Sublime Thoughts

November 5, 2008

Lessons on Business Branding from Barack Obama

“Change.” “Yes We Can!”.  A few months ago, if someone asked you what came to mind when they said, “Change”, what would your answer have been?  Different?  Coins?  A chemical reaction?  What would your answer be now?  I would be surprised if it were not something involving Obama, his campaign, or ideas.

Barack Obama teaches us a good lesson about branding your business.  Take a simple word or phrase, attach personal meaning that your audience can relate to, spread the word about these words or phrases, and you’ve built yourself a brand.  Think of the wide impact of Obama’s branding efforts.  Let’s pull some headlines from a few of the major news sites. (color added for emphasis)

When the news media picks up on your branding and begins using it in their headlines, it becomes that much more effective, and you know you’re doing well.  What are your thoughts on this?

October 11, 2008

Business is for the Birds…and the Cats, and the Dogs…

working with nonprofit organizations

Working with nonprofit organizations

Recently, I was approached by our local Humane Society about working with them to sell products.  I am looking forward to the opportunity, and I wondered how many other businesses have considered nonprofit organizations in the customer role.  As a new business that is still working on building steady customers, this is a great situation for me.  Obviously, it is good from the business perspective, but it is also good from a public relations standpoint.

I think it’s important for businesses to accept social responsibility and contribute to causes that they find worthwhile.  I will be blogging about another part of this next week for Blog Action Day.

Let’s hear some ways that your business is participating with nonprofit or charitable organizations.

October 6, 2008

Stand Out with a 100% Free Local Ad Campaign

How much are you spending on advertising?  Do you think you could be doing better?  If you’re like me, you have had advertising campaigns that left you thinking that you got a very low return on investment and not much publicity.  When I think of a standard ad campaign, I usually think of the time frame in terms of days, weeks, and maybe months. What would you think about a campaign that would still be running a year from now with no additional investment?  Let me introduce you to a truly unique advertising campaign idea.

If you market locally, some of your goals probably include maintaining visibility and establishing yourself as a leader in your community.  Here comes the “meat” of my advertising plan.  A standard 11 ounce ceramic mug has an area about 8″ x 3″ that can accommodate images and logos.  According to my calculations, that would be enough space for up to four small advertising spots.

An 11 ounce mug can fit up to four ads

An 11 ounce mug can fit up to four ads

Your first plan of action would be to find local “mom and pop” restaurants, diners, and coffee shops that would be willing (and happy!) to accept one or two cases of free coffee mugs to use at their tables.  Next, find other local businesses to purchase ad space on these mugs.  One of my 11 ounce custom mugs is about $14.  Fitting four ads on each mug makes each ad cost about $3.50.  Make sure to mention to your advertisers and restaurants that these mugs are dishwasher safe and that the image will not crack or peel.  That’s $3.50 for permanent advertising on each mug!

Local businesses will appreciate your efforts to boost visibility for everyone involved, and local restaurants will be very happy to be receiving a free supply of mugs.  Make sure to notify the local media and submit a press release!

September 19, 2008

Pitching a Big Idea to an Even Bigger Company

Filed under: marketing — Tags: , — Blake Raab @ 4:08 pm

I have an idea for the business that would need to be presented to a large company.  This company is large enough that I’m sure most of you have heard of them.  For the sake of confidentiality, I can’t reveal who it is until this gets going.

This idea would greatly benefit both me and the other company involved.  It would obviously bring me a good bit of money, but it would also do the same for the other company and be great PR/marketing for them.

My question to you is this:  How do I go about presenting this to the company while making sure that it hits the people who have the authority to decide and doesn’t end up being tossed by a secretary?

All input is appreciated.  Have a great weekend.  I’ve got an event tomorrow where I will be making custom products on the spot, so I won’t be around all day.

August 20, 2008

Bigfoot Catches You Unprepared Sometimes

Filed under: Business, advertising, marketing — Tags: , , , — Blake Raab @ 3:38 pm

OK, I know I’m overdue for the series about creating custom products, but this just hit and I thought it was good to write about.

I wrote a few days ago about my plan to make Bigfoot viral videos to advertise the business.  Today, the Bigfoot suit showed up by UPS and I snapped a quick shot (with the laptop webcam, no less!) of myself with the mask on, topped off with my ham radio callsign hat.

I put the impromptu photo on Flickr mostly just to show a few family and friends, and received an email not too long after.  Here it is, in part:

Hi,

NowPublic is running a news story on the Georgia Bigfoot
Story   and your Bigfoot photo would be an excellent
addition. If you’re interested in sharing it, please follow
the links below and feel free to add your own comment as
well. Looking forward to seeing your work on the site!

So, it turns out that the opportunity for exposure started a bit earlier than I anticipated!

August 17, 2008

Bigfoot Viral Videos

Filed under: Business, advertising, marketing — Tags: , , , , , — Blake Raab @ 6:27 pm

Sorry I haven’t written in a few days. I’ve got some health issues going on that really have me dragging lately.

My latest marketing idea is inspired by some crazy guys in the North Georgia mountains. You may have seen this story on the news recently.  Reading the story got me thinking about the whole Bigfoot craze and the typical fuzzy photos and videos.

I have been trying to find a good viral video idea, and I think a Bigfoot series would be perfect.  I should be receiving the Bigfoot suit within a few weeks and even have a logo for the viral video series.

I admit that it sounds a bit crazy, but I think it could be a fun and unique combination.

August 11, 2008

Maximizing the Wall and Free Advertising

Filed under: Business, advertising, marketing, social networking — Tags: , , — Blake Raab @ 12:05 am

The Wall

If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you will remember that I mentioned The Social Brick Wall.  This is a project where your picture gets posted on the “wall” along with links to your Twitter and Facebook profiles and your blog.  It’s free and a fun way to get exposure.

We have added several new people to the wall lately.  I know that they have been working on getting profiles set up, but I wanted to offer a suggestion to everyone else to maximize their experience on the Wall.  Linking to the profiles I mentioned is great, but there is another way to link to virtually unlimited profiles to maximize your social networking power.  All you need to do is sign up for a free profile at retaggr, customize your virtual business card, and you can then tag your photo on the Wall with the card.  That way, anyone can click on your photo and find your profile on any website you choose to include in your card.

The Special Offer

To get the Wall membership kick-started, I am making a very special offer to anyone who joins the Wall.  You will notice at the top of the page that there is a slot for rotating banner ads.  You get a free month of advertising there just for joining.  For an unlimited time, I am offering one free month of advertising for every person who joins the Wall from your referral.  Just tell them to give me your name when they join, and I will keep running totals of your free advertising.

Now there is even more incentive to join and invite others.  The more people we have on the Wall and visiting the page, the larger the audience for your ads.  Let’s build a Wall together!

August 10, 2008

Custom Games: A Fun Marketing Tool

Filed under: Business, games, marketing, promotional products — Tags: , , , — Blake Raab @ 9:18 am

Yesterday, I added a new category of products to the website and started thinking about the possibilities.  The new category is custom games, and the first thought is that they would make great gifts for the kids.  This is true, but the possibilities for custom games don’t end there!  Have you considered games as part of your marketing strategy?  Here are a few ideas:

  • You’re an SEO expert.  How about a String Puzzle with your logo and the text, “Optimizing your website doesn’t have to be puzzling.  Let us help!”.
  • You’re a marketing firm.  How about a Magic Marbles Puzzle with, “Do your marketing options have you losing your marbles?  ABC Marketing can help make the pieces fit”.
  • A Jumpin’ Tees Puzzle would be perfect for waiting rooms at any doctor’s office or business.

The possibilities don’t end there.  Let us create a custom game for you on a dry-erase mousepad or just a classic puzzle.

What are some of your ideas for using games as marketing tools?

August 7, 2008

What Huevos Rancheros Taught Me About Customer Service

Filed under: Business, customer service, marketing — Tags: , , — Blake Raab @ 8:12 am

I was having dinner yesterday with a local customer when inspiration struck.  It may have been the beginnings of heartburn, but I’m going with inspiration!

The Mexican restaurant had a salsa bar and chips, which we enjoyed before the meals arrived.  I was feeling adventurous, so I grabbed a little plastic cup and filled it with innocent-looking green salsa.  It tasted pretty good, and then the slow burn kicked in.  Our meals arrived, and I found myself looking at a nice big plate of huevos rancheros with carne asada steak.

As I started eating, I realized something.  That “innocent” little cup of salsa was still burning on my tongue and changing the way I was experiencing the rest of the meal.  I realized that my customers can have the same experience with me.  Very often, it’s the little things that we do that can impact the customer’s perspective on the whole buying experience.  Putting a smile in your voice, patiently answering questions, and taking the time to go just a bit further to make sure that your customers are happy can put that lasting “slow burn” in their experience with you.

What are you doing to add “the innocent, green salsa” to your customer service experience?

August 2, 2008

Are You on the Social Brick Wall?

Filed under: Business, Uncategorized, marketing, social networking — Tags: , — Blake Raab @ 9:00 pm

If you haven’t heard of retaggr, I strongly encourage you to have a look and consider it.  Retaggr is a system with multiple parts to help you compile your social networking information in one place.

The first part is a custom business card, which you can embed on websites, forums, and even email signatures.  WordPress doesn’t support embedding JavaScript, but here is a link to my “full” card.

The second part is a bit of code added to your website which gives you (and anyone else, if you choose) the ability to tag themselves and others in any photos on your website.  If you are tagging yourself, you can even add your retaggr card so that it shows up when someone clicks your name on the photo.

I found retaggr yesterday, thanks to Lindy Asimus, and started thinking about the possibilities.  I thought, “Why not put together a page with a wall of small photos and let everyone tag themselves and add their retaggr cards?”.  I could add text below the images with names and links to businesses.  The text would be very small, since the retaggr cards would be the important part.  It would just be there for the benefit of search engines.

I just put up this page to get it started.  If this sounds like a good idea to you and you would like your photo and text added, please contact me with your photo attached, and let me know what the text should say, and the URL.  Please note that retaggr only works with images larger than 125 pixels.  I’ve made the photos on the wall 135.  I would like to keep the images small, since we may have quite a number on the wall.  You can send a large photo, but it will be resized appropriately.

I hope to see you soon on the wall!

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