I was standing behind my white plastic table at the Friday Farmers’ Market with a choice bucket of worm bedding spread out before me. As potential customers drift past the honey and lavender booths, they come to a stop and watch as I uncover a dark chunk of earth, break it open like a chocolate bar, and reveal several wriggling red worms.

“Looking for worms?” I ask. “They like to hide.” After a couple years of marketing for the small business, Milagro Compost, I still hadn’t met many customers. But only a few hours in the hot sun taught me a lesson I will never forget. There is a niche for worms, and it is the same type of market I knew from the other businesses I have worked for: Collectors.

Yes, Worm Collectors. Often they are relaxed, middle-aged or younger men. They are not always gardeners; sometimes all they grow is worms. They are obsessed, fixated and proud of their worm beds. They show off their collection, trade composting stories, photograph them and take care of them. Once they learned that worms will eat your household organic waste with little or no help from you, they couldn’t stop getting more of them.

One gentleman came to the table and I thought he was an unhappy customer. Quiet and shy, he tells me, “I’m Tim. I bought a couple buckets of worm bedding last week.” The big red flag goes up: was he coming to complain, my first day selling worms? I’ve learned that if you don’t actually pour the bucket out for the customer and show them the worms wriggling in the sudden, bright sun, some people claim they never got any. I knew what to do in this situation; give them a free bucket, and chant the mantra: Show them the worms.

But Tim was not at the market to complain; he actually wanted more worms, another bucket. In vermicompost terms, once you have worms, you got worms. You really don’t need to get more, since worms are hemaphroditic and seed the pile, leaving eggs, really little seeds that grow up on their own.

He asks a few more questions as we audit the worms in his new bucket, and he pays and leaves. Clearly, he’s a worm fanatic. And not so different from art collectors who need just one more canvas, one more bronze to complete their acquisition list.

The boss’ comment? “You should have told him he could get a yard for $100.”

. . . . . . . . . .

Small Business Links:

The New York Times has a rich site for small business news and information.

WESST Corp. in Santa Fe and Albuquerque offers marketing workshops and small business loans.

Farmers’ Markets of NM has a page of ideas on how to sell at the market.

Need worms? Milagro Compost of Santa Fe sells worm bedding by the bucket and by the yard.

1. Social Networking. Are you on Facebook? MySpace? Twitter? LinkedIn? These are “sideways” advertising avenues. They don’t take the place of traditional advertising (yet!), but they help increase your brand awareness. In these venues, you’re not selling your product; you’re selling your story.

If you’ve been reading up on branding, you’ll know that your brand isn’t your logo, your color scheme, your PR or even your product. Your brand is the feeling people have when they think of you. Social networking is just another way to get that feeling across. As Don Draper of Mad Men says, “You are the product, you feeling something. That’s what sells.”

Example: A very early moment of social networking happened for a group I was president of when someone–not us!–posted a classified in the “Missed Connections” of our weekly alternative newspaper—this was prior to Facebook’s launch in 2006. It ran for several weeks and gave our group the aura of being a professional and personal networking group. Membership increased, and two people who met at one of our events were married.

2. Pro Bono. There’s also volunteer work, philanthropy, and community involvement. Again, you aren’t selling your product, and you’re not selling how magnanimous you are; you’re selling your brand, and every brand should have a civic responsibility to give back to their community. These can include “Thank You” ads, support opportunities, and sponsorships. Look for groups that need you and merge with your business’ vision.

Example: A local Santa Fe bank once asked me to design an ad that showcased all their incredible community involvement. I designed an ad that was basically a list of the groups they donated to. This “list” filled the ad space from top to bottom and side to side with just a bit of room left for their logo in the corner. The feeling it gave off was, “Our community involvement is more important than we are.”

The bank’s marketing director was happy to tell me that a few weeks after the ad ran, the bank received a very large customer who had only a small account at the time. But when they saw the ad and realized how much wonderful work was being done—when they recognized so many of the groups the bank had donated to—they moved their major account to the local bank. And this was a simple “Thank You” ad!

3. Brand Ambassadors. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are your employees, partners, clients or investors that carry your brand every minute. Make sure they understand how important they are in the life of your brand. Review why you make the purchases you do, who you buy from and why. Then look at who you have “carrying” your brand.

Example: Last winter, I was in-between writing and design gigs and I got a call from an old friend. Her phone message went something like, “We think we need one website to coordinate all the different pieces of information we have on the web, but we’re not sure how to go about it. We thought you will either know how to do it, or you’ll know someone who does.” As a sole proprietor, these clients are the best. Their idea of what you do is specific and on-target, and the work is usually a good fit and a joy. I ended up designing their website.

In today’s economy we’re all looking closer to home to share what wealth we have, and your business name on someone else’s lips is word-of-mouth advertising gold.