A few years ago a young shoe designer decided it was time to leave his father's shoe business to make it on his own. A point of disagreement between the two was that the old-school father didn't believe in advertising. Like many small business owners he relied almost totally on word-of-mouth. The son believed that his own, new business would need a strong brand identity and aggressive marketing. But first, he knew he needed to get his designs in front of the top buyers. The problem was, he couldn't afford a booth at the big trade show where all the buyers would be. So, rather than get discouraged, he got creative. He decided he'd rent a trailer, stock it with shoes, and park it as close to the midtown trade show as possible. A prominent sign would get the buyers' attention. It seemed like a great plan until he discovered that you can't park a 40-ft truck in midtown Manhattan unless you're a utility company or a movie production company. Undaunted, the young entrepreneur quickly rented a movie camera and changed his letterhead from Kenneth Cole, to Kenneth Cole Productions. He got the permit and ended up selling forty thousand pairs of shoes in four days. Suddenly, Kenneth Cole was the hot new shoe designer on the map.

As his business grew, he continued to leverage his limited ad budget by challenging conventional wisdom. Rather than follow the crowd with fancy 4-color ads, models, and expensive fashion photography, his simple high-concept ads used stock photos, or no photos at all. In fact, the first dozen Kenneth Cole ads didn't even show his shoes. Those ads, from the mid-eighties, created a buzz that continues to this day.

In Footnotes, an autobiographical book documenting his success, Cole states: "The best business solutions are usually more creative than expensive." Certainly he is a great example of that. Here's another.

Gregg and Evan Spiridellis decided they needed to get the word out about their tiny animation studio. With the 2004 election coming up they decided to showcase their work with an emailed, Flash animation poke at Bush and Kerry. A week before the election a friend forwarded me that poke: "This Land is Your Land...". When I stopped laughing, I forwarded it to half a dozen friends and then clicked on the JibJab hot- link to the studio web site. Apparently, I wasn't alone. According to Joe Trippi, a speaker at the recent Advertising Week conference, the viral promotion reached 65 million viewers in two weeks. It also got the brothers national press and new business like their recent deal with MSN. Their total marketing investment? $500.

An entrepreneur walks into an elevator and bumps into a woman who just gave the keynote speech at a business event they were both just leaving. He introduces himself, compliments her on her talk, and they exchange cards. Most elevator tete-a-tetes would end here. However, rather than just pocket the entrepreneur's card and resume staring at the descending elevator floor numbers, the woman stares at the card. Why? Because the card is staring back. On the card is a graphic of bulging eyes with the line: IF YOU WANT'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, YOU'D BETTER GET'EM EXCITED ABOUT YOUR MARKETING.

Immediately it prompts a slew of questions. Before the elevator stops, the woman (president of a PR firm) and entrepreneur have scheduled lunch. Three months later the same entrepreneur receives a check, from the PR firm, for thirty-two thousand dollars. It's the first 1/3 upfront payment for a three-month project on which he clears eighty-five grand. How do I know this story is true? The entrepreneur is me.

These stories illustrate how innovative thinking, and a good creative idea, can compensate for lack of a marketing budget. In addition to Kenneth Cole, I've worked with dozens of other clients, with very limited budgets, who've become highly successful. A current one is The Marble Collegiate Church.

Using the guerilla-marketing tactic of targeted, untraditional media, with high impact, creative messages, church membership increased over 31%. Additionally, website traffic quadrupled and they received positive press from The Daily News, The New York Times, USAToday, TIME and local TV and radio. The successful effort was also featured in Prentice- Hall's Principles of Marketing. Our marketing partnership, that began as a test in 1998, is now in its eighth consecutive year.

The Importance of a Creative Marketing Mindset.

I mentioned some reasons for the church's marketing success, but there's a big one I didn