Creative Marketing Can Be Big Boost for Small Firms.

A dynamic new marketing strategy can help your business thrive, rather than just survive this year.

Nancy Michaels, co-author of "Off the Wall Marketing Ideas," (with Debbi J. Karpowicz) says keeping in touch with clients and customers on a regular basis is critical to a successful marketing plan. She recommends practicing what she calls the "rule of four" and the "rule of six." She communicates four times a year with her entire database, sending out two postcards and two newsletters. An extra two times a year, she sends a special mailing to the top 20 percent of her clients, the "A" list of people who provide the bulk of her business.

Michaels, founder of Impression Impact in Concord, Mass., frequently presents marketing seminars at Staples stores. She's made her own impression by sending out small gifts to clients on offbeat holidays, such as the Chinese New Year and the Fourth of July.

Unlike many marketing consultants, Michaels advises against spending a lot of money on a glitzy brochure.

"The minute they come back from the printer, there's something you want to change," she said. "And, let's face it, most Americans open their mail over the waste basket. We get this stuff everyday that we don't have a need for right now, and most of us just throw it out."

Her marketing mantra is VCR, and she's not talking about a video cassette recorder. VCR is an acronym that stands for visibility, consistency and repetition. Effective marketing plans must focus attention on all three, she said.

Michaels and Karpowicz have dozens of great examples of small-business owners who used their imaginations to get noticed without spending a lot of money.

Creative promotions

For example, Steve Latour, who calls himself the "lei-man," sent samples of his handmade flower garlands to TV weather personalities when Washington, D.C., was hit with a freak snowstorm. His gifts, mentioned or worn by the weather reporters, generated publicity that even a giant company with a big advertising budget couldn't have. Knowing that the unusual snowstorm meant more folks would be tuning in to watch the weather reports, Latour used the opportunity to creatively promote his products, with great results.

Another great marketing idea came from the owner of Gold Coast Dogs, a hot dog restaurant located in Chicago, Ill. When business slows down in the afternoon, owner Barry Potekin, hails a cab in front of his restaurant, and asks the driver to take him around the block. Once inside, he tells the driver about how great the food is at Gold Coast Dogs. At the end of the ride, he gives the cabbie a $5 tip. The result? Cabs, filled with customers, often line up three-deep in front of Gold Coast Dogs. All of this great word-of-mouth marketing costs Potekin only $l0 a day.

Michaels' and Krapowski's book is filled with dozens more real-life examples and is a must-read for any small-business owner looking for high-impact marketing ideas on a budget.

Although they emphasize money-saving ideas, they recommend hiring a professional graphic designer to develop your company logo. Your logo represents your business on many levels, not just graphically, according to marketing experts.

Pam Levine is a merchandising and branding consultant from New York City with more than 25 years of experience in the jewelry business. One upscale jewelry client she worked with was known for his personal touch, but his logo had a very corporate look. Levine, founder of Levine Design, recommended he change the logo and redesign his promotional materials to highlight the personal touch that set him apart from his competition.

"We pushed him to work on an emotional level," said Levine. "Now, he has personalized brochures that talk about the bridal experience, and he talks to men about how to propose."

Budgetary constraints

Levine cautions that "you can't develop a whole brand on a small budget. But you can do it in stages." Start by improving the first impression people will have of your business -- whether it's the retail environment, your letterhead or your Web site.

Marketing your business goes way beyond the look and feel of printed materials or a public relations campaign. A new concept called "experience" marketing has been gaining momentum in recent years, in part through the popularity of the book, "The Experience Economy" by B. Joseph Pine, James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II.

One of the pioneers of experience marketing is Louis P. Carbone, the CEO of Experience Engineering, a consulting firm based in Minneapolis, Minn. Experience Engineering tries to integrate and manage all of the experiences a customer or client might have with a business, from the person who, answers the phone to the carpeting on the floor.

Experience Engineering's director, Sue Goan, says the company's approach is "based on the idea that every customer interaction has a rational and emotional component."

That means, every business owner should ask, "How did they feel about doing business with me?" Whether you're paying attention to it or not, she says, "every company delivers an experience."

Improving experience

The firm was recently retained to improve operations in the emergency room at University Hospital in Augusta, Ga.

"The first thing they did was take us out to the front of the hospital," recalled George Ann Phillips, director of emergency services. "We walked the pathway that a car would take, and walked into the emergency room from the parking lot."

The experience revealed how much hospital officials assumed patients would know about where to find the emergency room.

"We just knew the emergency room was the third door on the left. But, if you went in the first door, you were in shipping and receiving, and the second door was the exit," said Phillips.

A small thing like a clear sign on the building could have a huge impact on the quality of the patient's experience. (Good signage can also impact your business.)

The Experience Engineering consultants examine three major elements of any business they work with: the mechanics, the process and the humanism. Phillips said the humanistic perspective is the most significant.

"You can have a facility that's falling down around you, and if the people are wonderful, you have a great experience," she said. But, changing the way the staff and patients interact was more challenging than adding new signs outside the hospital.

Reporting by Sarah Prior. Jane Applegate is the author of "201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business," and is CEO of SBTV.com, a multimedia site providing small-business resources.