how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn?t mentio

A few years ago a young shoe designer decided it was time to leave his father's shoe business to make it on his own. A point of disagreement between the two was that the old-school father didn't believe in advertising. Like many small business owners he relied almost totally on word-of-mouth. The son believed that his own, new business would need a strong brand identity and aggressive marketing. But first, he knew he needed to get his designs in front of the top buyers. The problem was, he couldn't afford a booth at the big trade show where all the buyers would be. So, rather than get discouraged, he got creative. He decided he'd rent a trailer, stock it with shoes, and park it as close to the midtown trade show as possible. A prominent sign would get the buyers' attention. It seemed like a great plan until he discovered that you can't park a 40-ft truck in midtown Manhattan unless you're a utility company or a movie production company. Undaunted, the young entrepreneur quickly rented a movie camera and changed his letterhead from Kenneth Cole, to Kenneth Cole Productions. He got the permit and ended up selling forty thousand pairs of shoes in four days. Suddenly, Kenneth Cole was the hot new shoe designer on the map.

As his business grew, he continued to leverage his limited ad budget by challenging conventional wisdom. Rather than follow the crowd with fancy 4-color ads, models, and expensive fashion photography, his simple high-concept ads used stock photos, or no photos at all. In fact, the first dozen Kenneth Cole ads didn't even show his shoes. Those ads, from the mid-eighties, created a buzz that continues to this day.

In Footnotes, an autobiographical book documenting his success, Cole states: "The best business solutions are usually more creative than expensive." Certainly he is a great example of that. Here's another.

Gregg and Evan Spiridellis decided they needed to get the word out about their tiny animation studio. With the 2004 election coming up they decided to showcase their work with an emailed, Flash animation poke at Bush and Kerry. A week before the election a friend forwarded me that poke: "This Land is Your Land...". When I stopped laughing, I forwarded it to half a dozen friends and then clicked on the JibJab hot- link to the studio web site. Apparently, I wasn't alone. According to Joe Trippi, a speaker at the recent Advertising Week conference, the viral promotion reached 65 million viewers in two weeks. It also got the brothers national press and new business like their recent deal with MSN. Their total marketing investment? $500.

An entrepreneur walks into an elevator and bumps into a woman who just gave the keynote speech at a business event they were both just leaving. He introduces himself, compliments her on her talk, and they exchange cards. Most elevator tete-a-tetes would end here. However, rather than just pocket the entrepreneur's card and resume staring at the descending elevator floor numbers, the woman stares at the card. Why? Because the card is staring back. On the card is a graphic of bulging eyes with the line: IF YOU WANT'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, YOU'D BETTER GET'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR MARKETING.

Immediately it prompts a slew of questions. Before the elevator stops, the woman (president of a PR firm) and entrepreneur have scheduled lunch. Three months later the same entrepreneur receives a check, from the PR firm, for thirty-two thousand dollars. It's the first 1/3 upfront payment for a three-month project on which he clears eighty-five grand. How do I know this story is true? The entrepreneur is me.

These stories illustrate how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn?t mention

any or a movie production company. Undaunted, the young entrepreneur quickly rented a movie camera and changed his letterhead from Kenneth Cole, to Kenneth Cole Productions. He got the permit and ended up selling forty thousand pairs of shoes in four days. Suddenly, Kenneth Cole was the hot new shoe designer on the map.

As his business grew, he continued to leverage his limited ad budget by challenging conventional wisdom. Rather than follow the crowd with fancy 4-color ads, models, and expensive fashion photography, his simple high-concept ads used stock photos, or no photos at all. In fact, the first dozen Kenneth Cole ads didn't even show his shoes. Those ads, from the mid-eighties, created a buzz that continues to this day.

In Footnotes, an autobiographical book documenting his success, Cole states: "The best business solutions are usually more creative than expensive." Certainly he is a great example of that. Here's another.

Gregg and Evan Spiridellis decided they needed to get the word out about their tiny animation studio. With the 2004 election coming up they decided to showcase their work with an emailed, Flash animation poke at Bush and Kerry. A week before the election a friend forwarded me that poke: "This Land is Your Land...". When I stopped laughing, I forwarded it to half a dozen friends and then clicked on the JibJab hot- link to the studio web site. Apparently, I wasn't alone. According to Joe Trippi, a speaker at the recent Advertising Week conference, the viral promotion reached 65 million viewers in two weeks. It also got the brothers national press and new business like their recent deal with MSN. Their total marketing investment? $500.

An entrepreneur walks into an elevator and bumps into a woman who just gave the keynote speech at a business event they were both just leaving. He introduces himself, compliments her on her talk, and they exchange cards. Most elevator tete-a-tetes would end here. However, rather than just pocket the entrepreneur's card and resume staring at the descending elevator floor numbers, the woman stares at the card. Why? Because the card is staring back. On the card is a graphic of bulging eyes with the line: IF YOU WANT'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, YOU'D BETTER GET'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR MARKETING.

Immediately it prompts a slew of questions. Before the elevator stops, the woman (president of a PR firm) and entrepreneur have scheduled lunch. Three months later the same entrepreneur receives a check, from the PR firm, for thirty-two thousand dollars. It's the first 1/3 upfront payment for a three-month project on which he clears eighty-five grand. How do I know this story is true? The entrepreneur is me.

These stories illustrate how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn?t mentio

t example of that. Here's another.

Gregg and Evan Spiridellis decided they needed to get the word out about their tiny animation studio. With the 2004 election coming up they decided to showcase their work with an emailed, Flash animation poke at Bush and Kerry. A week before the election a friend forwarded me that poke: "This Land is Your Land...". When I stopped laughing, I forwarded it to half a dozen friends and then clicked on the JibJab hot- link to the studio web site. Apparently, I wasn't alone. According to Joe Trippi, a speaker at the recent Advertising Week conference, the viral promotion reached 65 million viewers in two weeks. It also got the brothers national press and new business like their recent deal with MSN. Their total marketing investment? $500.

An entrepreneur walks into an elevator and bumps into a woman who just gave the keynote speech at a business event they were both just leaving. He introduces himself, compliments her on her talk, and they exchange cards. Most elevator tete-a-tetes would end here. However, rather than just pocket the entrepreneur's card and resume staring at the descending elevator floor numbers, the woman stares at the card. Why? Because the card is staring back. On the card is a graphic of bulging eyes with the line: IF YOU WANT'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, YOU'D BETTER GET'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR MARKETING.

Immediately it prompts a slew of questions. Before the elevator stops, the woman (president of a PR firm) and entrepreneur have scheduled lunch. Three months later the same entrepreneur receives a check, from the PR firm, for thirty-two thousand dollars. It's the first 1/3 upfront payment for a three-month project on which he clears eighty-five grand. How do I know this story is true? The entrepreneur is me.

These stories illustrate how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn?t mentio

ust leaving. He introduces himself, compliments her on her talk, and they exchange cards. Most elevator tete-a-tetes would end here. However, rather than just pocket the entrepreneur's card and resume staring at the descending elevator floor numbers, the woman stares at the card. Why? Because the card is staring back. On the card is a graphic of bulging eyes with the line: IF YOU WANT'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, YOU'D BETTER GET'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR MARKETING.

Immediately it prompts a slew of questions. Before the elevator stops, the woman (president of a PR firm) and entrepreneur have scheduled lunch. Three months later the same entrepreneur receives a check, from the PR firm, for thirty-two thousand dollars. It's the first 1/3 upfront payment for a three-month project on which he clears eighty-five grand. How do I know this story is true? The entrepreneur is me.

These stories illustrate how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn?t mentio

how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn?t mention. I talk to many groups about the power of marketing, and whenever I speak I always get asked: "What's the biggest key to successful marketing?" My simple answer is: "A client with a creative marketing mindset."

I'll describe one last, current, example of effective marketing without a marketing budget. Several years ago my firm created an effective church poster that still runs today. It reads:

If You Want To Feed Your Soul, We've Got A Great Menu.

Under that headline are three columns of every program, group, and activity the church has -- things like a Divorce Recovery Workshop, Gay and Lesbian Fellowship, Entrepreneurs Group, Singles Group -- about two dozen altogether. Of the 11 ads we've done, this one has been most effective, by far. Why? Because it presents two-dozen more reasons to come to Marble church besides the Sunday service. But let me continue. Marble has 3,000 passionate members who love the church, and the poster. There are probably another 3,000 who aren't members but attend semi-regularly. That's about 6,000 people who are big on the church and the poster. So, what if there was a way to somehow turn those 6,000 people into a sales force. Certainly all have friends and associates who could be convinced to visit Marble if they knew about the variety of relevant groups and programs listed on that poster.

Do I suggest giving each member a 21" x 22" poster to post by their office water cooler? I don't think so. But what if that 21" x 22" poster was a 4" x 6" postcard? I didn't think it was possible, but with some very creative editing, I actually did it. The type is small, but not so small that it can't easily be read. And the cost? About a dime per card, depending on the volume printed. By the time this article runs there could be hundreds of Marble "Johnny Appleseed's' sharing these postcards with their friends, acquaintances, and co-workers. If word-of-mouth is the best advertising, this will be like word-of-mouth on steroids.

How to Market Your Own Business with No Budget.

Explaining by case study is one thing. Offering general, one-size-fits-all advice is quite another. Every industry is different, and every business in every industry is unique. A successful, cost-effective solution for one business may or may not work for a different business in a different business environment. That said, every business in every industry needs to be noticed in a positive way. So, let me expound on a previous example.

Many small business folks claim they can't afford advertising. I say... if you can afford business cards, then you can afford advertising. Because, despite what many may think, a business card is a small space ad for your business. And, if you don't treat it as such, you're wasting a cost-effective marketing opportunity.

Every company needs to create an engaging brand personality - a personality that's consistently reflected in every marketing element. Whenever you hand out your card you're not just sharing your contact info, you're introducing your company to a potential buyer. So, for God's sake, make it engaging.

How you do that depends on your business and the personality you decide it should have. Obviously, a law firm will be different from a flower shop. But that doesn't mean a law firm's card has to be boring. If you have a law firm, what kind of law is it? What's special about your firm? Anything? Well then say it on your card. Give someone a reason to think of you (vs. others) when they need legal help. So, having a smart, memorable tagline can definitely help. And maybe, on the back, you bullet the various types of legal services