This is a guest post by Lindsay who maintains the dog blog That Mutt. She writes about dog training and behavior, dog products and dog rescue. She also just so happens to be my girlfriend.

If you’d like to guest post on my blog feel free to visit my guest post page and learn more.

The first step to a good marketing idea is having a product or service people actually need. When it comes to marketing, some products are much easier to promote than others. No matter how good the marketing is, some products just don’t reach people.

Novelty items and products that solve a problem are the easiest to market. If something isn’t selling, your job is to convince people that they can’t live without your product. If this isn’t true, then make adjustments to your product.

The way I see it, products and services fit into three categories: 1) Functional products that sell, 2) Novelty products that sell and 3) Ideas that don’t sell.

Since I work with dogs, it’s easy for me to use the pet industry as an example.

Products that solve a problem

In my community of Fargo, N.D., there are about a dozen dog boarding and dog daycare places. As far as I know, none of them offer dog walking.

Because I know there will always be dogs that need more exercise, I opened a dog running and dog walking business last year. There wasn’t a need for just another dog daycare. There was a need for something different. This is a functional service people need.

There are tons of pet products out there that function and sell because they solve a problem or meet a need. One product that solves a problem is the retractable dog leash.

Problem: Lazy, overweight Americans don’t want to exercise their dogs.

Solution: The retractable leash allows the human to simply stand there while the dog runs circles around them.

I hate these leashes, but they are exactly what people want. I don’t think I need to say more.

Another product that solves a problem is the hands free bike leash.

Problem: The human takes her hyperactive dog biking while holding the leash. The dog sees a squirrel, lunges and causes the human to lose control of her bike and crash. Hopefully no stitches are needed.

Solution: A hands free bike leash works by securing the dog to the side of the bike and allowing the owner to keep both hands on the bike and remain in control. My mutt Ace and I use our hand free bike leash almost every day because it allows me to safely exercise my high-energy dog.

And finally, a third example is the automatic pet feeder.

Problem: Food-obsessed cat demands food at all hours of the day. The owner gets very annoyed. (Josh here: That’s my cat she’s talking about! Now back to the post …)

Solution: The pet feeder is programmed to drop the right amount of food at the right times throughout the day. The cat learns to go to the feeder and wait for food rather than harass his owner.

The automatic pet feeder has saved Josh and I a lot of stress!

Novelty products

Novelty products don’t solve a problem, but they sell anyway because people believe they can’t live without them. These are products like Bobblehead dolls or Halloween costumes for dogs.

Novelty items don’t have much value other than people want them because someone else has them. For example, someone might buy a Halloween costume for her dog to impress her friends. Or someone might start collecting bejeweled dog collars just so her dog can have more ways to dress up than other dogs.

People become strangely attached to products like these and start obsessing and creating emotional attachments. Think Beanie Babies or trolls. Creepy, right?

Ideas that don’t sell

Products and services that don’t sell are not necessarily bad. It’s just that something about that product or the marketing of that product needs to change. The product or service should meet a need or become a novelty people can’t live without. (Josh here: can anyone say SkyMall Magazines on airplanes? A whole magazine of worthless stuff you don’t need but want.)

We’ve probably all had ideas that don’t catch on. For example, I offer a service where I will take dogs to a dog park for off-leash exercise. No one seems interested in this service, but dozens of people are interested in my on-leash dog running service.

Perhaps taking the dog to the dog park is easier for people so they prefer to do it on their own. That means I need to change my marketing approach.

I could convince people about the importance of dogs socializing with other dogs and getting time to run free and just be dogs. I could explain to people how the dog park is mentally stimulating for dogs and therefore they come home tired. Hyperactive dogs create many problems. My job is to offer solutions.

The pet industry is just one piece of the pie, but the same rules can be applied with any industry. People buy products and services either because they believe they can’t live without them or because they solve a problem.

When you are marketing your brand, service or product, think about how it fits into this equation and how you can make improvements to change how that product is viewed. If you are meeting a need, the sales will follow.

Why can’t people live without your product?

*Update 10-8-10: I am getting reports that BirdFeeder is not working right now (or since the last Twitter API update). I would research that the issue has been resolved before purchasing this product.

As you probably have noticed, I have been on quite the Twitter kick lately. Twitter is a powerful tool that allows marketers to take a lot of guesswork out of building a brand. As such, I have been exploring many different programs to help and automate the tedious parts of Twitter and give more time to networking and relationship building. You may recall I talked about Twitter Hummingbird and its features just a little while ago. Now I’m going to explain Twitter Bird Feeder.

First Impressions of Twitter Bird Feeder

The people at PaceSys Software stopped by and left a comment on my Twitter Hummingbird Review post saying they believed their program mopped the floor with Hummingbird. So naturally I had to check out Twitter Bird Feeder. I was disappointed they didn’t offer me a free full version of the software, but life goes on.

The trial version allows you to follow and unfollow 250 people before it stops working. I’ll tell you first off that’s all you need. I was hooked instantly and bought it right away. These $175 programs really start to add up. Here are some of the best features Twitter Bird Feeder has:

Manage Accounts

You can add, manage and update unlimited accounts with Bird Feeder Pro ($175), the version I have. Bird Feeder offers a cheaper version of the program for $59.95. This version limits you to 5 Twitter accounts.

Twitter Bird Feeder Manage Window

Follow by Search

Unlike Hummingbird, Twitter Bird Feeder allows you to search and follow people with more precision. You can do the normal search and follow through Twitter’s search but can also select to follow by location.

Right away you’ll notice some neat features to the left on the program where you can select to skip people still rockin’ the default picture on their profile. Also, Bird Feeder has a built in time delay for following people, allowing you to have a more natural or delayed approach. Along with that, if you leave the program running, you can schedule Bird Feeder to automatically follow and unfollow people at a set time (handy while away from the office for a while).

Follow By Search

Follow by People

I follow people the most with Bird Feeder by selecting to follow the friends or followers of people I know on Twitter. If someone is a friend of one of my friends, chances are he or she would follow me back. You can choose to follow a person’s friends by newest or oldest. Again, using a time delay or set time and only following those without default images.

Another option is to follow by people’s usernames, first names or last names. This is really handy in the event you want to follow 1,000 Heathers or every Josh on Twitter to rub it in that you are the only real Josh . I actually use this feature a lot.

Unfollow People

Like Twitter Hummingbird, you can protect people you want to stay followed to even if they aren’t following you back. Then we see some improvements over Hummingbird with Bird Feeder such as unfollowing a specific number of people, time delay, scheduling and the ability to unfollow people after so many hours or days. For instance, @therealjosh is at a point where I can follow 1000′s more than are following back. This gives people more time to follow me back in return because I unfollow people every 3 days.

Having the ability to unfollow people by length of time and/or by newest/oldest is a huge improvement over Hummingbird. This feature alone would be enough to justify the switch from Hummingbird to Bird Feeder. Like most programs on Twitter, it remembers who you have followed and unfollowed as to not follow them again. But be very careful when switching from Hummingbird or another program to Bird Feeder. You might get your account suspended by re-following many of the same people again. Oops.

Account Tab

This is pretty straight forward. You can view your account stats and update your tweets.

Conclusion

I would recommend buying Twitter Bird Feeder over Hummingbird in a heartbeat. It is a little cheaper and has many more features. Plus, if you use less than 5 Twitter accounts you’ll save a ton of money. Twitter Bird Feeder also has an affiliate program that offers up to 25% of sales. Although this is not as good as Hummingbird, you can feel better about the program you are offering to others. I will be switching my endorsement to Bird Feeder over Hummingbird. I’ll continue to promote both and rank for those terms, hopefully persuading people to pick Bird Feeder.

I hope you saved some money and time by reading my reviews of these programs and making a more informed decision on what you want to use to help automate Twitter. Tell me your thoughts about Bird Feeder if you have used it before.

Enter code: MINUSTEN to save $10 when you click the affiliate button above.

This is an interview with Jason from iwearyourshirt.com. Jason came up with a fun and interesting idea for marketing businesses by wearing a paid-for shirt everyday for one whole year. For Jason to wear a shirt, businesses or people paid by the day starting at $1 January 1st and $365 for December 31st. He still has some days left and is more than willing to wear and promote your shirt for any number of days.

What inspired you to start iwearyourshirt.com?

I’ve always been an out of the box thinker and lover of creative and interesting marketing/advertising ideas. I wear shirts on a daily basis, don’t typically care what the shirts say and knew that a lot of companies make shirts to promote their stuff. I put 2 and 2 together, started my pricing structure extremely low and exploited a bunch of free social media tools on the web to help me out.

What has the overall perception been with your idea of wearing a new shirt everyday?

When I first started the project back in October of ’08 there was a mix of positive and negative feedback. My friends/family obviously supported me 100%, but like me, they didn’t think it would take off as well as it has. I just gave my first ever presentation at a Refresh Event in Toronto and not one person clapped when my name was announced to speak because they had never heard of me. 7 minutes later my presentation was done and people were clapping and lining up to ask me questions. Moments like that are very rare and really awesome.

When do you think all of the day slots will be sold off?

A couple times this year I guessed and was wrong. I am not worried about the last remaining days selling out, but I hope it happens sooner than later!

What do you plan on doing after the end of the year?

Wearing more shirts obviously… Ha. The project will continue in some shape or form, I just haven’t figured out exactly what that is yet. I love meeting all these new great companies/people and wouldn’t mind having my wardrobe picked out for me again. Maybe start next year at $2? Can we lock you in for a day Josh?

Josh Here: I would absolutely love to book days next year if you were to do it again. Especially if I get first dibs.

What are some of the different venues you plan on visiting while wearing others shirts?

No planned venue visiting. I’ve told people from the start, I am living my life.. You didn’t spend $67 and get to tell me what to do all day. You spent that money to have me be your advertising for a day, get your name out there to a new audience and see me in your shirt. As far as planned events I will be attending, I have a few weddings coming up, a trip over the summer at some point to somewhere tropical and that’s it.

Have you had any strange encounters while wearing other people’s shirts?

Not too many strange encounters. I always get really funny looks when I explain the idea to a complete stranger, a stranger who is typically not internet savvy. I have had a couple ‘celebrity sighting’ moments. I had someone DM me on Twitter saying they were sitting behind me in a movie theater and I had a guy come up to me in the Washington DC airport and ask if I was “the iwearyourshirt guy”? That stuff is pretty neat.

How would you measure the success of your shirt wearing venture with nearly four months behind you?

I would say it has been very successful. 334 days have been sold at this point, I haven’t gone a month without a monthly sponsor and I am still receiving media attention. I really enjoy meeting new people and encourage anyone to reach out to me. My e-mail address is iwearyourshirt@gmail.com and my Twitter name is @iwearyourshirt. I’m easy to find and happy to chat. Obviously when I am sitting on Oprah’s couch I know I’ve made it… haha, kidding, maybe.

How much time a day are you spending on the adventure?

Typically between 6-10 hours depending on the day. I spend a lot of time interacting with people on E-mail, Twitter and Facebook throughout the day, along with all the content creation that goes on (daily photos, video and live video show). The more time I spend, the more results I see. I could spend 3 hours a day and be done, but I know I wouldn’t be in the position I am right now.