Someone once asked, “What business is FedEx in?” Most would assume that they are in the shipping business. Some would say they are in the logistics business. However, if you think about it, Fedex is really in the peace of mind business.

One of their early slogans was, “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” This alone hinted at what they were truly delivering. It had more to do with assurance than with moving boxes from here to there.

So, what can we learn from this example that can be applied to social media marketing? Well, we see the importance of acknowledging the benefits rather than the features of whatever it is we are promoting.

We don’t want to hear about the lastest software updates regarding your flagship productivity software. Rather, we want to hear about the time people are saving when they use your product.

We don’t want to hear about the innovative ways Reebok sews together leather to make running shoes. Instead, we want to hear about how our running will improve if we wear those particular shoes.

The very best part is that social media offers the perfect avenue for this type of dialog. Moreover, since social media is a two-way street, you can immediately get positive feedback from those already using (and benefiting) from your product or service.

This is a timeless strategy which must be mastered by everyone in a sales position. It also needs to be heeded by anyone attempting to engage an audience using social media.

Think about every status update, every headline, every tweet and every blog post with this notion in mind. Benefits are what get people in a buying mindset. Benefits impact their lives and answer that question lurking in the back of every buyer’s mind: “What’s in it for me?”

Our job is to help them find an answer. Do you agree?

You’ve probably heard the term before, but what exactly is “Ockham’s Razor” and how can it help someone in a sales job? Well, back in the day, a English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher named William of Ockham was attributed with saying something like “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.” Of course, there is much more to it than this, but for the sake of our context, we will leave it at that.

Anyway, if we look at the logic behind such a statement from a sales perspective, it appears to be pretty useful. This is largely due to the fact that many psychologists (such as Barry Schwartz) now argue that when humans are given too many choices of anything in life, their decision process is only made more difficult, frustrating and downright confusing, thus leading to decreased happiness.

Therefore, when selling something, it is usually best to give your prospective customer as few major choices as possible, at least in the initial stages of the sales process. If you absolutely must offer a dizzying array of choices, perhaps you can make them known after you’ve closed the deal—sort of like customizations on a base product—as long as it remains ethical.

To give a good example of this, when I used to sell gym memberships, we would only show two options to our potential members. We had a nationwide monthly membership and a statewide monthly membership. That was it. Once we showed these two options, we’d sit back and shut up and wait for the credit card to come out or the objections to start rolling in.

If a customer really didn’t like either plan, only then would we bring out some other membership customizations. In reality, we probably had at least 20 different memberships to sell, each with numerous add-ons and payment options. We simply knew that if we presented all 20 at once, it would be that much more difficult to get a sale on the spot. More options lead to more things to think about and that leaves the door wide open for more objections.

So, in summary, keep it as simple as you can. Regardless of whether you’re selling cars, insurance, vegetables or pretty much anything else, there needs to be a strict limit on how many initial options are presented to a prospect at one time. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If only William of Ockham could see us now, he’d surely be proud of how useful his philosophy has become!

Have you heard of Groupon? You know, the deal-a-day website where you can get a discount on anything from dinner and a movie to custom framing and tons of stuff in between. Currently available in only 300 markets worldwide and rapidly expanding, Groupon has been leading the pack of coupon-based web services since they started in November of 2008.

Now for the shocking news. Earlier this week there was chatter that Groupon was in talks with Google over a possible acquisition offer by the search giant. Some said the offer was $2.5 billion, while others speculated that it was much higher. Well, Mashable just reported the offer at $6 billion. That’s right, Google allegedly offered $5.3 billion with an additional $700 million earnout based on performance to a company just two years old.

Once you get over the sticker shock of the offer, brace yourself for the real kicker: Groupon turned them down! Apparently Groupon must believe they can garner a much higher price through their own IPO or just through solid profitability. The rest of the world just thinks they’re crazy, myself included.

Remember back to the summer of 2006 when a young social network named Facebook turned down a $1 billion offer from Yahoo? We all thought that was insane. Well, apparently it was the smartest move Facebook ever made to this day.  Now $1 billion seems trivial when talking about Facebook’s current and potential valuation.

At the same time however, Groupon needs to stop acting like they’re the next Facebook. The service they offer is easily duplicated, in fact we’re seeing Groupon copycats popping up in record numbers. Even local newspapers are getting into the online coupon game and they have the advantage of operating in some markets where Groupon is nonexistent.

Whatever the folks at Groupon see for themselves down the road, they will never be as big as Facebook for the simple fact that their sole purpose (saving shoppers money one deal at a time) is much too narrow. Facebook sees itself as the primary communications platform of the future. They have plans to link virtually every person on earth to everyone else. That’s pretty ambitious. On the other hand, Groupon plans to save you $16 bucks on your next visit to the local spa. That’s nice, but I’m sorry, it just isn’t earth-shattering.

Therefore, In my humble opinion, they should have taken the $6 billion and moved on to the next big thing, or retired a little early. With an offer this big, all three of the founders would have been instant billionaires. Not too shabby. So whatever Groupon has up their sleeve better be amazing if they plan on cashing in on a bigger payday than what was just offered by Google.

If this works out for them like it did for Facebook, that’s great. I just don’t see it happening, especially not for a business model based around online coupons. The trend of marketing is moving away from making discounted one-time sales. These days companies want to know more about us so they can build company-to-customer relationships and create a stream of repeat business. This doesn’t happen when you give your product away at a discounted rate one day at a time. Sure, it lets people know about your brand and what you have to offer, but think about the larger message it sends. You’re basically telling customers (mostly first-time visitors) that your product is not worth its advertised value.

Coupons are a great incentive for loyal customers who already value your brand, but not as a primary marketing tool and definitely not in an impersonal internet-based setting. So is Groupon just the next fad out here in Web 2.0 land? Yes, I think so. But hey, others said the same about Facebook, Google, Netflix and scores more and they all proved their critics wrong. Can Groupon make $6 billion look like a ridiculously small buyout offer in the months and years to come? Possibly, but if not, well then forget the story of Facebook turning down $1 billion, because this will certainly take the cake.

We are surrounded by brands everywhere we look. Pepsi, Nike, Google, Kraft and on and on. The advertising industry is built around making brands recognizable and memorable. Companies want you to feel a connection to their products and services and associate that with the visual representation of their brand. This is big business and it is amazing how much it affects our lives.

For a minute, think about what exactly a brand is and what it represents. Not such an easy question, huh? According to How-to-Branding.com, “A brand is not just a logo, ad campaign, spokesperson or slogan. Rather a brand is a product of the millions of experiences a company creates with employees, vendors, reporters, communities, and customers—and the emotional feelings these groups develop as a result of their experiences.” Using all of our senses is just one way advertisers create these experiences.

For instance, color alone is a huge factor in brand recognition. The amount of psychological research that goes into choosing the color of a logo is mind boggling. According to one color branding blog (and yes, there are many), “Red trim is used in bars and casinos because it can cause people to lose track of time.” Oh and they also claim that “Forest green and burgundy appeals to the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans and often raises the perceived price of an item.”

Regardless of how much validity these claims have, we can all agree that color is very memorable when paired with a brand. For instance, see if you can associate any or all of these colors with the logos they were taken from:

Any luck figuring this one out? Need a clue? It’s an extremely popular website and the second largest search engine.

Now this one is a little easier. Still need a clue? Think morning beverages and sweet snacks.

Lastly, here’s a brand that has been around for over 100 years. They even used their dominant color in a popular marketing slogan a few years back.

Okay, so if you’re still unable to figure out these brands based on their colors and a few hints, here are the answers in order: YouTube, Dunkin’ Donuts & UPS. The bottom line is that color is a powerful tool that can be used in many ways and it is a huge part of what marketing is all about. This relates to life beyond marketing as well, as the abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann once said, “The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color.”

What does the 1995 film Apollo 13, a chocolate bar and a broken laser pointer have to do with billion dollar ideas? Well, all three of these items were the catalyst that led to game-changing innovations in business.

Netflix founder Reed Hastings got the idea for unlimited due dates on DVD rentals after being charged $40 in late fees on an Apollo 13 rental from the local video store. He believed he could invent a better business model based around that concept and now Netflix is helping 10 million active subscribers avoid late fees altogether.

Over 50 years earlier, an engineer named Percy Spencer was working on an active radar set when he noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket begin to melt. This led him to invent that timeless classic found in so many kitchens, known as the microwave oven. Where would college students be without it?

Lastly, the broken laser pointer was just another piece of electronic junk Pierre Omidyar wanted to get rid of. Little did he know that the auction site he started in order to sell that pointer would one day bring in almost $9 billion in annual revenue. Oh yes, I’m talking about eBay.

My point in sharing these three seemingly unrelated events is simple; you never know when you’ll stumble upon the next big idea or where your inspiration will come from. Probably it’ll come to you when you least expect it and you might even miss the significance the first time around. So be mindful of the unpredictable nature of human ingenuity and innovation, because you could very well have a metaphorical chocolate bar melting in your pocket right now and you don’t even know it.