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If a company told you it was celebrating a milestone anniversary and asked you to guess how many years it had been in business, what do you suppose you’d guess? Five years? 10? 25? Maybe, if the company was very well established, you’d guess 50 or 100. Notice anything about those numbers?

Yup – they’re all typical milestone anniversary dates. We see them every day. Which means we tend to dismiss them. They don’t stick, because they aren’t unique.

Or how about this? Imagine a friend telling you about a fabulous new book that had date-night activities for married couples on a budget. If you were asked to guess how many dates were in the book, what would you say? Wouldn’t you guess something like 365, 52 or 100?

Boring. Boring. Boring.

Now, that’s not to say you shouldn’t use numbers. But why not try an unexpected one? Use it to help you hook your audience. I was talking with a client today who touted the organization’s 127th anniversary. Now that’s different, and I guarantee you that the audience didn’t just gloss over the announcement. It got noticed because it was not the norm. Sure, the group’s leaders could have done a big hoopla at 125 years. But instead, they waited a couple more years and had the same celebration, same historical references and the same pride – but did it in a way that garnered more interest and awareness.

Unless it’s a really significant milestone like 100 years or higher, take a little risk to get the attention you’re after. When it comes to numbers, there is nothing wrong with being a little odd.

Do I walk my talk? My book’s title? “99.3 Random Acts of Marketing.” More memorable and certainly more buzz-worthy. What’s odd about your business?

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com. © 2007 Drew McLellan