Creative marketing goes a long way when you are an entrepreneur

Creative marketing goes a long way when you are an entrepreneur.

Take Jim Kukral. He is one of the most creative people I know in the online world. He’s always coming up with new ideas for getting attention online. The fact that I consider him a friend and he’s located here in the Cleveland, Ohio area makes it all the better. Who says everything innovative has to happen on the coasts, right?

I watch with interest whenever Jim launches a new site (he has 80 websites). For instance, he started Awesome Million, an entertaining little diversion where you can create a page for someone awesome. Then there’s something a tad more businesslike, called Ask the Blogger. There you can ask him a question about blogs for business and he’ll give you advice.

But his latest site is interesting in yet another way. It is called: I Pay Too Much for Hosting.
So I asked Jim about it. In a recent email exchange, this is what Jim told me:

Question: Jim, why did you start IPayTooMuchforHosting.com?
Jim Kukral: Rackspace came to me to test out being a preferred partner. They wanted to see how a marketer could take their product and spread it around and see if it could generate business. I said sure, but I wanted to do it creatively.

Being a customer of Rackspace for years already, I was already passionate about the service. You could say I’m their biggest fan already, so taking on this project was easy to accept, and fun.

Question: What does the name really mean?
Jim Kukral: I came up with the name because it’s true.

I pay too much for hosting — but it’s worth it.

Rackspace is for people who don’t want hosting problems, ever. It’s the Bentley of web hosts. It solves problems for you by not giving you problems.

So I figured, why not tell people how much I pay for hosting and tell them why.

Question: I know you’re an expert in affiliate marketing — but this seems to go beyond typical affiliate marketing. It’s almost as if you’re becoming a customer evangelist.

Jim Kukral: That’s exactly what I have become. Rackspace realizes that small businesses are a great target for them, and they’re taking a unique approach to marketing by asking their biggest fans (me) to go out and become customer evangelists for them and giving us tools to help spread the word. I know for a fact that the CEO of Rackspace has personally reviewed my efforts so far. They get it. Sometimes in order to sell to your target audience, you have to let your target audience talk to each other and let them sell for you.

Plus, with this exclusive 15% off discount they’ve given me, I’m able to offer small businesses the incentive to at least get a free estimate.

Question: I notice that a big part of the site is your custom video message, which lets your personality come out (not to mention being where I learned you have 80 websites!).

Jim Kukral: Yes, I’m using video in my site to help convince people. Not a lot of marketers are using video yet. I’m finding that by using a personal video message I’m able to help people understand more about me and the offer. It’s natural — more like a conversation where someone would tell you why they’re recommending a product. I suggest video for more small businesses.

Check out Jim’s latest creative endeavor: I Pay Too Much for Hosting
More at:http://www.smallbiztrends.com/