Just three short weeks after starting his part-time business, Kimball asked a new customer in his line up how he found out about his cart. The stranger told him he’d read about it on Twitter. The power of Twitter’s digital word of mouth marketing was immediately apparent.

Today, Kimball works his cart full time (the success of his business meant he could quit his day job as a carpenter) and he uses Twitter to post his current location and flavors of the day to his over 5,400 Twitter followers.

Kimball’s is a good lesson for any small business with no marketing budget or a large business with a website in development.

Twitter offers the following benefits to businesses:

1.  It’s free

2. The service provides a sole means for marketing a mom and pop type shop

3. Twitter status is easier and faster to update than a webpage or even a blog

4. It’s ideal for a business on the go

5. It takes advantage of word of mouth marketing—Twitter culture urges people to spread news to others in their own social networks

6. It can spread word locally or nationally—depending on your business focus

7. It offers the ability to ask questions and share knowledge with other business owners

8. It allows businesses to talk directly to customers

Read more about how Curtis Kimball’s crème brulèe cart, a sushi restaurant, an antiques merchandiser, a bed and breakfast, a day spa and more businesses are using the power of Twitter’s digital word of mouth marketing from the New York Post.

Twitter is a free online forum that has almost 100 million users—which means you should be taking advantage of it if you’re not tweeting already. Even better, Kermit Pattison from The New York Times recently introduced his small business tips for using Twitter—including 11 prime examples of large-middle-and small businesses that are commendably taking advantage of Twitter and all it has to offer.

My advice, check out Pattison’s list—it includes the likes of large corporations like Rubbermaid, UPS and my favorite shoe king Zappos, as well as mid to smaller companies like Naked Pizza and Kiss My Bundt what the heck wouldn’t you?—for some 140-character examples of engaging tweeting.

In his talk, Brock spoke about the important steps to take and the tools to use before diving into social media implementation. Check out Wanda Eby’s post on Brock’s talk and discover his tips for creating a powerful B2B strategy, and also what’s worked for him! Oh and don’t forget to attend the next Business Development and Senior Sales peer-to-peer talks at Communitech. They are scheduled on the first Wednesday of every month!

In yesterday’s post I shared the first 3 of 7 Personal Branding Laws for Marketers. Just to recap, they were:

1. The Law of Specialization
2. The Law of Leadership
3. The Law of Personality

Today, let’s talk about the remaining 4 Laws:

4. Law of Distinctiveness

Do what others don’t do. Often it’s the little things that make you stand out. The team at MFX Partners sent one of our clients cupcakes with their product crafted out of icing on the top, just for fun. Our client loved them! They felt great, we felt great.

Most people just do their jobs and deliver what ’s expected and think that’s good enough. It’s easy to forget that a little surprise and delight goes a long way. You will matter more and build a desirable personal brand if you do the little things that most don’t do.

Ask yourself: What isn’t anyone doing in your field or industry (or company)? It might be a little crazy, but it would ensure you stand out (while maintaining your integrity of course)?

5. Law of Visibility

You will matter more if you are highly visible and part of key conversations where you can share your point of view. If you hide out and hold back you will fade into the background. You can increase your visibility within an organization by taking on high profile projects or volunteering on teams or boards.

Ask yourself: What single thing could you do on a regular basis to become more visible?

6. Law of Congruency

People prefer those they know, like and trust. If you say one thing and do another you lose the trust of those around you. If you put on a false persona to impress people; they will question your integrity and consciously avoid you.

Ask yourself: Are you putting on a false mask or creating doubt about your integrity? What changes do you need to make to be more authentic?

7. Law of Persistence

Most people give up too soon and fail to make the impact they could have made if they had just stuck with it. Assuming that others have bought into the direction you are headed and your direction makes good sense, if you stick with the plan and build a reputation of being someone that gets things done you will build a solid personal brand.

Ask yourself: What project do you need to add extra energy to in order to push it forward and complete it?

Everyday you are building your personal brand. If you live by the 7 Laws you will be respected, well-regarded and truly unstoppable.

I found yesterday’s post, Small Businesses – What’s in a (brand) name?, particularly valuable. Business names were the topic of the day, and if yours happens to be a one-human operation you should put down that smartphone and listen up!

If you’re a single person acting as employee, owner, marketing department, salesperson, receptionist etc., then you can count yourself amongst the likes of Chanel, Jack Daniels, JC Penny and other owner-named businesses. But before you open an off shore account and start planning your empire’s expansion, take heed that there’s some gray area when it comes to differentiating between brand and owner. For instance, if you rely on social media as a marketing tool, where do your personal tweets stop and your business tweets begin—especially if they all originate from an account using your own personal moniker?

I encourage you to check out the MOO blog’s small biz series. If I owned a small business of my own, I would. Plus, hint, hint … they’re giving away prizes to users who share their real business experiences.