The number one challenge facing the small business owner today is marketing themselves and their businesses. Small business marketing can be disastrous if nothing new is brought to the table, but if the business owner just takes the time to sit back and think outside of the box, it can also be exciting and fruitful. “Thinking outside the box” has been used so much it’s practically a cliche’. However, when marketing a small business, it’s very much relevant and necessary.

Think about some of the ways that you become aware of services or products that are offered all around you. Think past the high gloss commercials that you see on television and the scary-thin models that push products in magazine ads. While that kind of advertising is effective, it’s also well outside of the budgetary reach of many small businesses and typically delivers the “ultimate” marketing since which is… being BORING!

This is especially true for small businesses that are just opening and trying to gain traction. Instead, think about the more cost effective and efficient ways that you are reached on a personal level by the businesses in your community.

For example, have you ever gone to the grocery store, done your shopping, returned to your car, and found that someone had left a small, often brightly colored, pamphlet under your windshield wiper? Sure you have. We all have. While some people may become annoyed, ball up the pamphlet, and toss it right there on the ground beside their car, most people will actually look at the pamphlet to see what this is all about.

The second that person glances at the pamphlet, they are a potential customer. The savvy small business owner who decided to put the pamphlets under those windshield wipers now has the attention of someone who may just patronize their business at a very low cost.

However, sliding a pamphlet under someone’s windshield wiper doesn’t guarantee that you will convert drivers into customers. One thing that will go a long way toward doing that is by making the pamphlet stand out. Again, think outside the box, and get noticed… in an OUTRAGEOUSLY effective way!

You glance at a pamphlet that’s advertising a new shop, “Psychic Parlor.” If the pamphlet simply read, “Come by the Psychic Parlor today”, that’s probably a pamphlet that would be balled up and tossed aside. There’s nothing intriguing there. But, what if the pamphlet was kicked off with a bold statement like, “I Found the Love of my Life Thanks to the Psychic Parlor!”; that’s a statement that would more than likely cause the reader to keep on reading if just to see how the Psychic Parlor is responsible for helping this person find the love of his or her life.

The small business owner that ultimately placed that pamphlet with the intriguing headline underneath the windshield wipers of potential customers is at a greater advantage than a small business owner who refuses to think outside the box. While the pamphlet may not be as glamorous as a television or magazine ad, it connects with potential customers in a subtle, personal way that just may draw in business. Be OUTRAGEOUSLY creative and be OUTRAGEOUSLY successful.

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[tags]Marketing For Small Business, Small Business Marketing Plan, Outrageous Advertising[/tags]