I admire the creative minds that came up with these eye-catching guerrilla marketing stunts.
- Dulcolax used the all-too-familiar posting pillar, present in nearly every city-center, to showcase their name in a comedic way.
- FHM put the Mini Cooper’s curvy, feminine body-styling to use in such a way with great results.
- Volkswagen showcased the dependability of their product in new and always-surprising ways.
- A full-scale viral campaign for The Dark Knight cleverly placed Bat-Signals that could be spotted from time to time as a guerrilla side-project to get noticed.
- Volkswagen left a Polo, carved out of ice, sitting on a London street for the local denizens to find in the morning.
- In Mumbai, Aseema drives home the thought of children living on the streets by placing a child’s toy in a sidewalk drainage grate.
Brilliant!
Has your company come up with any effect guerrilla marketing stunts lately?
Full story at WebUrbanist »
Outdoor advertising is all around us – on billboards, benches and even stairs. So it was only a matter of time before the ads took to the streets themselves in the form of stunning 3D chalk drawings, paint, stickers and even “reverse graffiti” which cleans messages onto dirty pavements.
WebUrbanist offer 14 urban street ads that sometimes blur the line between guerilla art and guerilla marketing, drawing in crowds and using their respective environments in clever and creative ways.
View all 14 urban street ads at WebUrbanist »
In Manchester, England, the church undertook an initiative targeting 70,000 former churchgoers.
The “Back to Church Sunday” scheme attempted to woo churchgoers to go back to church with bars of fair trade chocolate.
Sceptical?
Here’s the result: Almost 900 people went back to church in Manchester. About 9 in 10 people who returned said they would do so again.
Like all marketing, the proof is in the results.
Do you run a club or association that can use a similar initiative to woo back old members?
Full story at BBC News »
Here are 6 sneaky ways proven to get customers to buy more:
- Free services such as mini-makeovers at the make-up counter, free in-store tastings at the wine shop, and how-to classes at the home improvement center all help to sell more merchandise, because of the law of reciprocation;
- Shows off a complete room, like IKEA does, or a fully-accessorized outfit at a clothes store creates a picture in the shoppers’ imagination and encourages them to spend more on the final sale;
- Some stores uses scents to relax shoppers and put them in a buying mood. Macy’s Bloomingdale’s department stores uses different aromas for its various departments;
- ‘Buy-One, Get-One’ offers have proven to drive people into stores and get them spending more than they planned. Most are ‘Buy-One, Get-One Half-Price’ offers, which is actually just 25% discount off the full price;
- Studies have shown that slow-tempo music slows down shoppers and makes them spend more time in the store. Another study found shoppers bought more French wine when “French” accordion music played in the store, and more German wines when a “German” oompah-pah band played; and
- Talking to a store employee on a personal level makes shoppers more likely to buy, which is one of the reasons Home Depot have greeters at the door offering shopping carts.
Has your business tried these techniques to get customers to buy more?
Full story at DailyFinance »
Spanish clothing brand Desigual ran an offer at its Madrid and Barcelona stores that rewarded semi-naked customers with two free garments from the store.
You can imagine the word of mouth publicity the offer generated. I am sure the happy customers would have told their friends the story of how they got free clothing at Desigual. The promotion even made it onto the news on TV3 (Catalonia national television).
Could your business try a similar publicity stunt?
If you run a clothing store, you could obviously try a similar marketing stunt.
How about a t-shirt store offering free tees for customers who turn up without a top? Or a shoe shop offering a free pair of shoes or sandals to customers who turn up bare-foot?
Could this marketing stunt work with non-apparel stores? Could the offer of a free lunch entice customers to turn up semi-naked at a cafe or restaurant on a nice hot day in the middle of summer?
More photos and videos at the Desigual blog »
I came across a good article, with some good first-hand tips, by Lynn Terry of ClickNewz, on how to properly promote products & reviews via Social Media.
Lynn gives an example of a product review she wrote for the best Apple iPad case. She dropped and shattered her original iPad, so she went through several iPad cases before she found a couple that served her needs.
Other people are searching for iPad cases too and asking for recommendations. Lynn replied to one of those tweets conversationally, and included a link to her personal experience (with a video demo).
Blogs also offer some good social media marketing opportunities. You can:
- Leave a comment, linking back to your review in the URL field. This will often offer very little click-through rate, but does count as an inbound link.
- Create a Trackback to their post, if they publish Trackback links. These count as inbound links and also see a higher click-through rate than blog comments. One idea is to do a round-up post as a follow-up to you review that includes links to other blogs discussing the product – with the call to action being to read your review or comparison.
- Find other bloggers who are affiliates for the same product? Offer to let them interview you about your results with the product. Allow them to use their affiliate link to the product in the interview post, with your only requirement being a link back to your review.
- Write guest blog posts for other affiliates, including their affiliate link to the product, with a call to action in your bio or byline at the end that leads them to your review.
Another great resource for product conversations are the many social Q&A sites, such as Yahoo! Answers.
Are you promoting your products via social media properly?
Full story at ClickNewz »
Joe Girard is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s greatest salesperson for 12 consecutive years, selling 13,001 vehicles at a Chevrolet dealership between 1963 and 1978. And he still holds the world record today.
He was 1 of 42 salesman on the showroom floor. While everyone sold on average 5 cars a month, Joe sold 6 or more a DAY!
Joe’s achievements include:
- Sold more retail “big ticket” items “one-at-a-time” (no fleet or wholesale, never in management) than any other sales person in any retail industry including houses, boats, motor homes, insurance, automobiles, etc.
- Sold an average of 6 new retail vehicles a day (no used cars or trucks).
- Sold 18 new retail vehicles in one day.
- Sold 174 new retail vehicles in one month.
- Sold 1,425 new retail vehicles in one year.
- Sold 13,001 new retail vehicles in a fifteen year career.
- Inducted into The Automotive Hall of Fame (only salesperson, ever).
So how did Joe become the #1 retail salesperson in the world?
Here are some of Joe’s ‘secrets’:
- Joe used to send out 16,000 envelopes a month, each containing two business cards. The envelope also contained two cards of Joe Girard. In February the card would wish them a happy Valentines Day. In March, happy Saint Patrick’s Day; In April, happy Easter; In May, happy Mothers Day, and so on.
- He made a deal with a nice Italian restaurant and treated everyone in the service department. The mechanics loved him and took good care of Joe’s customers.
- Joe always sold himself: “I have never sold a car in my life. I sold Joe Girard.”
- He would send customers a coupon and say, “I will pay you $50 if you refer me.”
- “Where ever you go… I go.” – Joe used to put his business cards into the glove box of the vehicles he sold, so that customers could always hand out his cards when they asked where and who they bought the car from.
- Three days after a sale, Joe would always call customers and ask them how the car was working out for them. He always reminded them that if they bought a lemon, that he would turn it into a peach. He would also ask for referrals and remind them that he would pay people $50 for each referral.
Could your business use some of the techniques Joe used?
Full story at Mindvalley Labs »
Have you ever considered entering business contests as another way to garner publicity as well as business insight?
Going into a competition, it may be all about the prizes and publicity. But win or lose, entering contests can be used as a tool to reevaluate the performance of your company, especially in arenas where you have to reveal your business model to industry judges, competitors, investors, news media, and potential customers. Spending precious hours filling out an application and preparing for a presentation before a panel can help you unearth flaws in operations and management.
Judi Henderson–Townsend, the co-owner of Mannequin Madness, has won eight awards and contests since 2002, including a $100,000 technology grant from Intel, the Business Breakthrough presented by Visa and Microsoft award, and most recently the 2009 and 2010 Face of Opportunity contests sponsored by British Airways.
With careful planning and preparation, you can improve your odds of winning. Here are some tips to beating out the competition.
- Follow the instructions.
- Take your time.
- Keep it simple.
- Showcase strong business strategies and strengths.
- Start small, then go big.
- Have some fun.
Full story at Inc. »
Marketing Munch offers interesting online, mobile, and offline marketing stories from