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The other day at the store I came across a package of SUMSEEDS Energized Sunflower Seeds. These seeds are infused with the same components as most of the energy drinks currently on the market. This caught my eye since it is no secret that I do like my caffeine… speaking of which I need to refill my cup… ok now back to sunflower seeds.

I have heard about SUMSEEDS before, but I had never seen them in the store. I bought the only bag I could find on the shelf next to all of the regular sunflower seeds with their various flavors. What I had heard was that one serving was roughly the equivalent of one cup of normal coffee as far as caffeine goes. I wasn’t expecting a big rush from these.

The flavor is a bit different for obvious reasons. They are flavored with ginseng, taurine and caffeine. Although it was a different flavor, it didn’t taste bad. Since I normally don’t eat sunflower seeds, this was a nice change or reason to do so. It was a great idea for a sunflower seed company to target a group they probably never have had before, caffeine addicts. Now you can chew on a salty addictive substance and get your caffeine fix at the same time. Bored at the office… SUMSEEDS… On a long road trip… SUMSEEDS… Watching a boring baseball game… SUMSEEDS. From its website you can even order them online just in case your local grocer doesn’t sell them. I have an idea, lets mix these in with the normal seeds at little league games and see what happens. Just Kidding.

In the long run, I can see where these would really come in handy on a long road trip. Stay awake and occupied at the same time. Win-Win. If you like your caffeine and happen across a package of these, I would recommend trying them.

*Don’t forget about the contest for the best business card design for Unconventional Marketing worth $50, you can enter more than once.

Lately, I have been reading through the book Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz and have come to really admire how simply he lays out word of mouth marketing. If you haven’t read his book, you should. Without further adieu, here are some ideas offered in the book:

1. Find the people who will talk about you

The people with enthusiasm for your message is a great place to start, but if you don’t already have people willing to talk about you, how do you get them? First, start by doing a lot of commenting either on blogs of in forums. As you build your presence, people will repay in kind and talk about either you or your product. As long as you are open and genuine, you will build a following. After some time this, following will continue to build itself. Another way to get people to talk about you is to have a product that is remarkable. Having a remarkable product can’t be fake. It has to be real, otherwise the backlash will highly outweigh the benefit of trying. People love Macintosh because of the product, not because Macintosh paid them to go out and say good things about the company.

2. Give them a reason to talk

This is the reason that you want to find and target the edge of your market. When you market to the edge, you are offering a product or service that no one else is really doing. When you offer that product, it gives people a reason to talk about it because not many people have heard of it or used it. When a product is good or exceptional, people can’t help but talk about it. Everyone has an opinion and most people like to voice their opinion when it comes to something they think they know better on. Why do people love talking about the newest gadget every time they get one? It’s because not many other people have them yet.

3. Help the message grow

In the world of blogging, this would be the Tell a Friend button on your posts or the easy submit buttons to your favorite social network sites. This would also be the weekly newsletter people can get in their inboxes and easily forward to their friends and family. What about a free coupon for a friend as your customer is walking out the door? Talk about a great way to get either your customers or their friend to return to your store. If they don’t use it, you aren’t out anything. If they come back, you probably have gained a couple customers out of the deal. What have you got to lose?

4. Participate in the conversation

People love to feel special and important. If someone feels like they are in the know or part of a special group like a beta tester is, they will find ways to tell others about their status. So give people that option to be a part of the “in crowd” and tell them all you can about the new features or open things up to Q&A. In turn, they will relay that message and knowledge to others. As the flow of conversation happens, more trust is built and ideas are shared resulting in a better service and product while including your customers in the discussion.

5. Record what is happening

Of course I don’t think it is entirely possible to record or track everything that everyone says about you or your product, but there are a few useful tools out there. I love using Google Alerts (GOOG)to find the new happenings about my selected keywords. Every day I get an email that lists different Google news of blog posts found containing my selected keyword. Some days I don’t get anything from a specific keyword, but when Google finds something it is sure to let me know. Another option is to open up your own forum to help people with their issues or questions. As membership grows, the forum will give you a pulse of the sentiment for your product.

Word of mouth marketing usually takes a little more effort and thought to ensure it is properly executed. Even then, you can’t be sure that it will work out the way you intended. It is impossible to say how people are going to react to different products or ideas, and giving them the microphone can be a double-edged sword. With that said, always remember to be honest in your marketing and tactics. If you aren’t, it will probably bite you in the….

Have you had a successful word of mouth marketing campaign? Go ahead and share it with everyone.

*Don’t forget about the contest for the best business card design for Unconventional Marketing worth $50, you can enter more than once.

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*Don’t forget about the contest for the best business card design for Unconventional Marketing worth $50, you can enter more than once.

The date is drawing near and the top 10 finalists for the next Top Affiliate Challenge are about to be picked. I have been rooting for Ty Hurd of Ty’s Blog since he started on his quest. I have gotten to know Ty over the last several months and believe he has what it takes to win the next Top Affiliate Challenge. The show begins filming and starts airing in July online. If you missed the first season, now is the time to get into the show from the beginning.

The second round of videos that contestants did really upped the ante, and Ty’s newest video was not lacking in any way on creativity mimicking the Discovery show Mythbusters. The producers of the Top Affiliate Challenge awarded him with the highest base rating from which he has maintained first place. Here is the link to the video. Once again I encourage everyone to check out the Top Affiliate Challenge and to give Ty your support and give him a vote of 10.

*Don’t forget about the contest for the best business card design for Unconventional Marketing worth $50, you can enter more than once.

Truly successful marketers target people and other businesses that are on the fringe. What is the fringe? The fringe is everywhere the masses aren’t.

When you look at a standard bell curve, you see how it looks like an upside-down U. In marketing you want to market to the people on the edges of the graph. This is where your marketing efforts are rewarded the most and will typically result in higher profit margins. Avoid like the plague that middle 68% of the people. In that area you are competing for the attention of the same consumers as Coca-Cola and Nike. For example, if you are in the market of credit cards, you want to target the people who American Express targets, not the everyday person who is fighting for the typical Visa or MasterCard. Only certain people qualify for an American Express card, but almost anyone can get a Visa or MasterCard.

There are a couple major benefits to targeting the fringe market. First would be the availability for more people to talk about your product or service to others. If everyone knows about you or your product, it will rarely be brought up in conversation because when everyone knows about your product, it is no longer REMARKABLE.

Secondly, targeting the fringe often means you can get into markets that not a lot of people are in. If you don’t have to spend a ton of money advertising, then you can take that money you save from advertising and make your business or service even more remarkable now that it is unconventional. Go the extra mile to make every person feel excited about your product, make them feel treasured by offering a free coupon for their friends or any other thing imaginable to get people talking about you. In most cases, making yourself remarkable will save you more in advertising and result in higher sales than any traditional marketing. So find your fringe market and meet their needs in a way that has never been done before. When you do, the customers will do the advertising for you.

*Don’t forget about the contest for the best business card design for Unconventional Marketing worth $50.