Calendar of Events: November

The holidays are just around the corner, which means there are plenty of ways to promote your brand this season. November is a month of thanks: In addition to Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving Day, it's also Military Family Appreciation Month, National Family Caregivers Month and National Scholarship Month. These and other occasions provide the perfect opportunity to honor those who serve your community and the country while at the same time promoting anew or existing product or business. Here are some other excuses to get your promo on:

November 9th - 15th National Young Reader's Week
November 9th - 16th World Kindness Week
November 11th - Veteran's Day
November 15th - 21st American Education Week
November 26th - Thanksgiving Day

Feel Good, Inc.

There seems to be a Jamba Juice popping up on almost as many corners as Starbucks. In recent weeks the smoothie chain has passed out thousands of prepaid Metro Cards for the New York City subway and tickets for the cable cars in San Francisco. They'll be doing so in large cities across the country for next couple of months, and it's all part of what the franchise is calling "Feel Good Moments." The recession might be over, but people can certainly still use a good pick-me-up, and Jamba Juice is turning their good will into smart marketing. They're giving away "Feel Good Bucks," which customers can use toward purchases at any Jamba Juice location and could even win $10,000 in cash. Using street teams and a prominent online presence via Facebook and Twitter, Jamba Juice is maximizing its campaign by using all available platforms to reach new and existing customers. In what ways can you use a multi-platform strategy to make people feel good when they need it most while at the same time expanding your brand?

Having a Mental Block?

Trying to come up with a unique idea to promote your business or project? That's what Branding Ideas is here for. The Mental Block, which can be twisted into all sorts of different shapes, is a great way to keep your brand on your client's brains. You get six imprints for the price of one! It's a fun, useful item that people will keep on their desks and grab while talking on the phone, discussing new business opportunities, or just to relieve stress. And they'll be looking at your logo (six of them) each and every time. The Mental Block, which has been the #1 tradeshow item for four years in a row, is a puzzling solution to finding the perfect promotional product!

Calendar of Events: October

October is Self Promotion Month. It also happens to be Women's Small Business Month. But even if you're not a one-person operation or a woman-owned business, there plenty of monthly, weekly and daily observances on which to capitalize and promote your business, new product or project this month. There are several health-related observances: Health Literacy Month, Long Term Care Planning Month, National Chiropractic Month, National Dental Hygiene Month and National Physical Therapy Month. If health-related occasions don't fit your company's image and goals, what follows is a list of some other notable observances that could provide great opportunities to promote your business. And, of course, there's always Halloween!

October 2nd - World Smile Day
October 4th - 10th National Work from Home Week
October 5th - World Habitat Day
October 5th - World Teacher's Day
October 5th - 11th Customer Service Week
October 5th - 11th Financial Planning Week
October 11th - 17th International Credit Union Week
October 11th - 17th National Food Bank Week
October 16th - World Food Day

Usability

Repetition is key to imparting a good message, and promotional items that are usable, ones that your clients and customers will keep returning to, are the ones that carry the most bang for their buck. Economic indicators suggest that the recession is turning around, but most of us aren't feeling it yet, which means being economical is still essential. Low-cost promotional items like pens, key chains, mouse pads and the like are safe, reliable and simple go-to options when you're hard-pressed for ideas, but Branding Ideas is committed to coming up with new ways to promote your business or product in creative, useful and inexpensive ways. Our new favorite toy is the BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator wheel. At the risk of seeming like you're telling your clients that they need to lose weight, it's a great promotional item because it's not the kind of item that will get tossed in a drawer or trash immediately.

Need some more ideas for useful, affordable ways to promote your business? Let us know!

Advertising and Socialism

No, not that kind of socialism. We're talking about social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Social networks aren't exactly new anymore, but in the timeline of advertising, they're fairly new models. These networking sites and other communications platforms have become central to our online and social experiences (Twitter and Facebook are two of the most popular sites on the Internet), and yet they've struggled to develop advertising-driven revenue. It's partly because they've failed to prove to marketers that they're going to get enough bang for their buck. The biggest reason is that most people who use social media are there to interact with their friends, family and colleagues, not a company that's trying to sell them something. However, consumers of TV and print have long accepted that paid ad placements are part and parcel to their viewing and reading experiences, and in recent years even moviegoers have relucantly accepted commercials in theaters despite lots of initial pushback. So maybe time is the answer. As social networking becomes broader, used for business and other means, perhaps we'll be more open to it. The key to any advertising endeavor, of course, is to assess what the opportunities and risks are for your company and, of course, find out who's doing it right. After all, someone has to take the first plunge!

What Is Sideways Advertising?

Sideways advertising is something you're probably already familiar with and don't even realize it. One of the oldest and most reliable forms of sideways advertising, which can basically be defined as anything other than traditional marketing for which you pay, are employees, partners and clients, even past customers, who pass on valuable information about your brand. In other words, grass-roots word-of-mouth by people who carry your company's message. Another tried-and-true form of sideways advertising is philanthropic endeavors and community involvement, which is as simple as sponsoring an event that shares the values of you and your business. Doing something good can benefit the world and your bottom line. A new addition to the world of sideways advertising is online social networking. Websites like Facebook and Twitter, oft-mentioned in these pages, can help build your business's image and overall branding. And cross-polinating between traditional marketing approaches and social networking is a great way to maximize both. About to launch a new traditional ad campaign? Tweet about it!

Mariah Carey Sells Out

It's no secret that the music industry has been struggling to boost profits amidst decreasing sales and a broader array of media for consumers to, well, consume. Island Def Jam, the music group whose artists include Mariah Carey, U2, the Killers, Kanye West and others, recently announced that will start integrating branded advertising in their artists' CD booklets. The new model will launch with Mariah Carey's upcoming album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, due in stores at the end of the month. The album will include a 34-page mini-magazine filled with lifestyle ads sponsored and co-created by Elle Magazine along with the record label. Lyrics and other information about the album will presumably be mixed in with the ads, making for great brand visibility but not necessarily a very pleasant or easy-to-navigate user experience. If Island Def Jam is hoping this new business model will kill CD sales once and for all, they might be on to something. On the other hand, their primary interest appears to be making money, since there will also be a digital version of the booklet available when you purchase the album on iTunes and other digital sales outlets. With savvy consumers becoming increasingly aware of advertising and finding new ways to avoid it, this is just another example of companies coming up with ever more inventive means to make an impression.

Calendar of Events: September

September is chockfull of holidays and special observances, which means there are countless opportunities for you to promote your business, new product or project. First and foremost, September is National Coupon Month, College Savings Month and next week (the 7th through the 11th) is National Payroll Month. And of course, Monday, September 7th is Labor Day. Most of these are self-explanatory occasions to provide discounts, coupons and other great incentives for your business. Here are some other notable daily and weekly observances that might provide perfect opportunities to promote your business or product this month:

September 7th - 12th Constitution Week
September 8th International Literacy Day
September 11th Patriot Day
September 17th Citizenship Day
September 20th - 26th National Singles Week
September 21st International Day of Peace
September 26th READ in American Day
September 27th World Tourism Day

Need some ideas on how to capitalize on September's wealth of holidays? Drop us a line!

The "You" in YouTube

If you've been on YouTube lately (and we're sure you have, probably right before you came to the Branding Ideas blog!), you've undoubtedly noticed a pop-up advertisement appear on the bottom of the viral video you watched. Google, which bought YouTube in 2006 for a whopping $1.65 billion, is attempting to monetize its user-uploaded content, even offering a cut of the profits to uploaders. Yesterday, YouTube Product Manager Shenaz Zack announced on the YouTube Biz Blog that the video site is "extending the YouTube Partnership Program to include individual popular videos." Cutting costs and boosting revenue is never easy (just ask the U.S. government), but Google is giving it the old college try and getting its users in on the action. It's part of a gradual but imminent trend in which the You in YouTube is indeed "You," partnering with billion-dollar corporations to boost everyone's bottom line. Whether it's a long-term strategy that will help YouTube become a profitable enterprise remains to be seen, but it should be fun to watch them try!