Creative Branding in a Small Town

The City of Winter Garden, FL is a quaint small town with great potential for businesses to do something different than anyone else.  I had this thought on creative branding the other day, regarding the town, and I figured it would be a great opportunity to share with all of you.

One of the most noted attractions to Winter Garden is it’s biking community. The West Orange Trail passes through the town attracting bikers who ride the path to stop in and treat themselves to a break. This is a huge opportunity for a business to really take advantage of some great marketing.

If you’ve read my recent post on branding and promotion, you’ll know that I believe strongly in paying attention to your fans. (The customers, friends and co-workers that would love nothing more than to tell everyone about you)

A great way to build some brand loyalty is recognize these people as your best advertising opportunity, and offer them an incentive. Let’s move forward assuming you’re a restaurant looking to draw all the cyclists into your location. (a community of people that travel consistently through your town) Go ahead and purchase a few pieces of cycling apparel, and have your companies name branded on them along with a quote. Something like, “Follow Me to Winter Garden Pizza” or “Winter Garden Pizza supports the Cycling Community”. And if you want to get a little saucy, put “#WGPizza” or Checkin special and tie it in with some social media marketing.

(I’m plugging Winter Garden Pizza because they were kind enough to offer their private room for our first Phlier workshop, and because I love their pizza) #payitforward

Once you have the few pieces of apparel, go to your cycling regulars. Tell them that you appreciate their loyalty and would like to make them an offer. hand them a piece of the cycling apparel and tell them whenever they stop in wearing one of the shirts, you’ll give them a free appetizer with every order. (or something else worth while)

The cyclists that love the pizzeria will wear them (who wouldn’t?), and as they wear them they’ll be advertising wherever they go. Chances are, if you make a cool enough shirt, they’ll probably wear them even when they cycle no where near Winter Garden.

When your business is looking to attract customers, look at the unique opportunities around you and don’t forget to pay attention to the people who love you.

Although this opportunity doesn’t exist for cyclists at Winter Garden Pizza, it’s a blog to encourage businesses to think differently than traditional advertising and do things that separate themselves from others.  If it works, people will follow, and soon you will be setting the standard for marketing ingenuity