6 Hawaiian-Style Small Business Marketing Tips

Small business marketing genius … wouldn’t we all love to have it? Well, we’ve got the next-best thing in Andrew Lock the man who coined the phrase “everything is marketing and marketing is everything.” Take this week’s episode of Help! My Business Sucks. He turns a vacation to Maui into a first-class tutorial on small business marketing strategies — and a tax write-off; nicely done, Andrew.

Best of all, you can take Andrew’s astute marketing tips and transplant them into your own small business marketing strategy — he’ll tell you how. Just click on the video logo screen just below the show notes.

This special episode of Help! My Business Sucks was filmed on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Maui. Yes, marketing is everywhere around us, even in paradise! I’ve tried to cram in plenty of advice, tips, strategies, and secrets to help you with your small business marketing.

Hawaiian airlines is the subject for my first business lesson. They’ve been voted the number one airline in the U.S. for a number of years now, and I experienced firsthand why. They create a lively, fun, party style atmosphere even before boarding, with Hawaiian music as you walk down the jet bridge. On board, they offered us a choice of five entrees, with attentive service. As you know, the airline industry is ultra-competitive, yet Hawaiian has managed to stand out from the crowd with creative marketing, attention to detail and smart business decisions.

I like to plan for trips and Maui Revealed is my favorite guidebook for discovering what’s hot and what’s not in Maui. The writers have done a great job of conveying real world advice for everything you can think of as a visitor. They tell it as it is, often in a humorous style. I love that.

I find most guidebooks stuffy, inaccurate and boring. Apparently, Maui Revealed has been pulled from the shelves of a number of bookstores for ruffling the feathers of businesses on Maui. Again, that’s great news because it merely adds fuel to the marketing fire. The unconventional marketing lesson here is to go against the grain in a crowded market, come up with a unique angle, and don’t be afraid of attracting controversy — that’s exactly what you should want!

Our experience at two beach side restaurants in Lahaina and Kaanapali further demonstrated how important it is to provide outstanding customer service, especially when something goes wrong. In both restaurants, plenty of stuff got messed up, but the ‘service recovery’ couldn’t have been more different. There’s an important marketing lesson that you can adapt for your small business.

I hope you enjoy the other business and marketing lessons for your small business. I admire your interest in being an entrepreneur. As usual, let me know your opinion about the topics covered in the show to help your small business this week — leave your comment below, it’s really easy to do.

Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses “get more done and have more fun.”