Bright Ideas

What clever marketing methods are entrepreneurs using to differentiate themselves? This new column will uncover a few each month to inspire your own creative efforts.

SEEN: A local pizzeria adds to its family appeal by putting Trivial Pursuit Cards on every table. (OK, who played TV's Doogie Howser, M.D.?)

HEARD: From a door-to-door salesman, to overcome a knee-jerk rejection: "Sir, before you slam the door on me and go back to watching that Seinfeld rerun . . . ."

SEEN: A kitchen designer sends out a "garage gourmet" survival basket of goodies on the stressful demolition day of a client's remodeling project.

SEEN: A hot teen boutique takes a bunch of tops off hangers and slings them onto hooks, neatly messy, like a kid's closet--the better to make it feel like home.

Jerry Fisher is Entrepreneur's "Ad Wisdom" columnist.

This article was originally published in the April 2005 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Bright Ideas.