On Tuesday, we started a new series of posts called Business 101, and the idea behind the series is to help with every aspect related to starting and running a successful business. We put out a call for post ideas and Nick posted up a suggestion that is probably more appropriate for Marketing 101 than it is for Business 101, though the two topics are clearly related.

In his comment, Nick writes:

I would like to see information on how to advertise your business without breaking the bank. Sure you could buy advertising, but that gets expensive. What are some good ways of getting business/clients to your business with spending nothing or very little?

Good question. One strategy that Gary Jones of BlueFur has done is to start writing guest blog posts on John Chow dot Com. The key to writing a successful guest blog post is not to use it to “sell” your business, per se, but to offer something of value to the targeted blog audience. People may develop a greater respect for you as an expert in your field, and they’ll also recognize you as an actual person and not just a business. This humanization can go a long way in the faceless world of the Internet.

For example, Gary wrote about how everything he learned in kindergarten applies to blogging. It’s a bit of quirky topic, but an entertaining one that John Chow dot Com readers surely enjoyed. As part of the guest post, Gary got to include a brief write-up on BlueFur, as well as a valuable backlink. This advertising strategy will cost you absolutely no money, but it will cost you a little bit of your time. That’s the price you pay for free publicity!

Last week we talked about the Law of Expansion and how it dilutes your brand. The Law of Expansion says you should not expand out of your current market place because it dilutes your brand and is detrimental to your long term success of your business.

Recently Cheerios launched a new breakfast cereal called Fruity Cheerios. When the commercial came on my 2 kids immediately said look Dad it’s Froot Loops. This is an example of how you should not expand your brand and it appears that Cheerios has been making this mistake for awhile. This will be the 9th Cheerios cereal released. Can you name the other 8 without searching?

Cheerios branding of new products is failing because they keep trying to hold on to their master brand Cheerios. If they really wanted to compete against Froot Loops they should have created a new brand. You see this happen a lot today and is a sign that the owner or board of directors are in charge of the marketing instead of the marketing department.

What brandable name could have Cheerios picked for the new product?

I realize that video games don’t make up a big part of what the BlueFur blog is all about, but there is one video game in particular that is great at illustrating what the slow release of information can do for your product. I’m talking about Super Smash Bros. Brawl, an upcoming fighting game that will be released on the Nintendo Wii. The game has been discussed on several occasions on my fighting games blog, in case you’re interested.

From a marketing standpoint, Nintendo has done a fantastic job of promoting the Wii to casual and non-gamers, as well as doing a good job in attracting more conventional gamers. The Wii is still hard to find in stock in stores, despite being out for over a year. The same can be said about some of the more popular titles and we have every reason to believe that Super Smash Bros. Brawl — which will feature characters like Mario, Sonic, Solid Snake, and Pikachu — will be a very hot item when it hits shelves. The game has been delayed several times, but interest remains increasingly high. Why?

Nintendo has managed to maintain the attention of the gaming public through a Smash Bros blog of sorts, which provides small smidgets of information with each update. Popular gaming blogs like Nintendo Wii Fanboy, Kotaku, and Joystiq pick up these stories the moment they arrive at the Smash Bros Dojo, furthering the excitement surrounding this title. By slowing releasing tidbits of information and cool gameplay videos, Nintendo keeps reminding us of SSBB, ensuring that it stays at the forefront of my minds. If they all they did was release a massive press release every few months, they would not be garnering the same level of attention as they do now.

This marketing technique can easily be applied to all sorts of other products, including software launches, new products, and more. If you have something a-brewing at your company and you want to create some buzz around it, launching a blog that slowly releases new information can do wonders. The same can be said about any online services that may still be in the design and/or beta phase.

Since reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding I have seen many bad branding mistakes. The Law of Expansion says you should not expand out of your current market place because it dilutes your brand and is detrimental to your long term success of your business. Many businesses do expand into other markets because it brings a short term increase in sales but long term brand can suffer.

A good example of this is the Kodak printer which was highlighted on the Celebrity Apprentice. Kodak is known for making high quality film. If you want to capture a good picture on film the majority of people would say to use Kodak. If you were to ask those same people who make a great printer I bet that none of them would say Kodak.

Kodak does not make a great printer. They make an average printer. The only separator they have is based on price. So now they are in to a highly competitive market and are only competing on price. As I am sure you would agree that is a recipe for failure.

What product comes to mind when you think of Kodak?

Although we are most definitely in a digital age, some of the best networking you can do still takes place in the real world. Making a strong first impression is absolutely critical when you meet someone and this involves dressing appropriately, having a firm handshake, and exchanging a high quality business card.

One of the most powerful tools in your networking toolbox is your business card, so it is of utmost importance that you invest a fair bit of attention to it. This is comprised of two main components. First, you should hire a professional business card designer to create a business card design that fits what your company does. It needs to speak to your company philosophy and represent you in the best way. If you run a “creative” business, you can have a more exciting design, whereas if you run a more “conservative” business, it may be best to not show off too much flair. Whatever the case, a consultation and a design from a professional is one of the best things you can do. The result will surely be better than what you can create yourself.

Second, be sure to get your business cards printed from a high-quality and respectable printer. You should also use a good card stock. Think about when you exchange business cards with someone. If their card is thin and flimsy, it reflects poorly on what they can do for it and it also seems to show that they are “cheap” and they don’t pay attention to the details. By contrast, if you have a full color card on a nice thick card stock, it exudes a certain level of professionalism, especially if you’ve got a great design to go with it.

Speaking for myself, I had a professional designer create the look of my two-sided, full color business card and then I had it printed at WR Design & Print in White Rock. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result and I actually received several compliments from people who received one of my cards. A good first impression — as evidenced by your business card — can go a long way.

On a side note, you can see one side of my design in this post. That’s the back and it promotes my blog. The front side is for my freelance writing business and it features a similar look and feel. Thanks to Judy Yeung for the design.

I think that most people would agree that IKEA is a hugely successful company and a large part of this success has come due to their great marketing. Unfortunately, it is impossible to please everyone, so even when most folks find a particular commercial amusing (and effective), there may be a minority that not only dislike your commercial, but are actually offended by it.

A reader of SmartCanucks.ca recently sent in a comment about a certain IKEA television commercial, saying that it is “encouraging theft, cheating and dishonesty.” Most of you have probably see the “Start the Car” ad, which you can find on YouTube.

On some level, I can understand why the reader would think the commercial promotes dishonesty, especially if children happen to get the wrong message. The honest thing to do, if you think that you are being undercharged, is to tell the retailer about the discrepancy. Yes, it’s obvious enough that the ad is saying that the items are on sale, but the woman in the ad doesn’t seem to be aware of the sale. She thinks that they made a mistake.

I don’t see, however, how the ad encourages theft or cheating. The woman is not stealing, because she has clearly paid for everything in her shopping cart, but she is being a little dishonest. Realistically, I think the ad is mildly amusing and does no harm, but others have clearly disagreed.

What do you think? Is the IKEA commercial encouraging dishonesty (among easily impressionable children in particular) or is it just all in good fun (and kids will understand that)?