This is my  little list of my top 10 favorite marketing ideas on the Unconventional Marketing Blog. Hope you enjoy.

Marketing Ideas #20 McDonalds Anti Starbucks Marketing Campaign – Billboards are shooting up everywhere taking shots (espresso) at Starbucks. In Western Washington (home of Starbucks) hundreds of these billboards are beginning to appear even right next to Starbucks.

Marketing Ideas #14 McDonald’s Free Coffee Monday – On the radio I overhead McDonald’s advertising free coffee Mondays where you can drive through or stop by their store for a free sample of McDonald’s coffee.

Unique Marketing Ideas with great results – Thirty days ago I started my Marketing Ideas En Masse trail to see what kind of results I could produce. Wow, am I amazed by the results of the test trial. Let’s dive into the numbers and see what we find.

Effective Marketing Online – Anybody with millions of dollars in their advertising budget can run a huge and effective marketing campaign, but how do you run an effective marketing campaign online for free?

Online Apartment Marketing Ideas – Just a couple of thoughts that came to my head when I thought of marketing empty apartments. I do have some experience in marketing apartments online and thought I would share some ideas.

Quick Marketing Ideas – I am going to just throw out a few different marketing queries I have received to this blog and then reply as quickly as I can with marketing ideas.

Real Estate Marketing Ideas – I don’t know if you have noticed, but the Real Estate market is taking a bit of a beating.

Marketing Ideas #12 Be Creative – Thanks to Dosh Dosh on twitter I found this ad talking about a Nissan Xterra for sale. This is an ad from Craigslist where some guy is trying to sell his Nissan Xterra SUV.

Marketing Ideas #10 Burger King dropping money – Most of the contents inside are gift certificates to their restaurant but who knows maybe someone got adventurous and added some real cash.

Starbucks new Gold Card marketing strategy – Just the other day I noticed Starbucks had started a new promotion, the Starbucks Gold Card. Although, it is not quite like the Centurion Black Card, it is on the right track.

Direct mail marketing pieces are becoming very popular again. Not to say they never were popular but now they being looked at by even more people as the advertising budget get tighter.

Benefits of Direct Marketing Mail

Not only do you know your client is more likely to purchase from you but you can talor each mail piece directly to their needs. So if you know that you have clients in cold baren wastelands like Fargo, ND. you could have pictures of people playing in the Carribien sun as a prize. Or on the other hand you can have the people and objects in the ad reflect the demographic you are targeting. For instance in our area that would probably be more anglo white scandivnaivian people on the cover.

Buying smaller Direct Marketing Mail lists

It is completely possible to buy a mail list of the exact people you are looking for. Say you want to target a specific audience like Northern Minnesota ice fishers, I am sure there is list out there with just their names on it. This allows you to really drill down and build a marketing piece that will be the most appealing to that demographic. “Lower more target results + more money per item = better results. We have received as much as 42% on dimensional mail.” -BigPops

Using Dimensional Mail to Increase Sales

I sent out a question on Twitter to see what others had to say about Direct Marketing and @BigPops said that he had “great success” with dimensional mail pieces.  I have never used dimensional mail pieces before and did the natural thing and Googled them. Turns out they are basically unconventional mail pieces or anything that isn’t flat like a postcard. I like that.  I should have BigPops send some pics of mail pieces he has sent out sounds pretty neat.

Conclusion

All in all there is a huge market for Direct Mail Marketing and all sorts of products out there to help with folding, cutting, printing and what not for those businesses who wish to take on the task running their own direct mail pieces. I have no doubt this industry is in a good position to take up the slack in newspaper advertising. The more target your audience and the more you know about them the better the results.

What are your thoughts on Direct Marketing Mail and what kind of success have you had with it?

I hope that everyone is enjoying the eggnog with loved ones next to a warm fire and some good food. This year Lindsay and I continued our tradition of having Chinese Buffet for Christmas lunch. We started going 3 years ago when both of us used to work on Christmas. This year is a little different.

I quit my last job a year ago this week. Hard to believe where life has taken me since. Quitting my job was the guttiest thing I have ever done, leaving behind a secure dismal paycheck to pursue a life of business and Internet Marketing. It was the best choice I have ever made. Deciding to strike out on my own definitely came with its ups and downs, but over all has been extremely worth it.

Looking back over the last year makes me very thankful that I get to spend time relaxing with my girlfriend Lindsay and for all the support that family and friends have given over the years. I hope that wherever you are, you are with the ones you love and cherishing every moment. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. God Bless you and may this year be more fruitful than the last.

-Josh Whitford

P.S. This year I am changing the focus of my newsletter to better help and encourage others to pursue a better life through marketing.