Today we received a questionnaire from Basingstoke & Deane Borouch Council - to the homeowner - at my work address. One of my colleagues chased it up to the market research company who told her that it had been sent to a select number of people.

They can’t even get the the right type of address!

Personal favourite was the end of question no. 31….

If the answer to this question is ‘No’, please go to question 31.

Back in March, I wrote a book about Search Engine Optimisation. I wanted to keep the book accessible and as jargon-free as I could write it so that it would appeal to my customer base. They are mainly marketing people - not technical.

Now, I know that if I had written the book, published it to sell, I would not have made much money out of it but I had always wanted to write a book and over about six weekends, I managed to get it done (about 100 hours max.).

So, I gave the book away for free and I also had some printed via Lulu, which I have been handing out to prospects and clients.

Anyway, six months later and the book has now been downloaded over 1,050 times and created untold amount of incoming links to the website.

Moral of my story. If I had written the book to sell and sold 1000 copies, how much would I have made? I am guessing it is not much. But, how much business have I ‘clinched’ as a result of me being able to place my book in someone’s hand? Not easy to quantify but I reckon my investment in time (100 hrs x £100 per hour - £10k) has been paid back at least five times over.

Marketing a business is about reach, profile and belief in what you do - especially for the B2B service sector. It’s also about creating more authentic pieces that add value to a business offering.

Writing the book was not only something that has given me a huge sense of a achievement, it’s delivered business and in terms of my ongoing experiments in marketing - I’ve learned something new… again.

William Wrigley Jr. started off selling Wrigley’s Scouring Soap. As an extra incentive, he knew his customers would be more likely to carry Wrigley’s soap if they received a little “something for nothing.”

So, he gave them baking powder, which proved to be more popular than the soap, so we changed his business to baking powder.

Then, he got the idea of offering two packs of chewing gum with each can of baking powder. This marketing offer was also a big success. So he switched businesses again. (Wrigleys)

I love this story and it is not unique. I heard another this morning about a Pizza Parlour in Glasgow that offered videos and changed their business model. I learned the other day that Berkshire Hathaway (as in Warren Buffet) used to be a textiles business.

I myself have seen a long-standing competitor go bust this year because (I think) they were still trying to use the same business model that they always had, so my question would not whether you can afford to take a risk and change… can you afford not to?

I like this street sign for my local dry cleaners.

Rather than selling the fact that it costs £10.99 to clean your suit, why not save £199 by not having to buy a new one!

Frugal words in uncertain times but it creates the sales opportunity.

I have watched this Seth Godin video a number of times and last week something different happened as I watched it on my laptop.

Everytime he was talking about ideas for businesses - specifically in this case for Google - I was thinking about my own business. Every idea was about me and suggestions came for what I could do.

Why not try it and see what you come up with?

I posted an article today about the changing nature of words. I was then confronted by the news home page on the BBC. Man, it’s looking grim this week.

But. Here’s a thought. What if you marketed to the fears? What of you sold the reason why someone MUST have what you are selling if they are to… survive the financial turmoil, weather the credit crunch, etc.?

Recessions are cyclical. This won’t be the last, and yes, it may be time to sit tight and hang on. But, there are opportunities. With a bit of jiggery pockery on your sales message, you could turn it to your advantage.

Not from me mind you, from Aaron Wall - but well worth sharing.

The problem with free stuff is that people take it for granted. No emotional buy-in because no money has changed hands. I used to love the idea of giving stuff away - including a free e-book about SEO.

I have realised the error of my ways. I need to charge and I need to put prices up. I have already started doing this, and the messages continue to keep hitting me in the head to remind me.

The web is awash with free stuff, I know,  but it is usually backed up by advertising. I guess I got carried away with macro idea back in 2005 and tried to implement it on a micro scale.

That said, in terms of building foundations, free can work. I have just had the 1,000 download of my book, for instance. I have managed to get profile.

The next step of course is to capitalise rather than continue the cycle.

I keep making the mistake that clients care about me - about my business. It’s an easy mistake to make and a mistake I guess many small business owners make.

The thing is - nine times out of ten - they don’t. They care about themselves… and why shouldn’t they? They have their own agenda. They have their own bills, sales objectives and profit and loss charts.

So, as a supplier, I need to ensure that what I do is better than the rest. That what I do stands out enough to add me as a character to their story. And, that’s all I am. A bit player in their story.

It sounds hard. But it’s worth keeping in mind.