Marketing Tips: Shake Up Your Strategy

How do you put a new spin on an old concept? What’s a good way to get your business noticed? One thing’s for sure, you don’t do it by sticking with the status quo. Sometimes you have to shake things up; look at a challenge with fresh eyes — make a bold move, or simply dare to be different.

This week’s episode of Help! My Business Sucks looks at a couple of companies that have made bold moves and how you might adapt those marketing strategies to your own business. Just click on the show logo below and take a look.

Shake Shack in New York is a fast food restaurant that’s the brainchild of savvy restaurant owner Danny Meyer of Gramercy Tavern fame. He’s opened up several outlets of Shake Shack in Manhattan that bring something fresh and innovative to the burger scene. I visited the newest outlet near Times Square and the place was packed. This is a great example of effective marketing in a crowded niche.

What’s your opinion about business cards? Personally, I think they’re over rated. Too many business owners rely on them as the easy way out of marketing. They can be useful as a tool to simply pass on contact information, but not much else. A much better marketing strategy is to give a book you’ve authored, or a DVD about your business, in place of a business card. It’ll get people’s attention, and they’ll view you as the expert authority in your niche. Think about YOUR reaction to receiving a book or DVD instead of a business card — see what I mean?

I’m an avid reader, I consume business books like burgers! One challenge is, with so many books available, how do you know which ones to read, and which ones to ignore? That’s where YourNextRead.com comes in. It’s a book recommendation engine that’s simple, and fast to use. I think you’ll like it.

This week’s big marketing lesson is from Tire Warehouse, a nationwide chain of tire suppliers. They utilize an interesting marketing strategy where they encourage customers to call competitors! Why would they do that? Watch this episode and you’ll find out…

As usual, let me know your opinion about the topics covered in the show to help your small business this week — leave your comment below, it’s really easy to do.

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tips and resources from Andrew Lock in our Small Business In-Depth series,

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Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses “get more done and have more fun.”