Watch Your Message Grow Organically
Grassroots marketing is an approach to advertising and marketing that has really gained steam in the years since social networks like Facebook and Twitter took hold and media began its migration from our TV screens to YouTube and Vimeo. Rather than trying to get under your audience’s skin—as in a more traditional marketing campaign—grassroots marketing allows your audience to take ownership of your message and spread it organically within their own circles of influence.
The beauty of grassroots marketing is that it often doesn’t feel like marketing—it feels like fun. In fact, you have probably participated in some form of grassroots marketing without even really noticing it. Have you ever retweeted a branded message in the hope of winning some kind of prize? That is grassroots marketing, my friend! Do you have Facebook friends who share links to free samples of new products or services? They might as well be laying sod on your front lawn, because that, too, is grassroots marketing in action.
Savvy brands are also taking advantage of the relatively low cost of launching grassroots campaigns. Rather than having to allocate gigantic budgets to produce and place multimedia creative campaigns on a scale large enough to make a dent in an audience’s consciousness, grassroots allows the opportunity to start small and grow into something much bigger down the road.
For a smaller initial outlay, sharp brands and marketers can tap into their most passionate and vocal loyalists, relying on their passion to help grow the message organically. You can incentivize this activity in any number of ways. Offering samples is an obvious one, but even providing access to exclusive content can do the trick. For instance, we all love being the first person on our timeline to share the “new” video or graphic from a brand or artist we love, right? Grassroots marketing gives brand advocates that feeling of contributing to the success of something larger than themselves that is part of their identity.
This is not to say that launching a grassroots strategy is easy—in fact, it’s an intensive process that requires a lot of soul-searching to determine what it is about your brand that resonates and how best to harness the dedication of your key influencers. If you’re ready to start planting the seeds of a grassroots marketing campaign, give TRAFFIK a call for a productive brainstorming session, and let’s see what we can start growing together.
