Lessons Using The Brown Bag Method of Developing Marketing Ideasby Lynn Walford

Marketing Is Everywhere and You Can Learn From It.

“Especially if you learn to think outside the brown bag.”

Adapted from Lynn Walford’s 1001 Ways to Make Money Seminar.

Good Marketing Is All Around You.

For the next few days gather any kind of marketing materials you find such as:

Business Cards

Flyers

Direct Mail

Advertising Specialty Items

Now Get Two Paper Bags

In one paper bag put all the marketing materials you like.

In the other paper bag put all the marketing materials you don’t like.

Forget about the assignment for one week.

One Week Later Without Opening the Paper Bags

Write down anything you remember about the good bag. Is there a company name that is unforgettable?

Write down anything you remember about the bad bag. What make these materials bad?

Is there anything you could do to the materials to make them better?

Bring Both Paper Bags to Class

Do not label the good and bad bags, just write your names on them.Now pick up two bags and take them home with you.

What attributes do the good items in the bags have?

Are they funny?

How do they look?

Are they written in your language?

What market are they trying to reach?

What age group would like the marketing materials?

Are they useful in the future?

Why Did Lynn Keep This as Her Favorite Marketing Tool?

The writing on the Cadillac Pen originally said Microsoft…

Why Would Someone Keep This?

It’s a keychain and a mini Etch A Sketch.

Would You Keep This if You Got It For Free?

What’s Refreshing About This?

It’s an Air Freshener with more than one purpose….

What Marketing Tool Could You Use Today For Your Business?

Take your favorite three marketing items and adapt them for your business.

How could you make them better?

When you can you start?

What have you learned?

Now That You Have Created Marketing Materials Do They Reveal:

The features of your product or service?

What makes your service special?

How your service will benefit/help your clients or customers?

Websites You Can Go to For More Ideas:

Bob Bly is the foremost authority on marketing writing, he offers free articles at http://www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/articles.php.

Jay Conrad Levinson has written several books on Guerilla Marketing he offers a free newsletter and articles at http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/

More Marketing Websites and Articles

Marcia Yudkins crazy marketing solutions business name and tag line generator http://www.yudkin.com/generate.htm

Work.com’s links to naming a product by Lynn Walford

http://www.work.com/naming-a-product-1271/

What Next?

Use the exercises and Websites to create marketing materials for your business.

Go market market market market.

What Happens If You Never Market Your Business?

Nothing, zip, zero, zilch nada.

What Happens When You Find the Perfect Marketing for Your Business?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Remember:When they first invented Jell-O no one would even taste it until they marketed it. Now it’s a household word.

Jell-O TriviaMarch 17, 1993, technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia test a bowl of lime Jell-O with an EEG machine and confirm the earlier testing by Dr. Adrian Upton that a bowl of wiggly Jell-O has brain waves identical to those of adult men and women.