Brian Gibson of Taylorsville will do almost anything to make his upstart business succeed. To wit, Salt Lake City's rush-hour commuters may have spotted the owner of Utah's first 1-800-GOT-JUNK franchise wearing a blue Afro wig and wildly waving a sign promoting his business near congested freeway on-ramps. Gibson never breaks for lunch without finding a high-traffic spot in which to park one of his blue-and-green trucks; when schedules allow, he and a second driver stage a convoy through town. The company's billboard-like trucks will lumber along in West Valley City's upcoming Santa parade and wherever Gibson goes, he leaves a trail of promotional refrigerator magnets, Post-it Notes, door hangers, discount cards and fliers.

"We're young guys without a ton of money to buy TV advertising, so this is what we do," he says of the low-cost approach to marketing 1-800-GOT-JUNK, which disposes of "anything two guys can carry," as long as it's not hazardous. "The thing about it that we've been called marketing geniuses." Gibson, who became a 1-800-GOT-JUNK franchise about a year ago after leaving a job in Florida's heavy equipment manufacturing industry, is an unabashed practitioner of guerilla marketing, a technique he endorses not only for its affordability, but — no kidding — because it works. His franchise, which services Salt Lake and Summit counties, has garnered enough name recognition to be ending its first year on target to reach its $100,000 sales goal. The money will enable him to add a third truck and eventually expand the territory his business covers.

Gibson's approach is not that unusual for entrepreneurs search for ways to outlast the nation's economic downturn. All small-business owners are searching for ways to promote their products without spending a lot of money, says Jill Lublin, founder of Novato, CA based Promising Promotion and a co-author with Jay Conrad Levinson and Rick Frishman of the book Guerilla Publicity: Hundreds of Sure-Fire Tactics to Get Maximum Sales for Minimum Dollars (Adams Media Corp.). Gibson has succeeded with low-budget marketing because he operates from a premise Lublin says is key: He knows his company's message and stays true to it.

"This is not a matter of communicating, 'We're so cool. We're so hip.' Forget about what you're selling," she says. "It's about communicating what problem you solve, what solution you provide. That's what people are interested in." Lublin says stunts like 1-800-GOT-JUNK "blue-wig wave" create what she calls an "oooh-aaah factor" that helps would be customers remember a company's name ad what it does. Her book offers numerous ideas intended to help companies achieve name recognition, most of which revolve around making connections with resources that can provide free publicity, then follow up to ensure the company gets even small mentions in various publications. "This fosters what I call, 'The I've Heard if Them Somewhere' syndrome," she says. Lublin recommends that business owners try getting their companies named in Chamber of Commerce newsletters, trade association publications, alumni newsletters and weekly and daily newspaper briefs columns. "Write something up that brags about your business and make sure it shows up in all kinds of places,' she says. Gibson's efforts have put him well on his way toward establishing a brand, but he's quick to point out he has a ways to go despite his hard work. "We still come across people all the time who have never heard of us," he says.