Marketing Highlights

Make 'Em Laugh

"Most marketing campaigns fall down because they're specifically designed to sell products and generate leads," says David Meerman Scott, viral-marketing strategist and author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. A better plan, he says, is to back off the sell and amp up the entertainment.

Be a Guru: Part I

Whether you sell real estate or fix teeth, you know a whole lot more about your business than your customers do. Attract attention by sharing that expertise.

Stick to a Shtick

Some brands are so dialed in to a customer base--its history, interests and aspirations--that the marketing effort smacks more of a celebration.

Connect With Customers by Making Them Stars

This is a less costly twist on MicroBilt's make-a-video strategy, with a dash of social-networking spice thrown in. Talented or not, people want to share their art, stories, even their hopes and dreams. Give them an outlet in exchange for sampling your product or service.

Connect With Customers by Making Them Stars

This is a less costly twist on MicroBilt's make-a-video strategy, with a dash of social-networking spice thrown in. Talented or not, people want to share their art, stories, even their hopes and dreams. Give them an outlet in exchange for sampling your product or service.

Tweet (No, really, we mean it.)

By now you've heard about Twitter--that curious, strangely addictive social-networking technology that facilitates the exchange of torrents of severely truncated messages (140 characters max) among millions of users. You may have read that it's a waste of time--and in many respects, that's true. What's also true is that Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool. Here are 21 compelling ways to use it.

Work the Press

Mentions in the news media offer what traditional marketing and advertising can't: exposure with implied credibility. While PR is nothing new, plenty of companies (and PR agencies) still don't get it.

Be a Guru: Part II

Disseminating data and white papers is nice, but ultimately connecting with customers is what counts.

Get on the Menu

If you can, let others do your marketing for you.

Host a Virtual Trade Show

Traditional trade shows are a convention-center-sized hassle--and they cost a lot to boot. Add up booth rental and presentation time-slot fees, advertising, promotional doodads and travel expenses (never mind the lost time away from the office), and a company's tab can rocket up to $100,000 per show. Hence the rise of virtual trade shows, designed to look and function like the real thing but that play out in real time in cyberspace. Entry fee: just $3,000 to $8,000. Better yet, you don't need to be a computer wizard to participate. Here are nine steps for getting the most out of them.

Meet the Neighbors

The rise of online networks plugged into specific local communities is a huge marketing opportunity for small businesses.

Build a Board to Buff Your Rep

Small businesses are short on a lot of things, credibility included. The higher your profile, the more clout you'll have with suppliers, partners and customers. A board of advisers can help.

Light up Their Inboxes

E-mail marketing has been around for years, but the tricky part remains getting people to open the messages in the first place.

Bake It in

Marketing shouldn't be an afterthought--it should be an integral part of the business concept and execution strategy.

Barter for Exposure

By now, everyone knows that the more people who link to a Web site, the higher it appears in Google's search results. That's where all those trigger-happy bloggers come in.

Cozy up to Celebrities

Think celebrity sponsorship is the solely province of companies with huge marketing budgets? Think again.

Wipe Off the Lens

If all else fails, take another hard look at the market and its willingness to pay for your product or service. Cost: Market surveys can cost up to $10,000, but there are some cheaper online options. Zoomerang charges $600 for a year subscription to its surveys service; Survey Monkey offers subscriptions starting at around $20 per month or $200 a year. Focus groups? Perhaps $100 for food and drinks.