One of the most popular posts ever on the Digital Buzz was one of the first I wrote, which focused on an effort of mine to guerilla market a company I used to work for. As the economy continues its pendulum swings and marketers are constantly scheming of new ways to stretch their marketing budgets, I find myself once again pondering unorthodox methods of getting your brand out there.
This Easter Weekend, I returned to my hometown of Indianapolis to spend some quality time with the family and to see old friends who would be doing the same. All weekend long I ran around the city to meet up with former classmates and coworkers, and during the course of a small party on Friday night a friend of mine in a similar field and I had a conversation that every serious marketer and entrepreneur needs to have (and this was before the high speed police chase I accidentally got first row tickets to that I'll elaborate on in an upcoming blog).
The shindig took place in the heart of downtown, just south of the circle on Meridian Street.
My first thoughts in entering the apartment were flashes of "location, location, location!" I couldn't believe the magnificent setup these guys had, and the view was spectacular (if only the temperature had been a little more hospitable than just above freezing). So when my friend and I sat down at one of the windows overlooking the street, we began speaking in business terms.
"Think about these windows as giant billboards," said my friend. He owns a consultation company that builds clothing and other similar product based companies for his clients.
He proposed a giant banner marketing their company in the windows of the home because of the thousands of people that walk by that spot every day; surely some would become curious. The next step was to use the location to start spreading out free sample products to random people on the street during convention times (Indianapolis has the world's largest convention center), and once interest had generated to start some contests (I can't go in to too much detail here as I was asked to respect confidentiality) that were specifically targeted to engage his type of consumer. The entire plan was quite intriguing and led to a great deal of discussion on the subject over the rest of the night.
Basically, making your home a marketing device isn't an option for everyone (or at least a viable or wanted option), so my purpose here isn't to try and convince you that's what you should do, however, I am using this case as a general example of thinking outside of the box. Beyond the obvious benefits of exposure, this type of mentality allows the person to use anything as a possible avenue of stirring up some unusual behavior that will lead people back to your brand.
For people with large client bases or companies with lots of employees you could send an interesting message to them that they might forward on (in a viral sense of marketing). Instead of sending emergency text alerts to your clients from a company like AMG Alerts, you could use their system for email or text or telephone alerts. Just because it's labeled an emergency text alert system doesn't mean it doesn't offer you the chance to send bulletins to your clients instead of emergency messages.
Maybe your company has a high volume of calls and subsequently a lot of people waiting on hold for attention. Sell this time to other companies and have someone like On Hold Select develop a personalized messages for on hold advertising. Small premises can lead to previously underutilized avenues for revenue.
If you have time to develop content that others might find useful, start a blog through Stormfront Productions. We can even set it up and offer enterprise level web hosting so you can make sure it's done well. (Don't forget we also offer Internet Marketing, SEO / SEM Solutions & Email Branding as part of our services to help your entire marketing package).
Of course all of these services aren't the only way to go, and depending on your brand or product you might have some other routes that will help you develop your market share. But it's important to keep in mind that no matter what your business is it's pretty hard to make a case against getting the name out there to potential clients from plumbers to universities. So even if you haven't tried it before, now may be the time to go guerilla.