From the folks at trendwatching.com come eleven trends for 2011.  They are experts at observing trends and have created a list which anticipates what trends will impact consumers, businesses, and marketing departments.

1) Random Acts of Kindness

As you can see from the above Twitter post from InterfloralUK the marketing department is not only communicating to the followers, but also listening to them.  By using a medium which is based on broadcasting individuals thoughts and links, InterfloralUK, will gain a considerable amount of positive feedback in the recipients personal network (especially if they pick an individual with several thousand followers).

Beyond a token interaction with their customers and followers InterfloralUK is creating a human touch to their brand.  By taking this approach, a large floral company is able to gain some of the closeness to the individuals that a small floral company in the neighborhood has with their community.

With smaller companies this might not be done over Twitter but through personal interactions, but can still have the same effect.  Regardless of what way you display the random acts of kindness, you will gain loyalty from your customers.

-Patrick

Here is a fascinating interview with Nancy Lublin, head of dosomething.org.  While the interview focuses on smarter ways of running a business, she points out a variety of interesting ways to market your company.  One interesting point that she makes is continuing to maintain a relationship with your former employees to leverage your marketing strategy.

Click the player below to listen.

Nancy’s point of keeping in touch with your former employees to create buzz is a good one.  While individuals may leave a company for new opportunities, it doesn’t mean they stop caring about their former employer.

It is easy to see how this would work for a large company like GM where they might send out a sneak peek of a prototype car coming out at the Detroit auto show.  It is important to keep in mind that small companies can do it too, especially since a smaller company will have more personal relationships with all the employees.

For example, lets take a construction company.  The services that they offered have always been straight forward.  Recently they gained some new certification for improved building techniques, such as energy efficient home building.  If they are one of the few companies in the area that now specializes in this, letting your former employees know this information might lead to new customers for your company.

-Patrick