Some customers will pay more for the prestige of owning/using your product/service (Godiva).
Some customers will buy the cheapest version available (generic chocolate-flavored baking chips) because quality just don’t matter to them, because a premium price point is higher than anticipated, or because that is what they can afford or chose to afford.
Packaging
Sometimes it’s how you package your products and services that encourages purchases. (How many colors of M&Ms can you think of? Trust me, the green ones taste just like the red ones!)
Sometimes it’s how you bundle your offerings (individual Cadbury eggs or a 3-pack). Encourage “add-on” purchases by making it easy for customers to buy more without having to think.
Creative Marketing
The Milk Chocolate Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand Use a tagline that will emphasizes your Unique Selling Point (USP) and is memorable.
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t Know your audience and adapt your marketing message and product/service offerings to the media — postings appropriate for your business Facebook wall probably shouldn’t be used as LinkedIn updates
Gimme a break…Gimme a break…Break me off a piece of that… Make your brand more than just a product or service. Tell your audience how your product can transform their lives and attitudes, if only for a moment.
Marketing can be scary for some. It means planning and putting yourself and your business out there. Don’t fret! Marketing can be fun! Try this technique to bring in a few customers and a few more laughs. Unique and wacky holidays can create a marketing strategy to keep your customers coming back for more. Take these days for example:
February 4 is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Create a poll to find out what ice cream your customers like best! Or, better yet, hide an ice cream flavor somewhere on your website. Customers who find the flavor can enter it as a coupon code and save 5 percent.
If ice cream is too cold of an approach for you, turn February 12 into your own Grammy Awards Ceremony, presenting your customers with $5 off their next purchase.
If the Grammys don’t have you running down the red carpet, For Pete’s Sake Day is a great time to have customers share their favorite verbal phrases of frustration (appropriate for all ears of course!)
Here are more unique February holidays:
Month-long celebrations
Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
International Expect Success Month
Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month
Holiday Weeks
Freelance Writers Appreciation Week (Feb. 6-12)
Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 13-19)
National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb. 18-25)
Daily Holidays
1 – Change Your Password Day (declared by Gizmodo)
2 – Groundhog Day
3 – Wear Red Day
4 – Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
5 – Super Bowl XLVI
6 – Pay a Compliment Day
7 – Ballet Day
8 – Laugh and Get Rich Day
9 – Read In the Bathtub Day
10 – Umbrella Day
11 – Be Electrific Day
12 – Grammy Awards Ceremony
13 – Get a Different Name Day
14 – Valentine’s Day
15 – National Gum Drop Day
16 – Do A Grouch A Favor Day
17 – World Human Spirit Day
18 – Thumb Appreciation Day
19 – Chocolate Mint Day
20 – President’s Day
21 – Mardi Gras
22 – World Thinking Day
23 – Introduce A Girl to Engineering Day
24 – National Tortilla Chip Day
25 – International Sword Swallower’s Day
26 – For Pete’s Sake Day
27 – International Polar Bear Day
28 – Floral Design Day
29 – Leap Year Day
While we have listed some holidays to get started, feel free to create your own. Or, check out the previous calendars Reciprocate has provided. Make sure to do some quick research on your holidays though. From year to year, some holidays change dates. Regardless of your methods to marketing, creativity and a little fun can take you and your business a long way!
Choose one marketing theme for each month in 2012. Then feature the theme on your website, in social media postings and in all your monthly marketing efforts.
The themes will also give you new points for discussion at networking events and a reason to approach prospects throughout the year.
Marketing doesn’t have to be hard — or time consuming — and can even be fun. Here’s a simple way to use a modern twist on mythology that is guaranteed to increase sales whether you are a B2B or B2C.
Marketing Mythology
Create a mythological character, MTC (MyTypicalCustomer), based on your target market. Artist talent is not required; you can even use an online photo of an anonymous person. As you create MTC, answer these questions to help you determine what is important to MTC and why MTC is your target customer.
What does MTC look like?
Do you have several MTCs — male, female, different ages or even different education levels?
What does MTC do for a living?
Does MTC work/study in the city, suburbs, at home?
How does MTC spend his/her spare time?
Does MTC have any hobbies?
What is MTC’s family life like? Does he have kids? Aging parents?
Where does MTC live? Does he live in the city, suburbs or rural area? On a farm, in a mansion, or in an apartment?
Does MTC recycle or place high importance on green companies and products?
What pets does MTC have?
Does MTC donate to charities? Which ones?
Is MTC tech savvy? How much time does he spend on the computer each day?
Does MTC own a smartphone or mobile device? What apps does he use the most?
Is MTC active on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?
What problem does MTC have that your products or services can help solve?
What words does MTC use when looking for the solution to this problem?
These become the keywords you should use everywhere online — on your website, in your social media profiles and posts, and in directory listings.
Now that you have created your Mythological Marketing character, keep MTC with you. Hang MTC on your office wall. Attach MTC to your monitor. Use MTC as your screensaver or wallpaper. Throughout the day, ask yourself these questions:
wwMTCt? (What Would MyTypicalCustomer Think?)
Would MTC be moved to action by your decision or bored by your message?
Create calls to action that will inspire MTC to pick up the phone/email/purchase your product or service.
There, as easy as that, you’ve created a Marketing Myth guaranteed to increase sales. By keeping MTC top of mind when making business decisions, you will find that your business becomes more focused on your target customer and your sales will increase.
Looking for a new marketing strategy to put you ahead of your competition? Finding new ways to bring in customers can be tricky. Try out this fun marketing strategy and see what fun it brings!
Using bizarre holidays can catch the eye of your future customers. It can also keep your current customers coming back for more!
On January 4th, Trivia Day, have fun trivia questions that lead your customers through your website, hunting for answers and reward them with 10% off their next purchase.
If trivia isn’t your game, try January 14th, Dress Up Your Pet Day. Post a photo of your pet dressed up and encourage your customers to send in pictures of their pets! Don’t have a pet? No problem! Change it to January 15th and use National Hat Day as an excuse to post a picture of yourself in a wacky hat. Once again, this is another great way to get your customers involved as they can post pictures of themselves in wacky hats as well!
Don’t forget to take advantage of Get to Know Your Customers Day on January 19th!
Month-long Celebrations
International Creativity Month
International New Year’s Resolutions Month For Businesses
Holiday Weeks
Someday we’ll Laugh about This Week (Jan. 2-8)
Home Office Safety and Security Week (Jan. 8-14)
Clean Out Your Inbox Week (Jan. 23-27)
Daily Holidays
1 – New Year’s Day
2 – Tournament of Roses Parade Day
3 – Drinking Straw Day
4 – Trivia Day
5 – Elvis’ Birthday Celebration Begins
6 – Three Kings Day
7 – International Programmers’ Day
8 – Show and Tell Day at Work
9 – National Clean Off Your Desk Day
10 – National Cut Your Energy Costs Day
11 – Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day
12 – National Pharmacist Day
13 – Friday The 13th
14 – Dress up Your Pet Day
15 – National Hat Day
16 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
17 – Kid Inventors Day
18 – Winnie the Pooh Day
19 – Get to Know Your Customers Day
20 – Penguin Awareness Day
21 – National Hugging Day
22 – Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day
23 – National Pie Day
24 – National Compliment Day
25 – Macintosh Computer Day
26 – National Peanut Brittle Day
27 – Punch the Clock Day
28 – Fun at Work Day
29 – National Puzzle Day
30 – National Inane (not a typo!) Answering Message Day
31 – Inspire Your Heart with Art Day
Take these wacky holidays or even create your own! The marketing possibilities are endless. Just be creative and keep your customers wanting more!
Use unique marketing messages to attract attention to your business
Looking for creative ways to market your business? Use holidays as an excuse to celebrate and offer fun contests, discounts, and other opportunities for your customers. You may be thinking “That sounds like a great idea! But where do I start?”
Below are a few suggestions. Take these ideas. Tweak them. Make them fit your business. Most importantly, go for it!
December 4 is Wear Brown Shoes Day. Turn it into a Facebook photo contest. Encourage customers to post photos of them or their family members (or even the family dog!) wearing brown shoes. Offer a discount for entries and encourage comments from your Facebook community.
December 18 is Bake Cookies Day. Open up a forum on your website and share your favorite cookie recipes with your customers.
December 28 is Card Playing Day. Honor this day by having customer’s “draw a card” for their discount on their current or future purchase.
Here are some other “idea starter” holidays in December:
Month-long Celebrations
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Universal Human Rights Month
Holiday weeks:
First week: National Hand Washing Awareness Week (Dec. 4-10)
Third week: You’re Doing a Good Job! Week (Dec. 18-24)
Hanukkah (Dec. 20-28)
Kwanzaa (Dec. 26- Jan. 1)
Daily Holidays
1 – World AIDS Day
2 – Special Education Day
3 – Make A Gift Day
4 – Wear Brown Shoes Day
5 – Walt Disney’s Birthday
6 – Saint Nicholas Day
7 – National Cotton Candy Day
8 – National Brownie Day
9 – Christmas Card Day
10 – Dewey Decimal System Day
11 – International Shareware Day
12 – National Poinsettia Day
13 – National Cocoa Day
14 – Monkey Day
15 – Cat Herder’s Day
16 – National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
17 – Wright Brothers Day
18 – Bake Cookies Day
19 – Oatmeal Muffin Day
20 – Hanukkah Begins
21 – National Flashlight Day
22 – National Haiku Poetry Day
23 – Roots Day
24 – Christmas Eve
25 – Christmas
26 – Kwanzaa Begins
27 – National Fruit Cake Day
28 – Card Playing Day
29 – Tick Tock Day
30 – Falling Needles Family Fest Day
31 – New Year’s Eve
Not quite sure that these holidays could work for your business? Create your own customer appreciate days or hold discount days to honor your accomplishments as a small business owner. Advertising and spreading the word help your business grow and fun holidays can help spread the word faster. Get creative and have fun!
Yes, holidays are hectic for most of us. But there are ways that you can still engage your customers and make November and December profitable months for your organization.
Below are 8 tips for attracting customer’s attention:
KISS — keep it short and social
Less is more. We’re busy. No time to read volumes.
Offer holidays specials — that are truly special
Provide incentives that make it worth the effort. If you ask me to answer a 10-question survey or enter a contest to get a $1 off coupon, I might not bother, especially in November or December.
Consider adding a countdown promotion
The 12 deals of December. What a great reason to contact your customers via email daily. Just remember tips # 1 and #2 above.
Take Tip #3 a step further and add a progressive deal
Customers must open each email to receive the next — and each deal is better than the one before. With an email provider such as Contact Contact, you can segment your mailing list based on who has opened each email.
Create a sense of urgency
We all wait ’til the last minute. Make your offer a priority.
Subject lines matter
Communicate the offer and deadline in your subject line. We’re busy. A well-written subject line may keep your message from being trashed without being opened.
Provide special offers for VIP customers
Everyone likes to be a VIP. Let them know they are your VIPs. Thank past customers with great incentives.
Partner with a worthwhile charity or organization.
Offer your customers a way they can buy from you and be philanthropic at the same time. Win-win-win
These 8 simple tips can help you stay “top of mind” with your customers even during these hectic holidays and throughout the year. We’d love to hear your ideas on how you’ve engaged customers, particularly during the holiday season.
Try celebrating unique holidays with them. Here are some idea starters for November:
November 7, Hug-A-Bear Day is your opportunity to hold a photo contest of your customers hugging their bears.
Not beary interesting to you? Take on National Clean out your Refrigerator Day by asking your customers to find the most expired item in their refrigerator. Offer them 30% off an order.
But for something that isn’t so chilly and that is easy to do, have a Name your PC Day contest. Encourage customers to come up with the most creative, clever name for their PC and recognize the customer and their PC on your website.
November month long holidays
International Creative Child and Adult Month
Family Stories Month
November week long holidays
First week: World Communication Week
Second week: Pursuit of Happiness Week
November daily holidays
1 – National Author’s Day
2 – Cookie Monster’s Birthday
3 – Sandwich Day
4 – Use Your Common Sense Day
5 – FM Stereo Birthday 1933
6 – Daylight Saving Time Ends
7 – Hug-a-bear Day
8 – General Election Day
9 – National Young Readers Day
10 – Area Code Day
11 – Veteran’s Day
12 – National Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day
13 – Artificial Snow Birthday 1946
14 – Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day
14 – National Clean out your Refrigerator Day
15 – America Recycles Day
16 – Button Day
17 – Homemade Bread Day
18 – Mickey Mouse’s Birthday (1928)
19 – National Family Volunteer Day
20 – Name Your PC Day
21 – Tweety Bird’s Birthday
22 – Start Your Own Country Day
23 – Eat a Cranberry Day
24 – Thanksgiving Day
25 – Black Friday
26 – National Day of Listening
27 – National Bavarian Cream Pie Day
28 – National French Toast Day
29 – Electronic Greetings Day
30 – Mark Twain’s Birthday (1835)
And of course, take advantage of Black Friday!
You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.
Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!
Build your business and reputation with a little creativity
Marketing your small business with creativity builds interest and gets your business recognition. So why not find a unique way to get your name out there? Fun and wacky holidays and business promotions can attract customers and help with word of mouth PR.
Confused about where to start? Take some of these October holidays and run with them.
Try October 7, National Frappe Day: ask your customers which coffee drink is the best and offer 50 cents off each purchase for them to put towards a coffee shop coffee for the day.
Not your cup of coffee? How about National Dictionary Day on October 16: have a contest to see which customer can find the wackiest word in the dictionary and send them a coupon for 10% off a later purchase.
Looking for a different type of contest? October 25th is Sourest Day. Run a photo contest with the best sour face winning a sample product. (Thanks to mlblogselisha06.wordpress.com for the great sour face photo above!)
For a more traditional holiday idea, use Halloween to your advantage. “Dress up” your prices for the day, playing your pricing scale as the “ghost of good things to come”.
You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.
Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!
October Month Long Celebrations
Computer Learning Month
National Cookie Month
Energy Awareness Month
October Week Long Celebrations
Oct. 3-7 National Customer Service Week (first week)
Tired of the same ol’ promotions? Looking to make things more exciting for you and your customers? Interested in making people excited to come check out you and your business?
Your concerns have been heard and you have come to the right place. We have a great idea for you! Holiday promotions. While this may sound like something that happens seasonally, especially around winter holidays, it can actually take place daily. Every day of the year is filled with fun and unique holidays and interesting ways for you to bring in more customers while having fun.
September 1st offers a good example of a fun way to create a promotion. Emma M. Nutt Day honors Emma, the first female telephone operator. Celebrate her success by offering a special discount for customers who call in their order. And, if that doesn’t seem like the right fit for your company, try September 10. On Swap Ideas Day, get online and talk with your customers. Offer advice in return for some advice from them. Still not unique enough for you? September 30th, Chewing Gum Day, offers up a great photo contest. Have customers submit photos of them blowing bubbles with chewing gum. Give the biggest, best bubble a discount!
You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.
Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!
In addition to Labor Day, September is the month to celebrate:
National Courtesy Month
Fall Hat Month
ADHD Month
Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month
International People Skills Month
National Coupon Month
Celebrate these unique holidays with your customers:
1- Emma M. Nutt Day (first woman telephone operator)
Do your marketing messages lacking creativity and excitement?
Are you in search of a new way to pull in customers and offer promotions?
You’re in luck! We have a great idea for you! Holiday promotions. While this may sound like something that happens seasonally, around the winter holidays, it can actually take place daily. Every day of the year is filled with fun and unique holidays.
Take for example August 7, Professional Speakers’ Day. Take this as an opportunity to find local speakers and partner with them. Bad Poetry Day, on August 18, is a great time to offer a promotion to your customers. Run a poetry contest with the goal of having the worst poem submitted. Or take advantage of Banana Lover’s Day on August 27 and peel away from the competition with a discount or promotion for new or returning clients. (A search for “banana” on YouTube reveals some interesting idea starters.)
Here are some August holidays to inspire your marketing creativity:
August Month-Long Celebrations
Happiness Happens Month
National Inventor’s Month
What Will Be Your Legacy Month
August Holiday Weeks
1: National Fraud Awareness Week
2: Elvis Week
3: Weird Contest Week
August Daily Holidays
1: US Air Force Day (Last observed in 1949), Rounds
Resounding Day (Learn to sing a round)
2: National Night Out
3: National Watermelon Day
4: Coast Guard Day
5: First Income Tax (1861)
6: National Mustard Day
7: Professional Speakers’ Day
8: Sneak Some Zucchini On to Your Neighbor’s Porch Night
9: Smokey The Bear’s Birthday (1944)
10: S’mores Day
11: Presidential Joke Day
12: IBM Personal Computer birthday (1981)
13: National Garage Sale Day
14: National Creamsicle Day
15: National Relaxation Day
16: International Tell a Joke Day
17: National Thrift Shop Day
18: Bad Poetry Day
19: Hug Your Boss Day
Sesame Street’s Snuffleupagus’s Birthday
20: Sandcastle and Sculpture Day
21: Sit Back and Relax Day
22: National Be an Angel Day
23: Buttered Corn Day
24: Pluto Demoted Day
Strange Music Day
25: National Second-hand Wardrobe Day
26: National Dog Day
Toilet Paper Day (Invented in 580)
27: Banana Lover’s Day
28: Race Your Mouse Around The Icons Day
Crackers Over The Keyboard Day
29: More Herbs, Less Salt Day
30: National Toasted Marshmallow Day
31: Eat Outside Day
We’d love to hear how you’ve used these holidays to generate customer interest. We encourage you to share your ideas below.
Looking for innovative marketing or advertising themes? Try holiday promotions. While this may sound like your typical holiday season advertising, it is a year round way to get your customers excited and coming back for more.
Take for example, July 6, Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day. Even if taking your webmaster out for lunch isn’t an option, offering discounts to webmasters or restaurant gift certificates is a great way to attract a target audience.
Searching for a fun way to offer a contest? Take advantage of All American Pet Photo Day on July 11 by offering a gift card for the best photo submitted.
Want to learn more about your customers? Celebrate Get to Know Your Customers Day on July 21 by sending out a customer survey. Let your customers know why you picked that day to send your survey. They’ll appreciate the gesture and you’ll gain an insight into your audience.
Want to get more creative? Celebrate Harry Potter’s Birthday on July 31st with shipping or service fees magically disappearing for the day.
You may even create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly. Make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.
Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!
Here are some July holidays to inspire your marketing efforts:
Month-long celebrations
National Anti-Boredom Month
National Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Holiday weeks
1st week of July: Take Charge of Change Week
2nd week of July: Sports Cliché Week
3rd week of July: Promote Playful Professionalism Week
Daily holidays
1: Zip Code Day
1: Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day
2: Freedom from Fear of Public Speaking Day
3: Compliment Your Mirror Day
4: Independence Day
4: Sidewalk Egg Frying Day
5: Workaholics Day
6: Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day
7: National Strawberry Sundae Day
8: Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Omelet Day
9: Intern Appreciation Day
10: Don’t Step on a Bee Day
11: All American Pet Photo Day
12: Bill Cosby’s Birthday (1937)
13: Embrace Your Geekiness Day
14: Tape Measure Day
15: Be a Dork Day
15: Cow Appreciation Day
16: Parking Meters Debuted (1935)
17: Yellow Pig Day
18: National Get out of The Doghouse Day
19: Stick Your Tongue out Day
20: Ugly Truck Day
21: Get to Know Your Customers Day
22: Hammock Day
23: National Hot Dog Day
24: Tell an old Joke Day
25: Candles on a Cake Day (First Birthday Cake 55 BC)
Creative ways to gain the attention of your customers
Suffering from writers’ block? Stumped for what to post on Facebook, Twitter or your blog? Are you looking for a fun and unique way to gain more customers? Is your business in need of a new marketing tactic?
Well have we got a solution for you! Holiday promotions. While this may sound like your typical holiday season advertising, it is a year round way to get your customers excited and coming back for more.
Take for example, June 22, National Chocolate Éclair Day. Have a business in the food industry? Run a special offering free Chocolate Éclairs with each purchase. Own a retail business? Celebrate the Bar Code’s birthday (1974) on June 26th by offering a discount. Unsure of what type of holiday would fit your business? Get creative. Sunglasses Day, on June 27th, offers a great opportunity to hold a sun glasses photo contest, offering a discount or prize to the winner.
You may even create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.
Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!
Relate these fun holidays to your organization and share them with your online community:
June 1: Heimlich maneuver Day
June 2: Leave the Office Early Day
June 3: Repeat Day
June 4: Shopping Cart Birthday (1937)
June 5: World Environment Day
June 6: National Yo-Yo Day
June 6: Drive-In Movie Theater Birthday
June 7: VCR Birthday
June 8: Vacuum Cleaner Birthday (1869)
June 9: Donald Duck Day (1934)
June 10: Ballpoint Pen Birthday
June 13: Sewing Machine Day
June 14: Sandpaper Invented Day (1834)
June 14: Flag Day
June 15: Ben Franklin’s Kite Experiment (1752)
June 16: No Orange Clothes Day (1784 Holland forbad the wearing orange clothes)
June 18: Casual Day (Friday before summer solstice)
Domino’s delivered 400 million pizzas last year. Monster Energy is the Number 1 energy drink by volume in the U.S. What can a small business owner learn from these mammoth companies? Plenty, including how to use photos to promote your business. Regardless of the size of your staff or the industry you are in, you can take advantage of photos and photo opportunities to market your company online.
6 creative marketing ideas using photos
Here are 6 creative ways to use photos to promote your products or services online:
Run a contest. Ask customers to submit photos featuring your products or services. Offer a prize or discount for entries. Domino’s Pizza created a special URL to promote their recent photo contest ShowUsYour Pizza.com.
Create an account on Flickr for your business. Upload photos that build anticipation for an upcoming event or new product line. I use my Flickr account to showcase community and nature photos I have taken as editor of the North Oaks News as well as to promote my company.
Feature one photo on each page of your website to add visual interest. While too many photos can be distracting, one large image can have a lasting impact on visitors. Additional photos may be placed in a less dominate location lower on the page. Photo gallery pages are an obvious exception to the one-photo rule.
Send photos via Twitter. Using TwitPic, you can share photos from your PC or camera phone via Twitter in real time. TwitPic also provides stats on how many people have viewed your photo, and you can add the TwitPic widget (above right) to your website for additional exposure for your photos.
Upload photos to Facebook. Create albums based on themes. The Monster Energy Facebook page has more than 70 company-created albums and encourages customers to post their own photos. The result? More than 5,000 photos uploaded by Monster Energy customers. Examples Facebook albums small businesses could create include:
Holiday Gift ideas
Why customers love us
How we make (product)
Before and After
On the road
A quick, fun way to promote your small business or organization using photos is Smilebox. This website offers a free (or relatively inexpensive if you choose to upgrade) way to create a short video display of 8-15 photos. Below is the Smilebox I created in just a few minutes using a free account to promote Reciprocate LLC.
Click on the play button above to view the Reciprocate LLC Smilebox creation.
5 small business ”photo op” ideas
Opportunities for using photos to promote a small business abound. Keep a camera or camera phone handy as you go about your day. Make a conscious effort to take 5 photos each day for one week. By the end of the week, you’ll have created a photo gallery to choose from and you will have also created a mindset to look for and create photo opportunities.
Here are some possible photo opportunities to get you started:
Products or services
Company-sponsored events
Employee meetings, client successes, awards, and celebrations – especially if you can feature your product, service, or company logo somewhere in the photo
Company representatives and/or your product at trade shows, speaking engagements, and events. Stage photos in front of banners and signs which promote the event or in front of recognizable location signs.
Before and after photos — this can translate into almost any industry but works especially well for organizers, home improvement companies, and decorators. Think outside the box. Even accountants can show a “before” photo of a mountainous pile of receipts and an “after” photo of a clean desk, featuring their company logo displayed on the monitor along with a happy customer.
Use your imagination. Get creative! Unless you are in the professional photography industry, don’t worry so much about getting the perfect shot with perfect lighting. Some applications (like TwitPic) atually lend themselves to impromptu camera phone images. Have fun but do keep your company image and marketing goals in mind. I encourage you to share links to your favorite use of company photos in the comments section below.
I found a really cool application this afternoon. It’s a free online movie maker. In less than an hour, I created the first ever Reciprocate movie. Check it out below:
XtraNormal.com allows you to select from a number of backgrounds, characters, and voices. You can also choose background music, sounds, camera angles and facial expressions for your characters.
This would be great for individuals and families to send personalized movie greetings. Small businesses and non-profit organizations can get the word out about their companies using this very quick, low-cost approach.
The Reciprocate movie was very fun and easy to make. Just make sure you create an account on XtraNormal.com first or all your work might be lost. Please share this blog posting with others.
UPDATE August 2010: XtraNormal now charges for some of the movie characters and backgrounds. You can still create a free movie, but your choices will be more limited.
As promised, I’ll cover YouTube in a future blog posting. Until then, continue to share what you know.
