10/ 01/ 2008
by Geoff Williams
In 2005, the beverage maker Snapple attempted to create the world’s largest ice pop made of its own product. The frozen bar--hoisted above Times Square in New York City--measured 25 feet tall and weighed 17.5 tons. But it melted much faster than expected, prompting panicked tourists to run as a sticky, sugary mess of strawberry-kiwi flavored fluid flooded the streets. That probably wasn’t the intended outcome, but at least it got people’s attention.
In this sluggish economy, concocting a gimmick for your business can mean the difference between no sales and new sales. Even better, gimmicks (unless you want to try to top Snapple’s efforts) don’t have to cost a lot of money to implement--which means if they don’t work, there’s no harm done. Here are three tips for creating the right gimmick for your small business:
- Show customers that you feel their pain. Many businesses have given out discounts to customers in the form of free gas cards, an idea that revolves around a gripe that everyone shares. But Cole Durbin, the owner of Padre’s Modern Mexican (www.padresmexican.com), a restaurant in Phoenix, actually came up with a unique way to show the public he understands his clientele’s problems beyond the pump. During "Recession Happy Hour," Durbin offers a free drink to anyone who brings in a foreclosure notice. Inexpen-sive and clever--and the media noticed. CNN did a story on his business, and, well, we’re mentioning it, aren’t we?
- Steal from the greats. Provided you aren’t taking intellectual property--like another company’s logo--there’s nothing wrong with borrowing ideas that have worked for others and using them for your own marketing devices. But if you’re going to do that, advises Subscriber-Mail’s Jordan Ayan, borrow from the best. A huge fan of the late George Carlin, Ayan, who is founder and CEO of the e-mail marketing firm, wrote a white paper called "The Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say in Subject Lines; Plus 100 Others You Shouldn’t Use Either." It turned out to be the most frequently downloaded article from his Web site.
- Think personal, not professional. Amy Maurer, who owns a media consultancy business in Washington, D.C., has an inexpensive marketing gimmick that she uses with her present and potential clients. She bakes cookies and hand-delivers them, insisting that it’s helped her triple her business clientele. "I think it immediately tells potential clients that I am different," Maurer says.
