Are you trying to draw more customers in to your bar and grill-style restaurant? Utilizing common marketing techniques like posting on social media and printing coupons in the local paper may help drum up business, but these strategies will only get you so far. If you really want the place to be packed, try implementing one or more of these more unique marketing strategies. Sponsor a sports team. Contact local sports leagues in your area and ask if they're looking for sponsors.

If you run a small web development firm, you may find that your business waxes and wanes throughout the year. Unlike large firms, you cannot take on an overabundance of work and risk not meeting deadlines, and unlike freelancers who work by themselves, you may not be able to scoop up quick project work on freelancing websites. This makes your approach to marketing critical if you want to be successful with a small firm.

Marketing your business is a complex process, and one that requires a careful approach to ensure that your marketing materials convey the message that you truly want them to. One effective way to do this is through the implementation of visual thinking practices. If you're not familiar, visual learning is a process of asking yourself a series of questions specific to the task at hand. Here's a look at a few of the most common types of questions you should ask yourself as you develop your new marketing campaign.

Are you considering using social media to sell your product or service? You should, because social media sites are where you will find most people handing out online. Reach them in the right way, and you have a captive audience who is receptive to your message. You've got to go about it the right way, though. While using social media as a sales platform can be extremely powerful, you can turn off potentially millions of prospects if you approach them in the wrong way.