Small Business Marketing Idea: Brand Your Customers Online

If your community is anything like mine, almost every car on the road tells you something about the family inside.  They may have a sticker that tells you the car contains two parents, three kids, a dog, a cat, and a feral guinea pig.  You may find out that their kids are cheerleaders, martial artists, baseball players, or hockey stars.  I'm in the South, so I may even find out what church they attend.

I recently saw someone doing a fantastic job of creating the equivalent for their members' blogs.  This group, Hopeful Parents, has an excellent community website for families of special needs kids.  They have done an absolutely awesome job of finding a niche market they have passion for and creating a valuable service - of value to both the members and to advertisers and sponsors.  If you're interested in online communities, I'd encourage you to check them out as a model.

You can find them online at http://www.hopefulparents.org/ .  Or just check the blogs you read for this badge:



The badge is actually something that would be super-easy for any business to implement, and very smart for businesses that target moms, techies, or any group that blogs heavily.  Of course, you have to have a business your customers can be passionate about - but if they are, giving them a way to tell people online is as much of a no-brainer as giving away free t-shirts or coffee mugs.

It's easy to do - a very simple graphic and a snippet of code.  You can find it on their site or contact me if you'd like help.