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Using Innovative Promotions to Build Your Business

By David Frey

One of my employees is an electric guitar freak.

He's actually very good. He can play any rock-n-roll song from bands like Van Halen, Led Zepplin, Rush, Styx and a bunch of other classic rock bands.

Recently he took part in a guitar competition called, "Guitarmageddon." It was a very interesting experience to say the least. It was held at a local "Guitar Center" store.

The place was PACKED and kinda crazy. But everyone there seemed to be a rabid fan of not only the event but the store as well.

Guitarmageddon and Marketing to Guitar Freaks

So what does Guitarmageddon have to do with marketing?

Everything!

You see, all the guitar freaks that come to Guitarmageddon spend an enormous amount of money on guitar items and accessories.

And these guitar freaks invite all their friends and family members to come watch them play down at the Guitar Center, which has over 150 stores across the United States.

Who do you think benefits the most from the event?

You got it, the Guitar Center.

Not only do they get their target market to visit their store but they get them to get all their like-minded friends to visit the store as well.

If you were a store owner how would you like to have this many people busting down your walls...

www.guitarcenter.com/drumoff/IMG_CROWD_2003.JPG

Pretty cool, huh.

And It's Not Just About Guitar Freaks

Guitarmageddon is just one innovative promotion that the Guitar Center does to pack people into their stores.

But guitar freaks aren't the only people that the Guitar Center sells to.

The also sell to the hip hop crowd and drummers. So being the smart marketers that they are they also sponsor a "Spin Off" competition and a "Drum Off competition."

Spin Off is a competition for turntablists who can scratch and spin to hip hop music. It draws thousands and thousands of urban kids to their store.

The winning participants get thousands of dollars in prizes and the grand winner gets a 2005 Scion x6 car.

The company sends an 8 page booklet to over 50,000 DJs on its mailing list to encourage sign-ups.

The Drum Off is a similar contest geared toward drummers. Here's the 2004 Drum Off champion...

http://tinyurl.com/5fyel

He rocks! :-)

Innovative Promotions Draw Crowds

The Guitar Center is an expert at reaching and connecting with their target market through promotional marketing.

But I can't think of one store, business, or professional services firm that couldn't use this same strategy to get new customers - - or at least a lot of free publicity.

For example:

-> A Law Firm could hold a moot court contest with local high school kids.

-> An Accounting Firm could hold a national tax competition for tax students (actually, they already do this.)

-> A Software Store could hold a local X-Box competition with area youth and adults.

-> A Mortgage Company could sponsor a Yard-of-the-Month contest with local residents.

Do you get the idea.

Nearly every small business can think up some contest or competition that could bring them a lot of free publicity and get prospects talking about their business.

I'd like to see a local dating service (a very hot business right now) do a city-wide "Bachelor" or "Bachelorete" competition. That would certainly get a lot of press!

Tips for Creating Successful Promotions

Here are some tips that you can use to make sure your promotion is successful.

1. Make your contest easy to enter. Use your website to sign up or have people call in.

2. Make sure the promotion involves your target market (this should go without saying.)

3. Provide incentives for people who want to participate to get their friends to do it with them. (referrals are a businesses best friend)

4. Make sure you announce the event to the press, (1) in advance, (2) while it's happening, and (3) and after it has happened. (there's always 3 opportunities to get free publicity.)

5. Get local or national celebrities involved in the judging process.

6. Get partners to help you sponsor the event.

NOTE: This is a huge tip. I could write an entire article just about this one tactic. Do you think the Guitar Center paid for the car that they gave away? No way. In fact, the Guitar Center gets Nike, XM Satellite Radio, XXL, and Scratch magazine to pay for most of the events.

7. Take photos at your event so that you can use them to promote next years event.

8. Remember to market your contest like you would any other sale or promotional event. In other words, take the event seriously and pull off something high quality that you can build on year after year.

The only thing that holds you back from creating a magnetic event that draws in prospects is your own imagination.

Look to see what other businesses are doing and use that as a springboard to help you come up with a good list of innovative promotional ideas.