.
Case in point, Colgate teamed up with a local ice cream manufacturer to insert sticks that looked like a toothbrush. As soon as a person licked to the end of the ice cream, they saw the logo of Colgate and a message asking them not to forget to brush their teeth after eating sweets.
#12 Shock and awe them.
But do it the right way. For example, Transferwise had a parade in London showing almost nude people in body paint. They had a big inflatable tombstone that said R.I.P. hidden charges. We think the message got across.
#13 Begin a campaign for change.
If there is something that bothers you about your industry, launch an awareness campaign to change it. You could even provide something in your company to serve as a resolution of sorts.
#14 Go undercover.
Also called stealth marketing, marketers go undercover, disguising themselves as peers in their target audience.
Case in point is the 2022 campaign of Sony. Actors were hired to go around cities, asking people to take a picture of them using their new phone. As they did this, the actors would talk to them about the capabilities and features of the phone.
#15 Get a flash mob.
Flash mobs organize individuals to perform a particular task or action in a specific time and location. You can get hired actors or random people from the community who would enjoy flash mobs. However, they have become a bit overused because of its effectiveness.
So, nowadays, when you use a flash mob, make sure it is something a bit more memorable than the usual.
Here a local opera is trying to promote Il Trovatore from Verdi.
#16 Break a world record.
When you break a record, make sure that it is connected to your brand, product, or service. This would serve as a good publicity stunt.
For example, if you own a pizza parlor, try to break the record for the most number of toppings in a pizza!
#17 Turn it into something experiential.
For example, National Geographic was able to remind people how difficult and dangerous it is to get a perfect picture of animals. They have a picture of a roaring lion on the wall and just a few inches away from it, on an angle, it says on the ground:
“What’s it take to get this photo? Stand here with a camera for three years.”
#18 Flip it into something that may “seem to be.”
This may sound cryptic, but you can get it through a simple example. Pringles distributed about 24,000 Pringles cans outside of Wimbledon. The packaging had the following sentence: “These are not tennis balls!” This garnered much attention, obviously.
#19 Stick it to the competition.
We do not suggest being disrespectful, but be creative in sticking it to your competition.
For example, Germanwings, a discount air carrier in Europe, planted passengers in its discount competitor, Ryanair in April 2010. Ryanair, although having cheap flights in Europe, is known to charge passengers even for using the bathroom.
When passengers sat in the Ryanair flight, cardboard signs went up saying, “I hate this ‘choose your seat.’” Another: “Next time, let’s fly Germanwings.” Other passengers were able to capture this on their smartphones and it spread virally.
#20 Get that moving advertisement.
Do not simply go for a static poster on a bus. Take a lesson from the Copenhagen Zoo. The zoo wanted to feature its reptile exhibit and increase ticket sales.
They used graphic printers that would create giant wraps. All they did was shrink-wrap Copenhagen city buses, making it seem that the buses were in the process of being squeezed by a huge boa constrictor.
#21 Drop them to bring them up again.
The key here is the management of expectations. In 2010 in Italy, Heineken had more than a thousand Italian men trapped in a poetry and opera event with their friends, significant others, making them miss the big football game.
When the event started, some clues were dropped and then the big game of Real Madrid versus AC Milan was shown on the big screen, sponsored by Heineken. Then Heineken beers were served immediately and the night was a complete success!
#22 Use technology.
No one knows this more than the Japanese does. Since they love robot culture, the apparel store, United Arrow in Japan hooked its mannequins with the Microsoft Kinect.
The result was that customers and passersby made the mannequins copy their moves. Large crowds spent hours in the store as a result.
See even more guerrilla marketing campaigns for your inspiration.
#23 Prove your product’s effectiveness.
If you strongly believe in your product, prove it to your customers. P.T. Barnum, back in the early 1900s pulled off one of the most famous stunts in the marketing world.
He was tasked by New York City to demonstrate the strength of the Brooklyn Bridge. He thought, what could prove the strength of the bridge more than a herd of elephants, weighing around a ton each, crossing the bridge? People were impressed and trusted in the Brooklyn Bridge’s strength.
#24 Take the historical route.
Use the knowledge of history to your marketing advantage. In the middle of the 1990s, Taco Bell used both traditional and non-traditional media to design a grassroots marketing idea.
In newspaper advertisements all over the U.S., Taco Bell marketers stated that they bought the Liberty Bell and would be renaming it to the Taco Liberty Bell. Although it created some initial controversy, there was a lot of public focus and opinions on Taco Bell turned positive once they explained the joke.
#25 Use pop culture.
Take the collective knowledge of the common person of pop culture and use it for your brand.
Case in point, Meow Mix cat food in 2006 started a cat reality show on Animal Planet. The Meow Mix House had web cameras where cats played, jumped, etc. from 10 shelters in the U.S.A., just like “Big Brother,” but for kittens.
Each Friday, Meow Mix stated which cat would be voted out. This meant that they have been adopted and could then receive a supply of Meow Mix for a year. This marketing ploy increased the sales of Meow Mix and helped raise cat adoptions.
#26 Establish new experiences for your customers.
Remember, if you can have individuals engage with your brand physically, you can achieve success. Just use the example of Volkswagen in 2009.
To promote environmental and consumer friendly cars, VW painted big piano keys on the subway station stairs so people would take the stairs and not the escalator. Aside from their videos going viral, people who took the stairs rose by sixty-six-percent (66%)!
#27 Thank your customers uniquely.
Know that investing in your customers by thanking them can give a lot. TD Canada Trust knew this. To start its campaign, “TD Thanks You,” they gave away $20 gift cards as a thank you to more than 300,000 customers.
Then they went the extra mile for a dozen customers that were pre-selected. Once the customers entered, employees brought them to special ATMs (Automated Thanking Machines), telling them that they are part of a unique ATM analysis.
Customers were surprised to receive cool thank you gifts like cash. Some were more personal, like plane tickets to visit their loved ones in Trinidad, to pay college tuition, and the like.
#28 Make people into walking advertisements.
If they want to, that is. Case in point, Superette’s short shorts. Once you sit on their bench, if you are wearing short shorts, the bench would engrave on your thighs, “Short Shorts on Sale Superette.”
Social Media Marketing Ideas
Social media marketing focuses on increasing attention or traffic for your brand via social media websites.
#29 Use your existing social media community.
See how you can tap into your community. For example, a Starbucks customer in 2011 took a picture of his card. He then shared it online, saying that anyone could use it. Starbucks saw this as an opportunity to work on their message. So use your existing social media community to spread your message.
#30 Incorporate your customers into your team.
Even though you listen to and engage your customers, make them feel like they are actually part of your team. Just take what the Amsterdam store of Karl Lagerfeld did in 2013.
Their store put in iPads inside their dressing rooms as well as a touch screen that was wall mounted and a camera. The concept behind this was to allow their customers to share new looks with their contacts in social media. They also used filters like Instagram, which can be made to look like a look book.
Not only was it fun, but it was a wonderful way to promote the Karl Lagerfeld brand. At the end, it made the customers feel like they were part of the company.
#31 Get a guest poster.
Allow a user guest or a customer post on your social media accounts. Not only will it show a different aspect of your company, it shows that you are customer-oriented.
#32 Be shameless.
We do not mean it as it sounds. Having many Facebook or Twitter followers could translate to actual customers. So do be a bit shamelessly.
If you are speaking at a conference, put in your Facebook or Twitter handle on the slideshow or even throughout your entire presentation (just at the corner, of course). Or, if you have new business cards, include all of your social media handles!
#33 Join in on the trend.
If there is a trend or a theme going on like a #ThrowbackThursday, build your social media followers by becoming an active but creative participant.
#34 Humanize your social media accounts.
Of course, you might be updating all of your social media accounts and having fun with it. What you can do additionally, so people would feel more connected to other people, is to include the picture of a real person to your social media accounts.
#35 Work off on successful viral efforts.
If something already worked for you before, use it again but in a different way. Heineken Beer released a 2009 video called “Walk-In Fridge.” This showed girls shrieking as they saw their girlfriend’s brand new walk-in closet.
In a different room, men also had their moment when their friend showed them their walk-in refrigerator with shelves full of Heineken. Heineken lengthened this viral idea. By 2010, it created a walk-in refrigerator for its beer festivals. Groups could parody the advertisement and upload their antics on YouTube.
#36 Take “advantage” of the situation.
After the blackout during the 2013 games, Oreo started a reactive Twitter campaign, with the tag line, “You can still dunk in the dark.” This would entail that you act fast and wittily, of course.
#37 Make that meme.
Memes are typical and fun for people who are on the internet. You can go really cheeky by using fun memes. It is pretty easy to create your own memes by using meme generators.
Urban Marketing Ideas
Urban marketing has to do with promoting your company and products using what urban cities have to offer you.
#38 Go old school.
Try some sidewalk chalk writing for your business, especially if you are a business that is more locally oriented.
#39 Put up a mural.
Ask permission from a prominent building to put up a large mural. It could be anything, as long as it promotes your business.
#40 Make your billboard special.
Do not just do what everyone else is doing. If you have a digital billboard, try to make it interactive. Ask users to put in what they think should be in the billboard (a picture, a note, and the like). If you have a static billboard, there is still a lot of room for creativity.
Case in point, if you are a company that sells water purifiers, make your billboard feature dirty water being cleanly and easily filtered into a clear glass. This is an approach wherein you can demonstrate what your service or product does.
#41 Make it realistic.
Use existing structures in the urban setting to market your product. For example, Advil advertised its pain medicine.
Their poster was positioned halfway a pole, with the pole going through the poster. The picture of a man holding unto his head with the pole poking through his head stated, “More Powerful than Pain.” This really gets the point across.
#42 Use the surroundings.
Think outside of the box and see how you can use the urban environment to create some marketing impact. For example, a company selling barbeque painted the following text on the ground: “Need a new barbecue?” and their contact details near a drainage grate.
#43 Customize those stickers.
It is not simply a matter of slapping on your logo unto a sticker. Make customized stickers based on the urban location.
For example, Axe Body Spray customized their stickers, attaching it to the traditional “Exit Man” signs that are commonplace. They have their man exiting as a group of women run after him.
#44 Mimic your product.
Look at your surroundings and see what your product can mimic. That is exactly what Cover Girl did for the application comb of its Lash Blast Mascara. They colored a city turnstile to the same color as its application comb. Pretty cool and memorable we must say!
#45 Make the surroundings “work” for you.
Is there something in your local surroundings you think you could take advantage of? This is exactly what Folgers Coffee did in New York.
It covered a steaming manhole with an image of its coffee in a cup, making it seem as if heat is emanating out of the coffee. It would surely make you crave for some Folgers!
Content Marketing Ideas
Content marketing ideas are concentrated on the creation and distribution of important and usable information to attract and keep a target audience, to, at the end, bring customers to your company and product and/or service.
#46 Shoot a video.
Videos are great to draw in and keep the attention of your users. Actually, visual information has a higher retention rate of 65-percent. This is much higher than the retention rate of 10-percent for just text information.
In addition, your customers who would watch your product videos would most likely convert to your product than those who do not. Remember, video content is very powerful, even if you are simply educating consumers or showing how your product works in real life.
#47 Make predictions for the future.
Play the fortuneteller by making predictions on your industry. Just ensure that you have the information to support your predictions.
#48 Respond to controversy.
It does not need to be said, but controversial information can get you attention. However, be careful. Instead of coming up with controversial stuff, it may be safer to respond or answer an existing industry controversy by offering your interpretation of it.
#49 Put together content from other sources.
Of course, you can borrow content coming from other sources. Case in point, you can quote content from forum threads. Get the parts you think would make up a great advice guide, for example. But remember, you have to mention your sources.
#50 Interview experts.
A creative content marketing idea is to interview the experts in your industry. Using set questions, share their answers through a blog post, for example. These types of content do really well because it is interesting where the experts agree and where they do not. A great thing when you share the opinions of the leaders, the leaders will share them with their followers as well.
#51 Create “Top Ten” lists.
People love “Top Ten” lists. Whether it may be the top 10 tools, the top 10 products, etc., customers love to go through the rankings and discuss! This is because they are easy to scan and read.
Remember to have a good mix of fast but interesting content pieces. Remember, you do not have to constrain yourself with just 10.
#52 Write a great eBook.
You can write a complete eBook on a topic for your industry or a usual pain point. You can even make a good landing page on your website for your eBook. No need to start the eBook from scratch. Just repurpose previous articles and blog posts to create a great eBook collection.
#53 Create an online magazine.
Make your own virtual magazine. As a good example, check out the stylish e-magazine by Whole Foods called Dark Rye. Have it feature your products. To accomplish this pretty hassle free, create an online newspaper through Paper.li.
#54 Have a podcast.
Podcasts are great for your content marketing because users could download them and listen to it anywhere. Actual content of your podcasts could be interviewing experts, talking about cool industry updates, etc.
#55 Cover industry events.
If you attended an event like a conference or seminar for your industry, write about the information you gathered, what you thought was interesting, and the like. Other people might find them interesting as well. You can even use a hashtag for your efforts.
#56 Show social proof.
You can create great content marketing by using types of social proof. Just like the project called the Nightmares Fear Factory. What they do is take photographs of their freaked out guests and post them on Flickr. The photographs are super funny, proving that their project is truly scary as they claim.
#57 Create branded tools.
Make cool and valuable tools for your audience. You can use particular parts of the tool to push your product, however, make sure that your tool is of quality. Do not create a tool just to sell your product.
When you create free tools, its users will think well of you and help expand your brand.
#58 “Game-ify” your product or service.
By “game-ifying” your product or service, you will get users excited. Users do not win anything tangible, but for sure, people would love to earn points.
For example, if you run a restaurant, create a mobile app that mimics the regular working day of your restaurant. If you sell lipsticks, create a game that tries on different lipsticks on the user, trying to check if something looks good on them!
#59 Go to the funnies.
Even though funnies on the newspaper are slowly dying, online comic strips are alive and well. Think about creating your very own comics online to show funny or weird parts of your business. To begin, check out Strip Generator or Pixton.
#60 Create that online course.
There are so many courses you could offer, depending on your expertise. Get initial help from Copyblogger Media for sources of good training resources.
#61 Share industry secrets.
All industries have their secrets that people on the outside do not know. When is the best time to buy a product? How can you get good deals? When should you shop? Do not be afraid to share your general industry secrets.
#62 Talk about that hack.
Majority of people love hacks because they are not simply trade secrets, but they are shortcuts in life.
#63 Teach at seminars and workshops.
With this, your company can get additional publicity and you can also look professional to your customers.
#64 Go behind the scenes.
Give people a guided tour of your company. They would love to see what goes on behind the scenes, in areas they usually are not allowed to enter.
If you cannot literally open your doors, you can make a video tour and post it on your website and social media accounts. For example, the Victoria Brewing Company has a virtual tour of their business.
#65 Find other uses for your products.
There is actually a website and a complete movement, wherein people try to use IKEA products in a way not originally meant by the creator.
So if your products can be used in distinct or weird ways, write about it or maybe ask your customers to send their pictures and posts. Remember the Roaming Gnome by Travelocity?
#66 Make a fun quiz.
This is probably one of the easiest ways for you to establish some viral content and a good way to contact and connect with potential and current customers.
#67 Be true about how you started.
In a manner of speaking, tell your story. Sometimes, to show that we are so professional, we kind of do not want to tell our story. But stories can get you closer to your audience. A great story can do wonders for your brand.
#68 Create case studies.
It is not as boring as it sounds. When you have satisfied customers, ask them to share their experience of your product or your service. The collection of these stories would bring credibility to your business, will encourage repeat business, and will allow you to get more customers.
#69 Establish relationships with influential bloggers.
There are many blogs there, but research and look for influential bloggers you can establish relationships with. Allow them to write a review about your product or service or your company, if they want to, of course.
#70 Write impactful content online so people would link to them.
Try to write evocative posts so people would always link to them. If there are more people who seem to recommend your posts, the more traffic you will see on your website, and eventually, more customers.
#71 Contact the local paper.
Find if they could benefit from a regular column wherein they ask the experts. Afterwards, offer regular expert posts for publication. Just make sure you make good write-ups.
#72 Have press kits always ready.
Put together background info on your company. Make them ready to send to journalists. You could also have a section on your website for the media to download at any time.
#73 Make a funny 404 page.
404 pages are known as web pages that tell site visitors that the page they are searching for could not be found. Turn your 404 page to something funny so it could turn viral and be shared by friends.
#74 Create a creative calendar people would want to display.
We are not talking about your run-of-the-mill calendar. Design a special calendar with your company name, website address, and important events connected to your business.
Make it special and distinctive enough that people would want to display it in their homes and offices. This is free advertising for your business.
Contest Marketing Ideas
The aim of contest marketing is providing consumers with a positive experience, creating a connection with the product that you sell, and collecting data on the shoppers that could help you with other marketing campaigns oriented towards sales.
#75 Ask people to caption a photo.
Post a photograph and ask that your users submit their preferred caption. The results — fun all around!
#76 Let your product or service be the prize.
You can promote and host a competition. Form a few teams with also a number of participants. A team wins when they finish the task you asked of them. Their entry fee may be the price of your product or service (even at a lower cost). The winner of the grand prize may be your service or product!
#77 Host your own award competition.
If there is no competition within your industry or you cannot compete in it, host your own competition to create buzz. Other companies would certainly want to win your award.
#78 Turn a negative into a positive.
When something unfortunate happens as related to your brand and product and/or service, turn it into a positive.
That is exactly what Waterstones, a British bookstore chain did. They flipped an unfortunate mishap to something great. When an American tourist was mistakenly locked in their store after it closed, he asked for help on Twitter. It went viral very rapidly and appeared on worldwide headlines.
A couple of days after the lock-in, Waterstones created an intentional lock-in by starting a competition wherein 10 guests could spend a night in their Trafalgar Square store. They advertised the contest on the accommodation website AirBnB.
Applicants had to give the book that they would read if they were locked in a bookstore overnight. The contest received more than 1,200 applications and more than 4,000 Facebook likes.
#79 Ask them to submit a vote.
Contests that need votes get so many entries because they are easy to participate in. For Twitter, you just click and that is it.
What is great about asking people to vote is that you not only get your company name out there, the information you get from the votes could be a helpful study for you. You could even write what you found out on a blog! The nth number of vote could be a winner!
#80 Hunt for treasure.
Create a customized and high quality treasure hunt to engage your audience. You can post online clues to treasure scattered over a community, a city, or even a couple of cities. You can reveal the winner through a grand event or just online.
#81 Get them really engaged.
Heineken, the beer company known for its creative campaigns, targeted football fans. They secretly offered the men the possibility of watching the finals of the UEFA Champions League. The condition, however, is to be able to convince their female partners to purchase very ordinary stadium seats at a very high price.
Contest Promotion Marketing Ideas
Contest promotion is connected to contest marketing. Once you have your contest in place, it is important to promote it. The ideas here are focused on how to promote the contest marketing ideas you have in mind.
#82 Add a hashtag to your contest.
Include a significant and distinct hashtag for your contest. This allows you to track the entries and makes it convenient to go through and organize.
#83 Make the contest shareable.
What this indicates is that you give the option to share the contest through a button or promoting that users share the contest on social media. The more individuals know of your contest, the better for your company.
#84 Give bonus points when users share.
When you provide users the ability to earn bonus points by just sharing the contest through social media, it is most likely that users would bite. Rafflecopter is an option for you to use.
#85 Collaborate with deal sites.
We all love free stuff. People who really love great deals often go to deal sites as well as forums. There is usually a contest or sweepstake forum in there where you can include your contest. An example could be Slickdeals, especially if you have a restaurant.
Other Marketing Ideas
These marketing ideas cannot be categorized under the previous marketing ideas, but these are good and creative ones that need to be mentioned nonetheless.
#86 Have a community day.
Provide your goods or services to the local community during community day for free or at a reduced price. This is a good way to give back to your community and to allow other consumers to discover you.
#87 Go beyond being an altruistic business.
Businesses are known to donate money or to sponsor a nonprofit to make their companies look good. But go to the next level. In Brazil, they had a campaign called Rescue Drive.
An Orca Chevrolet went all over the community looking for stranded motorists. They then provided them a test drive so they could get home, to work, or elsewhere.
#88 Use the technology.
If you have a little bit more money, consider making technology work for you. Hellman’s trialed a shopping cart that had tablets, detecting items and offering recipes in Brazil.
If a user put in a product by Hellmann’s inside their shopping cart, the display of the table would show possible meal ideas, which they can use with other items on the shelf. According to Hellman’s, their sales rose by seventy-percent (70%)!
#89 Box your product or service.
Consider box subscriptions. Box subscriptions are commitments that you would send to your customer a box of goods each month for a particular period. The customer can pick how long the subscription would be. Case in point, the Dollar Shave Club sends razors of high quality to your home just for a couple of dollars each month. This is so customers could shave with a fresh blade.
Although the boxing subscription is great for a retail business, it can also work for services. If you have a cleaning company, a customer could buy a subscription for 3 months wherein your business can visit the customer’s home for deep cleaning. Every month, you may even send them product samples to try. Having continuity in the offering allows you to impress your clients but introduce new services and products.
#90 Adopt a road or a community.
If there is a road that needs to be kept free of litter or a community that needs help in your locality, go ahead and adopt them. People tend to view companies more kindly if they see them doing good.
#91 Start a pop-up store.
Pop-up stores are temporary shops, which are easy to set up and close. When you have a pop-up store, you bring yourself to your customers—whether it may be an office, a fair, a street corner, and the like.
What is great with a pop-up store, you spend less on rent, but at the same time leave an impression on your customers. In addition, the limited time that you are available makes you seem more covetable.
#92 Become helpful and interesting.
Try to show people you are helpful yet interesting, even funny. Check out the app called Charmin Sit or Squat. This could be downloaded through iTunes.
This app helps you search for a public restroom that is clean. It is practical, functional, and interactive because people put in their ratings for the app whether the toilets are worthy for sitting or for squatting.
#93 Incorporate your product into people’s lives.
How do you incorporate your product into people’s lives without them buying it yet? Take for example, the film, “Batman v Superman.” The villain, Lex Luthor, was treated as a real person. Warner Bros., created false profiles in the magazine found in Fortune and Wired.
They had detailed descriptions of Lex Luthor, where he loved to eat pizza with raw almond crust, calling him a genius that wears jeans. He even sponsored the free WiFi during New York Comic Con. In a manner of speaking, make your product real for your users.
#94 Make smaller versions.
Think about making mini or smaller versions of your product and/or service at a discount. This will bring in new or existing consumers that could bring long term business relations.
#95 Join charity auctions.
Think about donating your service or your product to charity auctions. Not only is this great to help others, you can network, meet probable customers, and increase your local profile.
#96 Advertise on your blogs.
Search for online advertising, by thinking of where your target customers usually go to. Contact blog or website owners and sponsor them. In exchange, you can get advertising space.
#97 Encourage repeat business through rewards.
If you get more work from an existing customer, reward them using some kind of loyalty rewards. It is up to you how you want to reward them: a discount, freebies, and the like.
#98 Be friends with local suppliers and the competition.
Afterwards, recommend them to your customers. This shows you are confident in your standing with your customers enough to recommend them to your competition. You might even get something in return from the competition. Remember, there is enough work for everyone.
#99 Publicize milestones.
Publicize milestones and have an event centering around it. It could be your 100th customer for the year or other significant milestones. The publicity could be as simple as a week-long discount to something grand as an event.
#100 Always include a “special something” in the most mundane things.
When you record an outgoing answering machine message, put in a memorable tip or message. Always change it. You can do the same thing for something as straightforward as your email signature.
#101 Give business cards with a punch.
For many companies, business cards are a requirement. However, business card formats can be boring—just a rectangular piece of cardboard with your name and contact information.
No one will take a second look at your card if it is the usual, but they could if you do something different. Transform your business card into a different shape, connect it to your industry, put in interesting information, etc.
#102 Handwrite letters.
In these days where everything is digital and emailed, receiving a handwritten letter has become special. So write a letter to your customers. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes — would you keep a direct mail advertisement with your name typed across like so many others or a personal letter from a local business?
#103 Give free consultations.
These can be great ways to demonstrate your expertise and even get more people as clients, especially if you run a service-oriented business.
#104 Take advantage of the seasons.
It is always popular to give discounts during particular times of the year. Provide your products or services giving a discount, whether it may be a summer deal or winter savings.
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