Offbeat Ideas Create Sales

If you’re ever in a rut on how to promote your business or new items to attract customers, start brainstorming completely off-the-wall ideas. Sometimes it’s the most outlandish ideas that grab the most attention and become instant money-makers.

For example, the ice cream world is constantly reinventing itself with interesting and sometimes bizarre flavor combinations. Maggie Moo’s has Buttered Popcorn and Caramel Corn ice creams, and you can bite into Chicken Wing ice cream in Nagoya, Japan. Yet, it’s those unusual combinations that bring in the curious and can inspire repeat customers.

Translate this concept to products, marketing, and sales tactics. Start small with catchy, themed sales events or sales jingles. Test the waters with limited-time offers for unique products or deals. Limited-time offers are also a great way to save costs, and you can create customer buy-in for increased sales by letting them vote on concepts or suggest new topics/products.

Or, if it works for your market, try something very different that will be picked up by the press. You can even look at national campaigns and tailor them on a smaller scale to your business. Think about Nathan’s Famous and its hot dog eating competition. Who would have ever guessed America or the world would turn competitive eating into a recognized sport? Yet, in 2010 Nathan’s celebrated the 95th anniversary of the contest and 40,000 people attended the event—that’s not including the millions of impressions created by advertising leading up to it, the coverage after it, and the additional 1.677 million viewers who watched it live on ESPN.

Just remember the world is full of people who are bored with traditional outlets and like to be surprised. Today’s offbeat idea may be the peanut butter and jelly sandwich for future generations of paying customers.