By Dave Ramacitti
The one overriding goal of your small business’s marketing efforts, especially during a start-up phase, is to be noticed, is to be memorable in the eyes of customers or potential customers. You achieve being memorable by finding something your customers or potential customers can identify with, an image that you can own. Then you deliver that image --- your marketing message --- in a unique and memorable way, that is, in a way that is different from your competitors.One way you can present your marketing message in a unique way is to create a memorable “character” or brand icon. The Geico gecko, the Aflac duck, Morris the cat, Tony the tiger and the Keebler elves all come to mind as famous non-human “characters” that have helped a particular brand of product achieve uniqueness in the marketplace.
While they were not literally part of the business’s official logo, they became so closely associated with the sponsoring company that they became an icon for the brand. Would your business lend itself to some kind of character? Would you be comfortable with this strategy? The key here is that the character somehow has to grow naturally out of who you are or who you want to be as a business. This technique isn’t for everyone. If you tend to take yourself too seriously, then this one definitely isn’t for you. But when it works, it really works great!
(Dave Ramacitti is co-founder and chief content developer for Marketing Over Easy, a new website dedicated to helping small businesses be smarter marketers. To receive a free copy of our special report "58 Free and Low Cost Ways to Promote Your New Small Business" visit us at www.marketingovereasy.com/signup © 2010 by David F. Ramacitti. Excerpted from The All-Important Stuff You Gotta Do First to Effectively Market Your Small Business © 2009 by David F. Ramacitti)