In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will discuss (in passing) Obama's flawless marketing campaign, as well as ZipCar's 7 point strategy to break out of the old mold and move from $2 million to $100 million in revenues.

As I said, I only mention Obama's campaign in passing, but thought it deserved mention. A vague but energizing word (Change), celebrity endorsements, the use of social media, and the targeting of an untapped generation of typically unmotivated (and uninformed) voters worked wonders.

As for ZipCar, this podcast is based on an article from one of my 2 favorite magazines (Fast Company and Inc). You can find it at http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080301/how-fast-can-this-thing-go-anyway.html to read the details for yourself. I love stories that detail the exact steps people have taken to build or improve a business (or to ruin it, so we can learn our lessons through them).

The ideas that I took away with me included focusing on a small target area and perfecting your business there before expanding. Get it right, then duplicate it in other areas. Don't go for funding until you've got something solid. I also love the tweeks they applied to better market to different areas, and how they kept their clientele (and the client's desired result from using their service) in mind, and made changes accordingly. Best of all, they went after a target market NO car rental company in their right mind wanted, and got someone else to cover the risk factor for them!

I'd love to hear from you regarding which of these 7 strategic steps could you apply first? How could you apply it? (And WILL you apply it???) Let me know by sending me an email at penny@1stpod.com. Until then, have a great week!

Penny Haynes, http://www.CommercialCreationCenter.com