With football season gearing up, I was drawn to an article titled, “Colts spurn conventional wisdom to win over fans.” The article discusses how the Indianapolis Colts continue to move the marker on their march to making themselves a model NFL franchise.

The team has grown its sponsor count to 240—up 20 from last year and well above the league average of 190—and has a season-ticket waiting list of 17,000—up from 11,000 last year. And, they did it all in an unconventional way.

So, how did they get there?

In 2000, the team abandoned its traditional television, print and radio marketing campaign and opted to invest in more personal community visits from team representatives. Turns out, this unconventional path has been a real success for the team over time.

This same theory or approach can be applied to B2B public relations and marketing. Sometimes, the best way to grow your customer base, increase sales, raise awareness or drive interest isn’t through traditional marketing tactics. Sometimes, the best way to reach your marketing goals is to ditch some of the traditional tactics and really figure out what motivates your customers and prospects. It’s time to start thinking outside of the box and put new marketing tactics in the game.

As a PR professional, ghostwriting is a common task in my daily job. Throughout my time in PR, I’ve ghostwritten pieces including press release quotes, feature articles, blog posts and letters and I’ve learned that ghostwriting is an art. There is a lot more to it than just knowledge of AP Style and a good writing ability.

When ghostwriting, it’s so important to absorb the voice of the person you are writing the article, quote, letter or blog post on behalf of. Follow the point of view and speaking style of that person. Read things he or she has written in the past for inspiration (or other pieces that have been ghostwritten for and approved by him or her). Have a conversation to get an idea of the person’s tone and speaking style. These things will help you craft a piece that sounds like it came from that person. And, always get approval from the “author” before publishing anything.

Personally, I love ghostwriting. It’s enjoyable, it gives me the opportunity to fine tune my writing skills and it allows me to creatively write in a variety of tones, depending on the author.

As some of you know, I’m a big fan of Apple products—and a proud owner of an iPhone 4 (I even got it a day before it was released). So, I was quite disappointed to learn of the iPhone 4’s reception problems that many owners are experiencing due to antenna issues. For those of you that haven’t heard about this, you can read about it here.

Apple’s bad press was plastered everywhere, from news sites to blogs to Twitter. Dissatisfied customers voiced their opinions and frustrations; Consumer Reports stated that they can’t recommend the product; Apple’s stock even fell. Although I think it’s mostly internet hype, it’s not the kind of publicity that any company wants.

However, after weeks of minimal response and PR blunders from Apple, the company announced that it would hold a press conference to discuss the issues with the phone and reveal a plan of action to deal with the problem. Speculated solutions included a recall or providing cases to customers. Many thought that a recall was unlikely, given the cost associated with it. Turns out, Apple’s fix is to provide cases to all customers—it will even be offering refunds to customers who already purchased a bumper or a case.

But, I want to know what my loyal B2B Fishbowl readers think. “What would you have done if you were Apple to resolve this issue while attempting to keep your brand name intact?”

I’ve been noticeably absent from B2B Fishbowl blog in recent months. Or, maybe no one has noticed and I have an inflated view of my self worth. But, either way, I’m back and blogging.

Side note: a big shout out to Megan and Tiffany who have kept a constant flow of public relations and social media tips for B2B marketers coming your way

But, I digress. Now that I’m not changing diapers and making bottles 24/7, I’m tasked with bringing you some fascinating insight into B2B PR. And, I’m frankly coming up a little short—apparently “baby brain” lingers for a while after pregnancy.

So, I’ve turned to my trusty brainstorming friend, Google’s Wonder Wheel, to help jumpstart my brain and get me back into the blogging state of mind. And, I thought to myself: “Self, perhaps the followers of B2B Fishbowl don’t know about Wonder Wheel. You should enlighten them.”

Here goes. Wonder Wheel is just plain wondrous, particularly for people who are visual. Wonder Wheel shows related search terms to your current search query in wheel display (see stunning visual below).

Clicking on one of the search terms will open a new wheel of relevant search terms and so on. I find it to be particularly useful when I have a blog idea and want to see what else is out there on the topic. It’s a great tool for online research and to get the neurons firing. To use Wonder Wheel follow these simple steps

1. Enter your keyword and perform a search.
2. On the left nav bar, choose “Wonder Wheel” under All Results (if you don’t see it, click on “More Search Tools”).
3. Now, navigate your way around the relevant keywords and phrases and find more and more and more.

Happy Searching!