Want to Make A Profit? Get Crazy.

Have you heard of Federal Express? Of course you have. What you may or may not remember is one of their earliest advertising campaigns, where a FedEx agent actually got into a helicopter just to make sure he got his package delivered on time.

Pretty crazy, right? Well, how about Richard Branson. One of the wealthiest entrepreneurs on the planet. You ever seen him dressed as a chicken? Or a woman? These are all things he has done to get his brand into people's faces. He didn't do this for his own entertainment.

The University of Central Lancashire carried out research which discovered that people have an easier time remembering faces if they are presented with a caricature of someone, rather than a photograph. In that study, the researchers then recommended that police use caricature artists when they presented witnesses with images of suspects. And it works.

So what does this mean for your business? Well, the same thing it meant for Richard Branson, or Federal Express, or any other firm that pokes fun at itself just a little bit. Make yourself slightly ridiculous and two things happen in your customers' minds. First of all, they notice you. They will notice you a lot more than they notice your competitor down the street who is still using business cards with raised lettering.

The second thing that will happen is even better. They will like you. It will take just a sliver of that hard-edged business image away and make you look like a firm that has confidence in itself. It takes confidence to dress up as a chicken, for example. Even better, it's memorable. Always strive to be memorable.

Now this doesn't mean that you literally have to dress up as a chicken. Sir Richard Branson is one in a million. But it does mean that, once again, you have to think about why you do what you do, and deciding how you can show confidence. People love someone who makes them laugh, even in a small way. The more you can laugh at the bizarre world of business and show your customers that you love your job so much that you can poke fun at it now and then, you will be rewarded with happy customers who enjoy working with you.