Harry Potter And The Entrepreneurs: 7 Marketing Tips

In the opening chapters of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling creates a picture of a floundering wizard economy. Businesses are shutting down -- either because their owners have been killed or because customers are afraid to shop anymore. The only retailer that seems to be thriving in the down economy is Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, a joke shop that opened only a few months earlier by two Hogwarts drop outs.

How come their store is packed with excited consumers while neighboring stores are boarding up their windows? Based on Fred and George Weasley's successful strategy, here are seven tips for other start-up B2W (Business to Wizard) companies.