On Aug. 12, a group of 12 fans of the Web browser Mozilla Firefox, which competes with Microsoft’s (MSFT) Internet Explorer, used two-by-fours and rope to hollow out a 30,000-square-foot impression of the brand’s logo in an oat field outside of Salem, Ore. The handmade crop circle wasn’t the first time Mozilla diehards had displayed their support for the brand publicly. In December, 2004, a group raised enough cash to buy a two-page ad in The New York Times to thank those who had contributed to the launch of the beloved browser.

But neither of these stunts was orchestrated by a PR firm or in-house marketing guru. What’s more, the more than 10,000 programmers who are constantly tweaking the open-source coding and performing quality controls on the Firefox browser are volunteers, not employees. And the 60,000 Web sites that have linked to Mozilla’s site to encourage people to download the browser receive no compensation.

It’s this growing community that has allowed Mozilla, a small company with about 60 full-time employees, to compete with juggernauts like Microsoft. “One of our distinguishing characteristics is that we’re a small organization competing on a large playing field,” says Asa Dotzler, community coordinator for Mozilla. He says the company owes its success to its users and their “passion for Firefox.”

The branding success of companies like Mozilla, Pom Wonderful, Craigslist, and others show that you don’t have to be big for your brand to be big. By building a dedicated group of users or customers, small companies can create formidable brand power.

“Good news travels fast and bad news travels farther and faster.” Remember that old adage? In sales, positive word of mouth and referrals will bring you new customers, but one big mistake left untreated could undo years of your hard work in an instant. One cautionary rule of thumb is that dissatisfied customers will tell 10 times as many folks about a bad experience than satisfied customers will about a good experience. No, it’s not fair, but the best strategy to avoid having unhappy customers is prevention.

My seven keys to preventing bad buzz follow:

1. Understand expectations. To prevent unhappy customers, first accurately understand what they expect and set up systems to ensure you meet—or exceed—those expectations consistently. You may want to develop checklists to be sure you understand your customer’s exact wishes. Expect to refine the lists over time as you gain more experience with them.

2. Deliver what you promise. If the name of your company is Speedy Repair Services and your slogan is “We’re the fastest in town,” then you need standardized business processes to ensure you provide fast service to every customer. For example, you will need dependable employees and additional experienced help you can call on during emergencies. You’ll also need a large inventory of spare parts. Because you have a system in place, your customers should never be delayed by a shortage of labor or parts.

An added benefit of this preparation is that you can show any unsatisfied customer all the effort you took to ensure their pleasure. If it looks like you really tried, customers may be more Read the rest of this entry »

David Pearson, vice-president of channel operations at Miller-Heiman, the world’s largest sales-performance consulting and training firm, shares strategies on how to use cross-selling and up-selling to increase revenue with BW Savvy Selling columnist Michelle Nichols.

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On his blog, Tim Wolters suggests what entrepreneurs need to know to succeed. Wolters suggests keeping a book of ideas and begining with a hypothesis which is “a statement that captures the gist of the solution.” For those ideas that still seem interesting some time later, he recommends beginning a separate journal and considering the idea in terms of problem and solution. Thus, for the mouse idea, the problem could be “Mice are a problem and traps only provide a temporary and messy solution.” The solution: “Create a device that discourages mice from coming on the property.”

Next could come ideas for creating a prototype of an invention. “This invention chronology can be used later for the patent process.” Conclude by answering basic marketing questions, such as who will benefit and how many prospective customers are out there.

Back in 2005, filmmarking team Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes spent 52 days driving over 13,000 miles through 32 states with a video camera. Their mission was to document how mom-and-pop independent stores were competing against oversized corporate retailers and how these competitions are shaping America. The result of their quest is a video called ‘Independent America’ which came out in November 2005. The video has been slowly growing in popularity and just recently featured in Business Week Online. Yahoo has even began featuring clips of the film on its’ website in December. You can watch the trailers for the film at the Independent America trailer website.

Reign in the new year and bring on 2007. According to ad agnecy, JWT, the top 70 trends for 2007 are going to define the year.

The Top 15 Trends For 2007 Are:

- Skype/VoIP
- Wii and the next-generation gaming systems
- The business of social networking
- Pop-up stores, restaurants and bars … installation style
- Shrinky Dink technology (TVs are flat and hidden, iPods are down to half an ounce, speakers are smaller and less visible, and so on)
- The rise of nanotechnology
- Sustainable construction/green buildings
- Hydrogen fuel cell technology
- Veggie-bus: school buses running on biodiesel fuel
- Trans-fat fallout
- Reality show talent searches
- Ohio State’s freshman basketball phenom, Greg Oden
- Fear of agri-terrorism
- Halal foods
- Participatory advertising (user-generated advertising and music videocompetitions)

Verizon Wireless - one of the nation’s top and most respected brands intends to seize the surge on mobile marketing in 2007 by positioning itself as an AD medium. Banner ads will begining appearing on many news, sports, weather and other websites when Verizon users surf via their mobile phones according to the New York Times. The company told the associated press that they are going to be cautionate about ‘over-doing-it’. “There’s still a question of cost and value,” said David Cohen, EVP and U.S. director of digital communications for Universal McCann. Because of a lack of inventory, CPM rates average aroundÂ� $40, compared with $10-$15 on the web, he is quoted as saying.

With Time Magazine’s announcement that You are its Person of the Year because of the proliferation of user-powered content, Wired hasÂ� posted a slew of the best online videos of 2006.

The Confessional. Topping the list is Lonelygirl15’s confessional videos that became an overnight sensation, while geriatric1927 became everyone’s surrogate grandpa, telling war stories to younger folk. Catching Racism in the Act. From Michael Richard’s (a.k.a. Kramer) comedy meltdown, captured on a camera phone, to Sen. George Allen’s obscure racist reference, YouTube shows us that racism is indeed, all around us.

Dance, America! Comedian & Motivational Speaker Judson Laipally’s Evolution of Dance clip put him on YouTube’s most watched, while OK Go’s homemade, treadmill-saturated video won a spot on MTV’s Video Music Awards. Fun with Science. From Mentos & Diet Coke science experiments, to putting you-name-it in a blender, YouTube brought edutainment to a higher level.

Daily Photos. Finally, a few people added taking a picture of themself to their daily routine over a long period of time. One guyÂ� doesn’t change much aside from facial hair over six years, while a woman showsÂ� her pregnant belly over nine months - in twenty seconds.

Goodbye Dr. Phil! You will not be missed at Match.com. Match.com has recently launched a movement to put some life in the slowing world of online dating. With the tagline, “It’s okay to look good”, Match.com has started a multi-media push on behalf of Hanft Unlimited in New York. The $60 million effort gives users a “Match Potrait Toolkit” to seek advice from America’s Next Top Model’s Jay Manuel about their image and how to make their photos more appealing. This will be a total turn around from when Match.com used Dr. Phil to help people bring out the ‘inner-beauty’. Match.com is quickly realizing that ‘outer-beauty’ is all most of us care about (too bad for me).

The television, radio, and print campaign will feature 26 real website members who talk about the website’s diversity and variety. Match.com’s competitior, eHarmony completely blew this campaign out of the water though with a $90 million ad campaign.

A German Drugmaker (Boehringer Ingelheim) accidently stumbled upon what could be the next Viagra-For-Women when working on an anti-depressant drug (what a coincidence). The company used clinical trials just like any other pharm looking to develop an anti-depressant. During clinical trials, female participants noticed a “sudden surge” in sexual arousal. Doctors investigating new treatments for women retort that men’s problems were also seen as largely psychological until Viagra came along, and that loss of sexual desire isn’t trivial to many of those who experience it.

Indeed, Boehringer says it’s having no trouble recruiting women for the trial, some of whom travel long distances for the chance to try the drug. Even if flibanserin doesn’t pan out, understanding how it boosts desire should point the way to better versions—and perhaps give women a choice about whether or not to pop a little pill.

The Consumerist is hosting a survey in which you can vote for your favorite ‘Fake Marketing Blog For 2006′. The contestants which you can vote on are McDonald’s “4Railroads” and “McMillionWinner”, Wal-Mart’s “Wal-Marting Across America Blog” and Sony’s “All I Want For X-Mas Is A PSP Blog.” At the time of writing this, Sony’s FLOG is in first place.

‘What Choo Talkin’ About Willis?’ Bruce Willis stars along Halle Berry in the upcoming ‘Perfect Stranger’ movie where Willis plays a high powered advertising executive (remember when Halley Berry worked in an advertising position in Cat Woman?). Anyways, Willis will play a power-hungry, money loving, and jerk-oriented guy who likes mistresses a tad too much. Please fill your holidays with glee by watching the movie trailer for ‘Perfect Stranger’.

AdWeek reports that drug marketers really kicked it into high gear this year with advertising expenditures at a rate of 9%. At the current rate, by the end of 2006 that total for the year from pharm drug companies should reach $4.5 billion according to TNS Media Intelligence. The growth in spending was driven by some familiar names. Sepracor’s insomnia drug Lunesta will likely complete the year as the biggest spender. It had spent $220 million on ads, which feature a blue luna moth, through September of this year. That was a 78 percent increase in spending over the same period in 2005.

Coors Light Beer has recently made a push to broadcast Super Bowl XLI in multiple languages when it airs on February 4th, 2007. The nation’s growing number of Spanish speaking citizens is the reason Coors is backing the initiative. As the official beer sponsor of the NFL, Coors revealed that 77% of Hispanic males ages 21 to 34 are NFL Football Fans.

“The popularity of NFL football among Latinos in the U.S. continues to grow at an accelerated rate,” said Paul Mendieta, Coors marketing director, U.S. Hispanic and Latin America. Expect to soon see Super Bowl themed packaging from Coors that uses both English and Spanish tag lines that read “One Game. One Dream.” Coors will also be sponsoring the Tazon Latino I (Latino Bowl I) which is the first nationally televised flag football game between former Latino celebrities and former NFL stars which will air Feb. 3rd at 5 p.m. on Telemundo.

MediaWeek is reporting that BMW will launching an ad campaign for the revamped X5 sport utility vehicle with a TV spot called “Nurburgring.” The 30-second commercial opens on what appears to be a late spring or summer day with text that identifies the time as 7:30 a.m. and the location as Nurburg, Germany.

The quiet, leafy scene shifts abruptly to a low-angle camera shot of what appears to be a racecar making tight turns on the famed Nurburgring track in the town of Nurburg.

The sound of the racing engine and the swooping track creates a feeling that the viewer is along for the ride. As the car stops, the view shifts, revealing that the vehicle is actually an SUV instead of a Formula 1 racer. A group of seven young men and women then get out of the car laughing as the text reveals the vehicle to be the new X5.

The spot broke first at select movie theaters and will go wide on New Year’s weekend. It will appear later on broadcast and cable TV, the agency said. It was first shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.