I’m working on marketing strategies for my clients. I thought writing down 500 marketing ideas, thoughts, tools and concepts would help to stretch my mind and push the limits. Some ideas are standards. Others, if I’ve done this right, will lead to  incredible profitable ideas. Not every idea is for every business, but I hope the list will stretch your mind, too.

• If you don’t have a Web site you are not in business.
• Create a Facebook fan page.
• Create targeted Facebook ads.
• Create an AdWords campaign.
• Create very targeted adgroups for your AdWords campaigns.
• Ask current customers for referrals.
• Start a newsletter.
• Create a social media calendar.
• Create a marketing calendar.
• Advertise in your industry trade magazines.
• Regularly send quality public relations releases to trade magazines.
• Attend local networking events.
• Start a networking event.
• Train sales people on how to find referrals for your networking partners.
• Start a rewards program for networking partners.
• Start a rewards program for good customers.
• Register your business with Foursquare.
• Reward your Foursquare mayors and frequent customers.
• Write an e-book.
• Start a podcast.
• Create videos about how to use your product or service.
• Create videos related to new or unique ways to use your product.
• Create a marketing journal to track what works and what does not.
• Create videos specifically for Facebook fans.
• Search engine optimize (SEO) your Web site.
• Use call outs in your Web site.
• Make sure your Web site is easy to navigate.
• Start a blog.
• Open a Twitter account.
• Open a LinkedIn account.
• Look for target companies on LinkedIn.
• Review your competitors on LinkedIn.
• Create a direct mail campaign.
• Create custom landing pages for all your marketing efforts.
• Create a company mascot.
• Use a Web camera and offer specials whenever your mascot is displayed.
• Use Social Mention to monitor the conversation about your brand.
• Optimize a Web page specifically for Yahoo search.
• Optimize a Web page specifically for Bing search.
• Write a white paper about your industry.
• Leave pens with your logo and information on them in strategic locations.
• Learn to golf and invite others to join you.
• Invite someone to lunch regularly.
• Offer your services to charity.
• Sponsor a charity event.
• Write a book and sell it on Amazon.
• Review books in your industry on Amazon.
• Retweet (share information on Twitter) people who you are interested in knowing better.
• Use A/B split testing for your online campaigns.
• Learn to write better headlines for all your advertising.
• Offer coupons.
• Offer your service on Craigslist.
• Leave helpful comments on industry blogs.
• Open and use Google reader (or any RSS reader).
• Subscribe to RSS feeds and organize the feeds related to industry and interest.
• Create lists on Twitter of people in your target market.
• Make sure your front Web page title tag says what you do, not who you are.
• E-mail relevant articles to clients and prospects. (Do not send jokes.)
• Make your newsletter about your customers and not just about your company.
• Read Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
• Make sure your Web site has a site map.
• Open a Google Webmaster tools account.
• Use Google Wave to collaborate in real time.
• Submit your information to Google local.
• Use spyfu.com to keep track of your competitors’ Internet ad activities.
• Offer a referral fee for new business.
• Partner with related companies.
• Have your logo professionally redesigned.
• Create a FAQ page for your Web site.
• Add a Like button to your blog and Web site.
• Add a Tweetmeme button to your blog and Web site.
• Add social media locations in your e-mail signature.
• Know what your bounce rate is and think about how you can improve it.
• Create a fun game for your Web site.
• Create a mobile advertising campaign.
• Place a company sign on your car.
• Test ad headlines with Google AdWords.
• Place successful Google AdWords ads in newspapers and magazines.
• Send thank you cards after every job.
• Start a Flickr page to share behind-the-scenes and event photographs.
• Ask your clients for a video testimonial and display the passionate ones.
• Start thinking about your customers’ return on investment (ROI).
• Return all phone calls the same day.
• Consider hiring a live answering service. (It’s not that expensive.)
• Create new and unique business cards.
• Try  TV advertising through Google.
• Advertise on Yelp.
• Trade something of value for your Web site visitors’ e-mail addresses.
• Call all of your current customers and introduce a new product.
• Write an article to publish on sites like ezinearticles.com.
• Ask to be a guest blogger.
• Interview top people in your industry and share their ideas with your clients.
• Create a poll on for your Web site.
• Use PollDaddy on Twitter to ask questions of your followers.
• Ask how your product or service could be better on Formspring.me.
• Host a carnival for the families of your clients.
• Hold a photo contest.
• Use link shorteners with analytics to test headlines and ideas.
• Create an affiliate program.
• Don’t show people what the product or service is, demonstrate why they need it.
• Create supporting Web sites that link to yours.
• Create Web site descriptions that entice people to click on your search listing.
• Do you know your organic search click-through-rate?
• Make sure you fill in all your Alt tags so Google images can find your photographs.
• Submit your Web sites to relevant directories.
• Ask visitors if information you provide is helpful.
• Use Facebook analytics and demographics to see who your marketing is attracting.
• Use YouTube’s insight tools to find out when people lose interest in your videos.
• Use insights for Search to see what people are looking for in the search engines.
• Use Google keyword tool to find new and better keywords.
• Ask your best customers for a referral.
• Make it easy for people to give you referrals.
• Make it easy to do business with your company.
• Don’t send spam.
• Make sure your contact information is on every page of your Web site.
• Understand your brand. (It’s reputation, not your logo.)
• Update photographs of every employee for social media and public relations.
• Develop relationships with local reporters.
• If you want someone’s attention, write about them.
• Treat everyone like a VIP (Very Important Person).
• Champion other people in your industry.
• Use Google Alerts to keep track of trends.
• Use Google Alerts to keep track of people writing about you and thank them.
• Include hot topics in the title of your blog posts.
• Never stop thinking about finding new link bait ideas (topics that attract links to your site).
• Ask your lowest-ranking employees how to improve products and marketing.
• Include translation options to widen your market.
• Create a privacy policy for your customers.
• Update your Web site shopping cart for a better experience.
• Use Feedburner to track and manage your blog subscribers.
• Remember, design does matter.
• Don’t let the dangerous, business-killing words, “It’s good enough” hurt your company.
• Develop an incredible and true company story.
• Protect yourself from spam comments. They will hurt your Google rankings.
• Increase your Web sites speed. It’s better for visitors and Google SEO.
• Apologize first.
• Describe your target customer in once sentence.
• Join a BNI group. (I was in one for fourteen years).
• Create  biography sheets for all your employees.
• Create a direct mail marketing plan.
• Post your new blog posts on Twitter.
• Speak to groups and organizations.
• Buy mail and e-mail list from reputable companies. (Be careful.)
• Don’t purchase e-mail lists.
  
• Make it easy for representatives to up sell.
• Give holiday gifts.
• Send thank you cards on Thanksgiving.
• Send birthday cards to your clients.
• Take time to knock on the doors of businesses around you; you might be surprised.
• Change, refresh or upgrade your corporate look every three to five years.
• Develop a specialized niche and become the expert.
• Cold call.
• Create a cold-call script.
• Never forget a call to action in your marketing material.
• Join clubs.
• Write original content. Duplicate content is ignored by the search engines.
• Refer the professional people your company hires.
• Analyze what is working for your competition.
• Use compete.com to compare Web site traffic.
• Use SEOmoz tools to track links.
• Read Mashable and Techcrunch to keep up on emerging technology.
• Hire teens to pass out fliers.
• Sponsor a local sports team.
• Join a professional organization.
• Get a vanity phone number.
• Make your e-mail address simple.
• Don’t use Web-based e-mail as your company e-mail.
• Sign up for Help A Reporter Out (HARO).
• Teach your networking partners how to refer you.
• Become the expert: Teach at a local college or university.
• Develop ways to stand out in a crowd.
• Increase your fees.
• Network with other sales people at trade shows.
• Cross-promote with other businesses.
• Develop a co-op advertising group.
• Offer a guarantee.
• Sit in a room for an hour and list marketing ideas for your business.
• Post your business cards on public bulletin boards.
• Create a lens at Squidoo.com.
• Create a company 365 photography project using Tumblr.
• Use Website.grader.com to see how Google views your Web site.
• Create an exclusive online club for your best clients.
• Offer free Webinars.
• Use the WordPress plug-in Sociable to support sharing of your content.
• Introduce yourself to you seat mates on an airplane.
• Don’t forget traditional newspaper classified ads.
• Barter with start-ups (but be smart about it).
• Create a welcome kit for new clients.
• Create a memory hook.
• Reward non-sales employees for referrals resulting in closed business.
• Make it easy to embed your stuff on other Web site. Scribd.com is a solution.
• Use your voice mail as a marketing tool.
• Answer questions on Yahoo answers.
• Use an e-mail service like Constant Contact, iContact, Mail Chimp or Vertical Response.
• Support top colleges in your industry or client industries.
• Attend local meet-ups.
• Organize a Tweet-up (meeting of twitter users).
• Organize a Barcamp.
• Start a LinkedIn group.
• Start a Facebook group.
• Answer questions on LinkedIn answers.
• Create fun T-shirts related to your product.
• Contribute to forums.
• Create a free social media platform for your target market.
• Use e-mail auto responders with friendly messages.
• Offer an e-mail option to your blog RSS feed.
• Always have a your biography and a recent photograph on your desktop.
• Create a page where media and clients can access your logo.
• Offer free consultations.
• Offer expensive consultations.
• Tell your family it is OK to send you referrals.
• Listen to dissatisfied customers.
• Ask clients why they hired you.
• Avoid heavy Flash on your Web site. It’s bad for search engine optimization.
• Remember SEO is great but search engines don’t buy your products or service.
• Claim your sites on Technorati.com.
• Place meta tags on all your Web site pages.
• Create unique meta tags for each page.
• Offer multiple pricing levels of your service.
• Offer a free trial.
• Create a custom name tag for networking.
• Submit your company’s products or service for awards.
• Paint your building a unique color.
• Post ads on Backpage.com.
• Make e-mail request contact forms short and easy to use.
• Call in to radio shows. Become their expert.
• Create an iPhone and iPad application for your company.
• Create an Android application for your company.
• Use text messaging advertising.
• Create a presentation and share it using Slideshare.net.
• Don’t use intro splash pages on your Web site.
• Share your location using an Internet map service such as Mapquest,  Google maps, or Bing maps
• Share your information on Delicious.com.
• Create a shared calendar using Google Calendar.
• Create an easily accessable v-card for prospects and clients.
• Create a Flickr group for customers to share photos.
• Give away micro drives with your information on it.
• Sell the experience.
• Don’t use white envelopes. (Instead, pick a fun color).
• Be a mentor.
• Take a successful business person to lunch and ask questions.
• Use telephone call tracking to analyze what advertising works.
• Post special offers on your receipts or invoices.
• Use QR codes to help people to find more information using their smart phone.
• Create a downloadable PDF with helpful information.
• Engage in at least one marketing activity every day.
• Every time you see a great visual marketing idea, take a photograph of it.
• Look for new markets.
• Publicize every milestone.
• Share good books with your clients.
• Advertise in the Yellow pages. Yes, people still use it.
• Display portfolios using a flat screen TV in a window.
• Donate your services to a charity auction.
• Create a mission statement.
• Create a weekly office happy hour and invite clients.
• Use Eventbrite.com to organize free or paid events.
• Start a photo blog.
• Find a marketing mentor.
• Exchange links with related businesses in different parts of the country.
• Create a technique for your industry and name it after your name or company name.
• Fire bad clients so you can market more and serve good clients.
• Create a multi-media story about your company using photography stills, video and audio.
• Self-publish a book through sites like Lulu.com.
• Use services such as 37 Signals’ Highrise to manage contacts.
  
• Define your ultimate client.
• Business is always booming. Never complain to your customers.
• Call all your competitors to keep tabs on pricing.
• Always stand in a V formation at networking events to invite others to join your conversation.
• Become a connector at networking events. Introduce people.
• Look prospects in the eye.
• Write testimonials for your best vendors.
• Use an iPad or tablet to display your portfolio of products and services.
• Ask yourself would you buy from your company? Why?
• Give customers more than expected.
• Understand marketing is everything you do in business.
• Use the AdAge 150 list to find helpful marketing blogs.
• Do unto others.
• Use internal links. Link related content within your Web site and blogs.
• Use widgets to display and share content.
• Be strategic about tagging your videos.
• Reuse your best social media content for marketing material.
• Use Ning.com to develop communities.
• Create a ustream program.
• Don’t be afraid of testing new marketing ideas.
• Ask people why they unsubscribed to your e-mails.
• Stop doing what doesn’t work.
• Keep your marketing consistent; don’t stop.
• Keep extra marketing material in your car at all times.
• Use your smart phone or digital recorder to dictate new marketing ideas.
• Focus on one product and message at a time.
• Remember you can always ask for more client information later.
• Segment your e-mail. Make sure your e-mail is focused on the right prospects.
• Consider holiday advertising outside your religion or traditions.
• Don’t accept outside advertising on your company blog.
• Use integrated marketing techniques; employ traditional and digital marketing to drive Web traffic.
• Consider advertising your company’s “green” efforts.
• Advertise your newsletter in e-mail signatures.
• Make your brand extremely different from your competition.
• Deliver high-value presentations or work on an iPad. Let your  clients keep the iPad.
• Give away iPods or mp3 players with a special audio segments or podcasts about your company.
• Read Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds before you give your next presentation.
• Keep your promises.
• Advertise on local cable stations. The rates are often reasonable.
• Be remarkable. Thank you, Seth Godin.
• Be aware of non-verbal communication.
• Think about how you can make it easier to purchase your product.
• Offer financing.
• Get to know your local politicians.
• Leave a call to action on voice mail messages.
• Host a directory of resources for your target market prospects.
• Increase your business hours.
• Create a company holiday.
• Make your brand exclusive and expensive.
• Be less concerned about vanity searches.
• Don’t create videos more than five minutes long. (Two to three minutes is best.)
• Don’t mix family and business social media.
• Invest in fast and reliable Web site hosting.
• Subscribe to Chris Brogan’s blog.
• Subscribe to Mitch Joel’s blog and podcast
• Listen to the Marketing Over Coffee podcast.
• Monitor your Web sites for malware.
• Use Yahoo’s SiteExplorer to review your links and important pages.
• Note that social media is not just Facebook and Twitter.
• Ask questions in your headlines.
• Claim your listing on City Search.
• Use a lot of relevant people’s names in your blog posts.
• Search for your prospect’s No. 1 point of pain and find solutions.
  
• Keep a list of good public relations Web sites such as prweb.com.
• Create a company show for blip.tv.
• Offer a free Internet service to attract attention ie: Twitter.grader.com.
• Use Twitter grader to search and connect with top tweeters in your area.
• Conduct regular Web meetings to stay connected with your clients. Try goto meeting.
• Sell a special version of your product on eBay.
• Use WordPress as your Web site platform.
• Share company events via Web cam so people can tune in to what they are missing.
• Keep a list of freelance writers to write great copy for your business.
• Use Buzzom.com to find new relevant Twitter followers.
• Sell branded wearables using Cafepress.com.
• Turn your brand into a cause.
• Upload interior photos of your store on Google local search.
• Use professional product pictures on your business cards.
• Video white board sessions to share online.
• Create a program designed to make using your product easier.
• Create a Photosynth image of your business interior.
• Recommend your clients on LinkedIn.
• Subscribe to your competitors’ blogs.
• Find out who owns competing Web sites: http://ajaxwhois.com/.
• Host a chamber of commerce event at your office.
• Visually track how people use your blog or Web site with Crazyegg.com.
• Donate to your client’s favorite charities in their name (with permission).
• Use Aweber.com for their e-mail delivery and auto responder services.
• Use sites like Verbalink.com to transcribe audio or podcasts for marketing.
• Use eBay labs to see what products are hot.
• Use Google’s Wonder Wheel to find related keywords.
• Use Evernote to capture and save great ideas and information.
• Use Tweetdeck or  Seesmic to engage with your social media community.
• Trade banner ads with relevant companies.
• Create a Hubpage.
• They don’t care how long you’ve been in business.
• You can’t tell people about your service, you can only show them.
• Ask your customers how they would like to be contacted.
• Don’t send single advertising e-mails. Create a campaign of three to five e-mails.
• Simple works extremely well in advertising.
• Consider Salesforce.com for customer relationship management.
• Ask your sales team what is working.
• Use Facebook pages to promote your events.
• Invite good clients to view exclusive product previews.
• Create funny videos that might go viral.
• Use risk reversal techniques. Put the risk on you rather than the customer.
• Include a postscript message in your business letters. It’s the most read part of a letter.
• Make sure your fax number is easy to find.
• Fax specials to clients who us faxes regularly.
• Test Web site button shapes, colors and sizes for better click-throughs.
• Place your Web site on all marketing materials.
• Display your brochures prominently in your office.
• Use the link shortener http://su.pr so followers can easily Stumble your content.
• Use surveys.
• Display and promote your associations.
• Don’t decide in advance what customers want or can afford.
• Stop talking about yourself.
• Look for excuses to visit clients in person.
• Make sure your About page is interesting and full of useful information.
• Visit industry or customer-related chat rooms.
• Host a virtual trade show.
• Create a wiki.
• Create a Web page list linking all positive mentions of you or your company.
• Post comments on large news sites. Especially news related to your industry.
• Link to Google blogs when relevant. They offer good traffic back to your site.
• Review products related to your industry on opinion Web sites.
• Send your products to bloggers to review.
• Target advertising on specific Web sites through Google AdWords.
• Test: Target your entire daily Internet advertising budget on one state or city at time.
• Claim your name on new social media sites. You never know what will take off.
• Hire a marketing consultant.
• Use Instapaper.com to save good articles for future reading.
• Set your blog up for sale via the Kindle.
• Employ a good copy editor.
• Create an icon that represents your company. This is great for linking and branding.
• Keep your vehicles and equipment clean and updated when in public view.
• Check for broken Web site links.
• Turn your 404 (missing page) into a marketing tool.
• Don’t submit new sites to the search engines, link to them.
• Create Web pages dedicated to long tail keywords.
• Prepay for your domain years in advance. Google likes that.
• Keep old domains; they are valuable.
• Create a box-opening video of your product.
• If your best clients like to text, keep in touch via text.
• Religious institutions are a great place to network (with class and respect).
• Hire interns to do the mundane marketing activities.
• Make it a policy to make the effort to save clients in trouble, it creates loyalty.
• Find jobs for your unemployed clients; this creates more loyalty.
• Attend weddings and funerals to show respect (but avoid business talk).
• Visit a new city to be inspired and gather fresh ideas.
• When making a pitch, focus on what the client or prospect will get in return.
• Create a company theme song or jingle.
• Create an online suggestion box for your clients.
• Spend more time impressing existing customers.
• Send customers an advance letter letting them know of any price increases.
• Kids and pets always attract attention.
• Create an office video series for YouTube. Make it interesting and fun.
• Set up an employee contest to create the next advertising campaign.
• Delegate good marketing ideas so they get done.
• The unexpected attracts attention.
• Make visiting your office or store an exciting experience.
• Create 24-hour online conferences using industry-specific YouTube videos.
• Sometimes absolutely stupid ideas will make you millionaire.
• Submit product photos to Flickr Creative Commons and require a link to your home page.
• Allow customer rankings and reviews on your Web site or blog.
• Develop a strategy to become  a “best place to work.”
• Include discount coupons with your invoices.
• Create a well-designed annual report.
• Create business cards from Moo.com.
• Never go to an event to quickly hand out business cards and then leave.
• Advertise in industry newsletters.
• Submit a tutorial for your product to online how-to Web sites.
• Share office space with a partner service.
• Create a list of the best books in your industry.
• Avoid business and industry clichés – think outside the box.
• Create unique or humorous job title descriptions for employees.
• Back up all files and data bases on a regular schedule.
• Make sure your Web site looks great on all browsers.
• Calibrate your monitors used in all marketing and advertising work.
• Remember names.
• List your best referral sources and create a marketing plan around it.
• Offer free shipping.
• Embrace the negative and turn it into a positive.
• Consider product placement on TV and movies.
• Consider lower-budget projects for product placement.
• Buy season tickets for entertaining.
• Ask for the sale.
• Put your tagline on your business checks.
• Improve delivery time.
• Let angry people talk until they are done and then offer solutions.
• Join a service organization.
• Send gift cards as a thank you.
• Don’t burn bridges.
• Follow all leads. Find a trusted source to direct unwanted leads.
• Use Facebook notes to offer specials.
• Advertise products in the Facebook market place.
• Promote the fact that you are hiring.
• Outrageous can be good.
• Sponsor a bloggers tour.
• Ask how can you make your client’s job easier.
• Don’t be afraid to offer your expertise to big media.
• Don’t let little things become big things.
• Borrow marketing books from the library.
• Create a cool poster and give it away.
• Take editors to lunch. Ask what they consider a good story.
• Give a surprise extra — after the first purchase.
• Volunteer for local government committees.
• Don’t place ads just one time to see if they will work. Run an ad  a minimum of six times.
• Advertise and network in Second life.
• Remember your competitors are watching you, too. Don’t fear it.
• Define your unique selling proposition (USP).
• Follow up with former co-workers. LinkedIn is a good resource.
• Cross-promote on other companies’ newsletters.
• Remember that most purchases are emotional not logical.
• Answer your phone cheerfully.
• Price differently than your competition.
• Don’t race to the bottom to be lowest price.
• Trade prospect lists with companies that have the same target market.
• Network with companies and trade lost referrals and leads (for a second chance).
• Sponsor a parade.
• Train third-party sales people how to best sell your product.
• Serve.
• Make the customer the hero.
• Read the classic How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
• Follow Twitter hashtags to find prospects.
• Read the The Long Tail by Chris Anderson.
• Focus on keeping great employees.
• Promote your vendors on Twitter.
• Host a photo walk.
• Don’t accept average.
• Different people consume media differently; give people options.
• Trade commercials on podcasts
• Advertise on a targeted podcast
• Create a public Wave to share information.
• The best social media Web site is where your clients and prospects hang out.
• Create a list of 505 marketing ideas
• Read this list again

Thank you to every teacher, author, speaker, blogger and podcaster who has influenced me. You made this list.

There are many more Web sites, ideas and concepts. What would you add?

Rosh