This morning Seth Godin talked about How to Title Stuff on his blog. Seth is know for some books with interesting titles. I own three of those books and the last one he published, Meatball Sundae is a name he ponders will be used in typical conversation. I’m not saying this because I want to win any special favor with Seth but I have been using the titles of his books Purple Cow and Meatball Sundae when refering to businesses and their practices. I love to point out a business that is a Purple Cow and it’s my goal to make my own business a Purple Cow and I certainly want to avoid making Meatball Sundaes in our marketing efforts. I’ve seen companies doing marketing the wrong way and yes, in conversation I will say, “They are making a Meatball Sundae.”

I’m not sure if Seth comes up with the title first or if it evolves as he progresses but I do love the fact he creates new terms full of imagery that stick. How can one forget a Meatball Sundae or a Purple Cow? In the branding of your business are you creating names and building a brand for your business in such a way as to make the idea of your product, service, etc. stick in the minds of your customers?

While I put the finishing touches on my next article in my Aspects of Design Series I wanted to pass along a great resource for those wanting to start or impove on a business blog, especially customers we have have given the tools on your web site to do so.

Michael Martine of Remarkablogger is giving away a free e-Book called, How to start a business blog. All you have to do to receive this e-book is to sign up for his e-mail list or better yet his RSS feed. Even if you are not one of our customers I would love to see more business blogs, especially in the Upstate of South Carolina or Greenville,SC area.

Over the next week many of you will have some “free time.” Time away from the office or the field where you are spending time with friends, family or just some well deserved “alone time.” Use a little of that time to prepare for the year ahead. I’m not talking about the typical new year’s resolutions where you go on a diet or exercise more even those are good things to work on. No, I’m suggesting you think about the year ahead and create a calendar of events or focused services or even marketing campaigns that will help you prepare and prevent times of unexpected lower income throughout the year.

Each season and month has it’s own special set of needs and it’s always good to prepare and start letting others know anywhere from a month to three months ahead of time. For example I’m working on calendars for my photography, web and other services I offer. How about your blogging calendar? Yes, you want to write about up to date topics but does your industry see different themes during different times of the year? A time of the year businesses (other than the travel industry) go a slump is the summer. That being said they are concerns you could address for the summer months (You may want to address these in the spring at least) For instance a company that builds garages might want to focus on security features to those who will be away from home for an extended period of time, A person in wedding services may want start reminding people in the early part of the year to start planning for that June wedding and while a chimney sweep company may have good business in the late summer or fall as people prepare for the winter they may want to think about selling fireplace accessories during the holidays.

We have had or have customers in the above industries but what I have written is just examples of what they could or might be doing. They could in fact have a great year round marketing calendar already in place. What times of the year have you experienced slumps in business? Do you have a successful calendar strategy that helps bring in business all year? Feel free to leave a comment and promote your business. How can we help you with your web, print and portable media marketing throughout the the year?