Pandamonium on April 16th!

Panda Express, a leading Chinese quick service chain (with 1000+ locations) created their own panda campaign to launch a new addition to their menu. Here’s what they did: they sent a plain white box containing two plush pandas named Tom-Tom and Eddie to select marketing restaurant and marketing trade media editors to roll out their Beijing Beef advertising campaign. They followed up the mailing with an email campaign explaining the chain was “stirring up pandemonium” with its new dish. The results? Mentions and full spread articles in several of these publications, far exceeding Panda Express’ expectations.

What type of marketing ideas could you come up with to promote your business during Panda Day?

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 6th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2012 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

Carol Morgan, creator of National Dream Day is hosting an event in celebration of National Dream Day.

Do dreams puzzle you?

Do you wonder why dreams are important and why it is worth your time to study them?

Do you think, “I don’t dream” or “I don’t remember my dreams.” These questions will be among the topics discussed on the teleclass scheduled for noon (EDT) on April 2nd.

Learn how dreams can save time, create clarity in business and in your personal lives. Wonder where your next job is, your dreams can show you where! Wondering whether to go ahead with your next business deal, dreams can help you there as well.

Send in your dreams and interpretations to carol@allaboutdreaming or post them on Facebook.com/allaboutdreaming. The best dream with interpretation will win the More Time for Me program (value: $797.00). Register at http://annualdreamday.eventbrite.com.

In this teleclass Carol, The Dream Lady will  answer those burning questions you ask yourself about dreams and dreaming!

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

Here’s an astounding fact - people who read business books make more money – a lot more!   (Even in tough economic times.)

A study by Bersin & Associates** found that while 74.9% of all managers understand the correlation between reading and competitive advantage, they simply don’t have the time to read more books. This is directly impacting their careers — and incomes! * In fact, business people who read at least seven business books a year earn over 2.3 times more than those who read only one book per year.

Don’t have time to read books?  Here’s a solution:

Women in eCommerce™ has teamed up with The Business Source to offer the Business Book Summary Program — concise summaries of books you need to read. Each month, you will learn best practices and get powerful insights from leading-edge thinkers, industry experts and renowned business gurus.

The summaries take just 15 minutes to read or listen to and you get two summaries monthly, so your total time investment is only 30 minutes a month!

Where can you find a stream of new and practical ideas to drive your success?

From the world’s top business experts.

If you could use a stream of powerful new ideas to help increase your value and take you to the next level, click here to learn more

OR

cut and paste this link into your browser… http://members.thebusinesssource.com/WECAI1.htm

Women in eCommerce™ has arranged a special discount for you (originally offered only until December 13th, the offer has been extended to December 21st).  Until then, you can get a one year subscription to the Business Book Summary Program for only $39. That’s 70% off the regular price and a savings of $91.

This may very well be your only chance to purchase the Business Book Summary Program at the discounted price and The Business Source offers a 100% money back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied.

Go ahead, check it out TODAY by visiting:  http://members.thebusinesssource.com/WECAI1.htm   

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

Fiverr.com is a micro-job website where anyone with any kind of skill can post random jobs they are willing to do for $5. Fiverr is free to join, takes only about a half hour to set up, and you only need a PayPal account to accept payment.

The “thing” or service that you offer on Fiverr is called a “GIG”. Gigs can be any service that the seller is willing to offer in exchange for $5. Gigs typically range from business services such as setting up a WordPress template, creating a video to promote a service, leaving positive blog feedback, or sending out Twitter tweets to large amounts of followers. There are also many bizarre gigs that can be something as simple calling a buyer daily with affirmations of love to writing your name in the sand on the beach and sending the buyer a picture of the writing.

Posting a gig is free and you can offer as many gigs as you like. You can also request a gig if there is something that you are looking for and it is not already offered.

Once you have joined Fiverr, either by linking your Facebook profile or by traditional registration, you can post your service that you are willing to offer or buy a service that another user is offering.

Things people sell on Fiverr.com:

• Carve a message in a tree
• Tweet your message to their followers
• Teach you how to sew (or another skill)
• Paint you a picture of anything
• Create a video for you
• Do a voice-over for your business
• and many, many others.

How could you promote your business on Fiverr.com? And what would you be willing to do for $5?

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

According to Wikipedia: “Pay-per-click (PPC) or Cost-per-click (CPC) advertising is   an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher (typically a website owner) when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. PPC “display” advertisements are shown on web sites with related content that have agreed to show ads.”

The benefits of PPC

There is generally a small initial investment.  You only pay for the users that click thru on the ad.

Pay-per-Click campaigns are good for any size business and can even level the advertising field for small businesses, if you do your homework which includes knowing what your customers or target audience are searching for (keywords). This can put you in the same game as the competition, even resulting in a page-one result for the right keywords.

With Pay-per-click you can obtain immediate results.  From research to implementation the campaign can be set up in a a few days compared to working your way up the natural search engine results.

You can track your ad in real time.  With the right metrics (generally provided by the search engines, you can see how well your keywords and key phrases,are doing, including how much traffic you are getting, how many are converting to buyers and any other metrics you need that would be important to measuring your return on investment.  generated, per ad conversions, and many more measurements provide campaign. With real-time tracing you can quickly quickly ads that are underperforming or overperforming and make adjustments based on immediate results.

With pay-per-click you can target the ad to your audience using geo-targeting, the right keywords and demographics.

You can enhance your branding with pay-per-click advertising on Google, Yahoo or Facebook and get known quickly in the marketplace.

With pay-per-click you can widen your reach in the marketplace and obtain specific, targeted and more motivated buyers once you have done your research and due-diligence.

When planning your PPC campaign use caution and due diligence. A poorly run campaign can drain your coffers before you see any results, can also give you worthless leads if you don’t have the right keywords, and can drain your pocketbook. Start small and test often. It should be part of your strategy but not your ONLY strategy!

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

Here are just three of Susan’s tips:

1. Stick close to Your Host! They know everyone and can make an introduction to others in the room.

2. It’s all in a Name: One of the most important keys to effective networking is to remember other’s names and ensure they remember YOURS!

3. If you know who’s going to be at the event, be sure and read up about them on social media like Facebook and Linkedin. This will save time and impress your new connections!

Susan Blond is the founder and president of Susan Blond Inc, a legendary NYC publicist, and Andy Warhol muse. In 1973, Susan was the first female Vice President at a major record label, and throughout her career she’s handled monumental recording artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and The Clash. Since 1986, Susan Blond Inc. has worked to create imaginative publicity campaigns for musicians, non-profit organizations, artists, nightlife, television personalities and beyond. Susan’s series of Blond Tips cover everything from who grabs the check at a business lunch to how to be a good houseguest. For more, visit http://www.susanblondinc.com   

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

An auto show is “a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is commonly attended by automobile manufacturers. Most auto shows occur once or twice a year. They are vital to car manufacturers and local dealers as a public relations exercise, for advertising products, and for increasing publicity(source: Wikipedia)

Since that historic day in automobile history, there have been thousands of Auto Shows around the world. Among the largest and most famous is the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), the annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan at Cobo Center, usually in January. It is among the largest auto shows in North America.

Each year the show begins with press preview days, industry preview days and a charity preview event. The charity preview raises money for local children’s charities. In 2004 and 2005, the charity preview attracted 17,500 people at $400 a ticket and raised $7 million in total… It is estimated that the show generates a revenue of over $500 million to the local economy.

Old cars, new cars, art cars, muscle cars, hot rods, trucks, vintage cars, cars of the future… the list of auto shows is endless….

So what does this have to do with marketing? If you or your customers drive a vehicle it can have a lot to do with marketing. Getting involved in an auto show has many benefits.

First of all its a great way to promote yourself to the local community. Hundreds and even thousands of people visit local auto shows each year so you have the opportunity to get in front of new faces and likely run into your current clientelle, which by the way would be pleasantly surprised to find your company represented.

Zoom Zoom

You can get immediate AND long-term buzz for your participation.

Signs on Wheels

You can turn your car into a moving advertisement for the auto show and generate interest for your business and the show.

Rev’ing up the Media

You can sponsor the auto show and be seen in all the print materials and online public relations the show participates in.

Making the Marketing Engine Hum

You can be a vendor at the auto show (if you sell a product that makes sense to attendees). If you sell diapers or jewelry, unless the diapers or jewelry have “auto themes” it is unlikely you will get much resulting business. But if you are a pr or marketing firm that specializes in a auto related industry, that might be a good fit.

Following the Leader

At the very least you can attend the Auto Show and make some good contacts to later follow up with. Talk about reverse marketing. Most trade show vendors follow up (or should) but think about the impact of follow up from someone has who was an attendee and not an advertiser, vendor or sponsor.

Ahead of the Curve

By participating in an auto show in any capacity, you can be ahead of the curve in your industry.

SWEET!

People buy outcomes, not promises. You’ve likely heard “sell the sizzle, not the steak.”

But most non-professional marketers are confused by what is “sizzle” and what is steak or in other words, what are the “features” of your products and what outcomes can I expect from purchasing it?

Features are the facts about your product and services. Such as what it is made of, how it was made, how long it will last, etc. Maybe even what it does. But what does it really do for your customers?

Today smart marketers are substituting the word BENEFITS for RESULTS because people really want to know what outcome they will have from using your product or service. Will they be richer, healthier, thinner, prettier, happier, smarter…? Those are RESULTS.

Here is an example:

When  you take our workshop you will walk away with a website you can maintain yourself, understand and make money with. That’s a results-driven statement.  To better quantify the results you could say: In only 7 hours you will walk away with a self-sustaining website that you no longer have to wait hours, days or weeks to update AND you will double your traffic in 30 days or less! Guaranteed.

Results followed by a guarantee are very powerful sales tools.  As long as you stand by your guarantee.

So next time you are trying to come up with a list of “benefits” think about what outcome your target audience will derive from using your product and services. Start making a list. Then change all your marketing collateral to reflect those RESULTS. And watch your SALES GO WAY UP (selling results results in increased sales)

After all, today is “sell the results” day!

On this date in history:

2001 – The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that gave police the power to secretly search homes, tap all of a person’s telephone conversation and track people’s use of the Internet.

2001 – The U.S. stamp “United We Stand” was dedicated.

1939 – Nylon stockings were sold to the public for the first time in Wilmington, DE.

2003 – In London, the last commercial supersonic Concorde flight landed.

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

In this video Craig teaches how to use outside-the-box marketing techniques he learned while touring with Guns N’ Roses and Air Supply to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Some of the ideas include:

Picketing your own business

Logo on Bank Stamp – go into Banks and stamp your logo in all the deposit slips at your bank

Rockstar Homeless Guy

Rockstar Doctor Visits

Run for Office (but don’t win)

And so much more!

Also on this day in history:

1958 – The first computer-arranged marriage took place on Art Linkletter’s show.

1977 – Reggie Jackson tied Babe Ruth’s record for hitting three homeruns in a single World Series game. Jackson was only the second player to achieve this.

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/

The lesson: If you’re going to spend the money on an ad, look for ways to partner with a non-competitor who shares the same customers.

Read the rest of the story at The Wall Street Journal

Also on this day:

1892 – In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Columbus landing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in public schools.

1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Online Copyright Bill.

For 365+ more marketing ideas and to purchase your copy of the 5th Edition of Quirky Marketing Calendar 2011 go to:  http://quirkymarketingcalendar.com/buy-the-ebook/