We have all experienced this when we walk into a mall and smell cinnamon buns cooking and run for the food court. Some companies are now trying to take advantage of this concept by creating a scent machine that will spray on command.

Scent Air, a company is the UK is having success helping companies market their products. For example, they helped a local Lexus dealer by installing a device that emits a Green Tea and Lemon Grass scent as well as a mix of Vanilla and Grapefruit. The dealer claims the “scent creates a luxurious environment in our auto dealership. It truly adds to our guest experience.”

World famous Hard Rock Orlando was having a problem drawing customers to a remote area of the restaurant. It used the scent of sugar cookie and waffle cone to draw the customers to the ice cream shop downstairs.

The scents act as aroma billboards, Scent Air claims in one of their case studies.

Is there a scent that will make people buy your product or service?

Sheila Dawson for HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com

Large companies such as Coke, Pepsi, Department Stores are plastering their vehicle fleets with not only traditional logos but complete images that make people just simply have to take a look.

But does a small business such as a Realtor or local restaurant need such expensive advertising?

“Tragically, for most business owners the magnet or sticker wrapped car just doesn’t add up. It doesn’t provide a consistent marketing system that you can count on monthly to bring you business”, says Todd Bates a national marketing and business coach.

He says you must look at the return on your investment then make a decision.

Photo from http://www.technowraps.com/

Bryce Ryerson for HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com

Despite the downturn in television advertising, radio is on a growth cycle, likely due to the downturn in the economy forcing small businesses to use cheaper marketing methods.

The survey conducted by STRATA (www.gotostrata.com) revealed the following results:

- TV remained the top advertising choice in the first quarter of 2010, with 41.8% of ad agencies saying their corporate clients are more focused on TV than any other medium. The number was down a whopping 27% from a year ago.

- Internet/digital advertising continues to increase with 68% reporting that their customers are more focused on digital than they were a year ago.

Other key findings of the STRATA survey:

1) 87.5% of advertising firms say they are most likely to use Facebook in client campaigns (followed by Twitter (57.1%) and YouTube (39.3%).

2) 62.5% handle Search/SEM/PPC placements in-house.

3) 67.9% say their digital spend goes toward online display followed closely by social media and PPC/Search/SEM/SEO.

“To advertisers, TV still matters,” said John Shelton, STRATA President/CEO. “But just as radio gave way to television, we can see that TV is slowly giving way to digital. The good news for TV stations and networks — for now – is that they remain the dominant medium. Our survey taps into the perception that digital has its limitations in reach and effectiveness and must still be used with traditional media like TV. But the trend is clear.”

“To us, our survey further signals the end of the recession,” added Mr. Shelton. “This isn’t just positive news for the advertising industry; it’s a broader, more positive sign of a recovering economy.”

Lieffel Mikin, Contributing Author – HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com

http://www.marketsamurai.com/

They offer a free trial version that will last 12 days or if you sign up through “The Thirty Day Challenge Website”, it’s good for 40 days.

http://www.thirtydaychallenge.com/

This powerful piece of marketing software will let you enter a keyword and get a list of suggested related keywords (available on Google Adwords site but it is all in one place in Market Samurai).

You can then dig much deeper into each word including finding out the daily search traffic for those keywords, competition,  how much businesses are paying for traffic to those keywords and trends that are occurring.

One of the most powerful features in Market Samurai is the “SEO Competition” section. This lets you analyze in depth the competitions links and will tell you exactly why they are on the first page of google.

A “Find Content” feature also lets you look for blog, news and other sites that will let you post comments – this helps in building backlinks in order to improve your chances of moving up the chain in Google searches.

Not only does Noble Samurai offer this trial version, they have a series of videos that will help you with the basics of marketing your business online.

Check out http://www.marketsamurai.com for more information.

Ashley Brown-Kerr, Product Reviewer, HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com

For example, a person with a severe toothache does a local search for any business. Let’s say, ‘dentists baltimore’. How many come up? A hundred? A thousand?

In among the “best teeth in town” listing, something screams out, “FREE REPORT REVEALS HOW TO GET RID OF TOOTHACHE IN 5 MINUTES”.

Man, that is going to stand out to anyone in pain.

In the report is a listing of your dental practice. Who do you think will get their business when it comes time to remove that cavity or get that bridge work done?

Stand out from the crowd by genuinely helping people in their hour of need and have customers lined up for service.

‘Smitty’ McGregor, Old-school Marketer.

Visit his website at: http://www.getcoreinfluence.com/signup.php

He is also asking you to pass the word on to your friends and family.

The author has watched this video several times as key moments in his own Internet Business career with great results.

Frank claims the video “will give you absolute clarity on exactly what you really want and the real reason you are in Internet Marketing in the first place.”

“What frank is trying to do is get you to focus on what YOU want in your life – dream house, quarterly vacation, Ferrari?,FUN! and much more in other words to really live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.” reports Gavin Simmonds who has a free Core Influence 2 Calculator (Excel needed to run).

In the video Mr. Kern discusses his own story of success and how once he was able to identify his “core identity” people were drawn to it. Of course we all know this identity as the surfer-dude/Internet Millionaire Frank Kern.

Anyway, checkout the video for free while it is still available. Again the address to signup is at http://www.getcoreinfluence.com/signup.php

Lieffel Mikin, HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com

AT&T is planning a free one-hour webinar aimed at provide small business owners with the knowledge needed to run a successful business. Their commitment to nurturing small businesses will be shown when Small Business Media Personality Mario Armstrong hosts this webinar on the strategy and benefits of social media for small business.

Mario Armstrong is a nationally recognized technology expert and radio and television talk show host who has been featured on CNN and NPR, among other media outlets. He is also the founder of TechTechBoom.com. Armstrong is also CEO of Mario Armstrong Media, LLC where he creates technology-related content for traditional, mobile and online media outlets for syndication.

Here are the Specifics:

WHAT:

More than ever, today’s small businesses need to focus on the technologies that give them direct access to their core customers. Armstrong will discuss how social media technologies have evolved into a powerful tool that can help small businesses foster new relationships, build a following, sustain customer loyalty, increase sales and level the playing field in the increasingly competitive marketplace.

WHEN:

Thursday, February 11 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Mario Armstrong will be answering user-submitted questions on the AT&T Small Business Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz) for thirty minutes immediately following the webinar. Visitors are encouraged to post questions on the Facebook wall where Mario can address them.

WHERE:

Participants can register for the event by visiting www.att.com/SmallBusinessInSite and join the post-webinar discussion at www.facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz.

In addition to free online seminars, the AT&T Small Business InSite provides small business owners with a daily feed of small business news; tips on starting, managing and relocating a small business; money-saving promotional offers from leading brands that serve small business needs; the ability to submit questions, discuss topics real-time with other small business owners and receive one-on-one advice; information on AT&T products and services; and easy access to AT&T’s online support, e-bill and account-management services.

Small businesses looking for free business resources such as webinars, white papers, training, case studies and best practices can visit www.att.com/SmallBusinessInSite.

Additionally, real-time information can be found on the AT&T Small Business Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz) and Twitter channel (www.twitter.com/smallbizInSite).

Shane Ducan, Assistant Editor, HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com

Mr Boalt says “social media is growing at such a rapid pace and auto dealers should take advantage of the benefits. This includes: brand reputation, word of mouth or referral marketing, best practices, and the top channels for automotive branding and customer reach.

The largest social media tools an automotive dealer can use in their marketing tool box are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs.

In his e-book, Boalt will address some of the most commonly asked questions from dealers regarding social media such as how to measure progress, retain customers and develop a content plan for social media channels.

On April 20, 2010, Boalt will be a panelist at the Direct Marketing Association of Detroit’s 14th Annual Automotive Integrated Marketing Symposium. Sitting on the panel with Boalt will be Michelle Morris, Automotive Industry Director at Google; Larry Bruce, Vice President of Managed Marketing Solutions for Reynolds and Reynolds; and Lonnie Miller, Vice President of Marketing and Industry Analysis at R.L. Polk & Co. Later that day, Boalt will also be presenting the session “Integrating Social Media with Marketing.”

Automotive dealers can download the free e-book and learn more about social media best practices for automotive dealers at http://bit.ly/aAryjr or by going to GOSO (automotive social media management system) website at http://www.goso.com/.

John Adams, Editor and Chief, HowToMarketYourBusinessNow.com