No matter what business you are in, the world will be full of surprises. No matter how well you plan for possible events, you will find that your business is subject to greater events than you can control. How you respond to these events will determine how successful your business is in the long run, and it will also play a major role in the growth of your business and your marketing efforts.

When it comes to marketing, you probably know that there are several key components to successful marketing campaigns:

1. You need a good, valuable product or service.

2. You need to be memorable (in a positive way, of course).

3. You need to make sure that your marketing materials are available to potential clients as soon after they realize they need your services as possible.

If you have these three things, then your odds of having a successful campaign are quite high. However, there is one more facet that you need to evaluate and factor into your marketing strategy in order to increase your odds of sales success:

You need to involve the element of surprise.

Now, this does not mean dress up as your product and leap out from behind a tree in order to startle potential customers. Rather, it has to do with the way your marketing "reacts" to surprising events. For example, will your marketing keep working even if the economy makes a major shift up or down? Will your marketing be able to take the release of a new bargain product or service from a competitor? The list goes on and on.

The best kind of marketing factors in the element of surprise and counteracts it by developing serious customer loyalty even with people who may not have actually become your customers yet. If you have a rapport with customers and potential customers, they will be less likely to be swayed by surprises and stick with you when they have a need for your type of product or service.

One of the best ways to incorporate this kind of relationship into your marketing efforts is to promote via promotional merchandise, which not only reminds potential clients that you are already providing them with value though you may not have an existing relationship as yet, but also keeps your business at the forefront of people's minds regardless of what they are reading on the news.