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Weird & Wacky – Making Your Marketing Stand Out
Weird & Wacky – Making Your Marketing Stand Out
Article by Owen Stevens
Marketing is one of the most difficult tasks for any small or medium sized business. Many businesses simply take out an ad in the local paper or think that marketing starts and ends with an annual letter to everyone on their mailing list. These traditional forms of marketing may well work for some industries but for most these will be lazy and unproductive forms of marketing.
In order to carry out effective marketing businesses must come up with new, innovative and targeted methods of contacting potential customers. Business is all about building personal contacts with actual and potential business partners. These are some points to consider when conceiving a marketing plan, ideally these considerations should run through all aspects of your marketing efforts.
The first, and most important, step is to identify those that you want to target. This is important because this group of people are people that you will stay in contact with over the course of all your marketing. It is no good targeting a massive amount of people with a scatter-gun approach, ensuring that you are targeting a core of people interested in your message with repeated communications that they are happy to recieve. Rather than having short exposure to a large group of people who may or may not be interested in your product is not as beneficial as being foremost in the minds of a smaller group of people who probably are interested in your product.
The second step is measuring the results of your marketing campaign. The most famous saying about marketing is that only half of it ever makes an impact, the only problem being that nobody knows which half. While the saying may be tongue in cheek you must ensure that you know exactly how effective your marketing efforts. Quantifying exactly how successful your marketing is and which parts are most successful is vital. Not knowing which half of your marketing is successful is not good enough! Seriously though, nobody ever got anywhere by throwing money down a hole, this is effectively what you are doing if you don’t measure the success of your marketing efforts.
Third, make sure your marketing is not just the same generic marketing all your competitors choose to do. If possible research what you’re competitors do. Then make sure that you do something completely different. Consider stepping outside of the standard formalised business communication. Making an impression by ensuring that your communications stand out from your competitors’ will help your company to make more of an impact with potential cutomers. Do anything, just do it differently! Remember, the most effective form of marketing your business is to get out there and network. If people at networking events remember you for an ad campaign that was slightly wierd and wacky then all well and good, it gives you something to talk about!
Fourthly, do make sure that you follow up your marketing efforts. Try to get along to networking events that the targets of your marketing will be attending. If people contact you as a result of a marketing campaign then make sure you know who they are and keep in touch with them. As I said at the start, business is all about building personal contacts. If somebody buys something from you as the result of your marketing then write them a letter in response thanking them and offering them other services. Remember that marketing to people who have already been your customers is much easier than selling to people who have never bought anything from you before.
Finally, if you aren’t actively building business contacts as a result of your marketing then try a different tack. If you don’t get results then don’t be afraid to ditch what you are doing and start from scratch.
About the Author
Owen Stevens is an Internet marketing expert and Project Manager for Skyblu – a Midlands Web Design company based in Worcester.
Keep Austin Wierd – a Short History
Keep Austin Wierd – a Short History
The term “Keep Austin Weird” has become overly used, and some would say Austin’s “weirdness” is growing increasingly hard to find, with the mass influx of those from other areas bringing their normality to town. Luckily with events like Spamarama, the shrine known as the Cathedral of Junk, and the annual Eeyore’s Birthday Party, the city’s weirdness shines.
In 1978, David Arnsberger, Dick Terry, and George Majewski shared some beer and an idea- they were bored of chili and BBQ cook-offs, and thought it would be more impressive if people could make something like Spam taste delicious, and Spamarama was born. Today, the Spam cook-off is divided into a professional division for restaurants and caterers, and the open division for the general public. Not only do celebrity judges give trophies to the best tasting entries, like Spam flautas and Spam Cordon Bleu, but a “Worst of Show” trophy is also handed out to items like Spam-Alama Ding Dongs.
Though every year there is a Spam Eating contest, in 2004, the International Federation of Competitive Eating sponsored the event, and brought competitive eaters from around the country to enter the challenge. Rich LeFevre won that year, finishing off six 12 ounce spamburgers in 12 minutes. Other events are fun for the whole family, such as the Spam toss, the Spam can relay, and the Spam call- akin to the hog call.
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Down in deep south Austin, at 4422 Lareina Drive, lives a humble man by the name of Vince Hannemann. Hannemann lives in a modest home, and you’d never know his backyard houses the Cathedral of Junk. He began to build the cathedral in 1988, because it was fun, and it’s become his passion ever since. It’s made of improvised trusses that Hannemann has wrapped with wire and covered with over 60 tons of junk, ranging from discarded bicycles and lawnmowers to beer signs and unrecognizable flashing electronic parts. Wind turbines top two minarets, and once inside the cathedral, one can climb to different levels, or sit in the throne room and take in the vaulted ceilings. Many people bring along their own discarded items in hopes that it will become part of the cathedral, but Hannemann is a discerning builder, and only takes items he likes. The Cathedral of Junk has hosted events from weddings to bachelor parties, and CD release parties to school kids on field trips. Hannemann works during the week, but allows anyone interested to stop by on the weekends to walk around his backyard.
In 1963, UT English professor Lloyd Birdwell Jr. held a picnic on the UT campus for his students before final exams. The picnic’s theme revolved around the Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore. There was a trashcan full of lemonade, a slew of honey sandwiches, a donkey draped in flowers, and a maypole at the picnic. Eeyore’s Birthday Party was born. Since then, it’s been an annual tradition, and moved to its current location in Pease Park in 1974.
Today, the maypole and the donkey are still present at Eeyore’s Birthday Party, and the event is run by the Austin non-profit organization, Friends of the Forest, who set up local vendors for food and drink, and distribute the money brought in amongst local charities. Many costume clad Austinites show up on the last Saturday in April. There are games for kids to play, live music, and the ever present drums circles, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. Eeyore’s Birthday has become so popular that Friends of the Forest began bussing in attendees from downtown, due to the lack of parking near the event.
Spamarama, the Cathedral of Junk, and Eeyore’s Birthday Party all have one thing in common- they all began by people out to have fun. They are all unique, and have grown to become Austin institutions, and are truly keeping Austin weird.
Escapeso Realty helps people navigate the Austin Texas real estate market. Their website provides visitors a graphical search for Austin Homes along with a blog covering Austin real estate.
