Splendor in the Grass Roots

Sometimes, the best communications tool to optimize word of mouth and  increase your return on investment is to incorporate and implement tried and true marcom tactics  at the grass roots level. Coupled with modern day technology in the form of social media, you can find splendor in the grass roots of your overall marketing campaign.

Whether your campaign is to launch a new brand, store or initiative, appeal to constituents to win favor on an issue, or to simply boost awareness in markets that need concentration, community outreach to stimulate word of mouth marketing plays an essential role.

An effective Grassroots campaign is when you reach consumers and influencers in your key market(s) and passionately engage them to spur conversation and take action. Success is reached when you get them to care so passionately about your brand/cause  that they become your evangelists, your ultimate word of mouth tools; your cheerleaders.

Easier said than done? Not really. If you are creative, know your target audience, familiarize yourself with the targeted communities’ needs and tie your key messaging for both, you can achieve splendor in the grass roots approach, too.

Here are two examples of effective grass roots outreach, one campaign completed, the other in progress. In each instance, they utilize old school marcom approaches to reach their objectives.

Campaign In-Progress

The Brand: Stowaway Cosmetics, offering today’s woman a product line of portable makeup basics, using the highest quality ingredients for luxurious products small enough to be stowed away in any clutch, gym, or travel bag.

The Objective: to raise awareness of its product line and e-commmerce site to gain customers and ultimately increase sales.

The Campaign: A four-city tour to host a one-night only pop-up store event in select major market cities. New York, Chicago, Washington, DC and Los Angeles

The Event: A Summer Pop-Up Event featuring an evening of shopping, touch-ups and wine, with discounted offers on select items at the venue. Chicago’s Pop Up event takes place Tuesday, July 28 at fashionista fave Rent The Runway store.

The Tactics: A live event promoted in each targeted market via a mix of social media marketing, direct email marketing, publicity ,co-partnering and word of mouth marketing

The Result: TBD

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Completed Campaign

The Brand – UBER NYC, a ride-hailing taxi service offering consumers an alternative in transport.

The Cause – Don’t Strand New York; Save Uber NYC

The Issue – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was holding a vote to prevent more Uber Cars/Drivers in New York which would stunt its growth in the city for one year while it conducted a study on traffic congestion.

The Campaign:  A mix of targeted on-air commercials, radio spots, digital and print ads plus direct email marketing that flooded the New York City area last week. Included were on-air commercials attacking the mayor’s plan to cap Uber’s growth, featuring Uber NYC drivers endorsing the ride-service for providing jobs, coupled with a voice-over of how essential the ride hailing service is and will continue to be in the near future to NYC employment.

In addition, Uber gained positive media attention, op-ed endorsements from the major New York City-area newspapers, flooded the market with radio spots and flooded New Yorkers with direct email marketing messages asking to tweet the Mayor to stop the vote Don’t Strand New York

The Result: As of late yesterday afternoon, Mayor de Blasio announced he would postpone the vote for one year while the city conducted its traffic congestion study.

Creating happy, emotionally connected consumers and influencers that voluntarily want to share your brand’s message forward to the masses, especially in their communities, will lead to loyal consumers, enhanced reputation, strengthened awareness and ultimately, a boost in your ROI. Have a Fabulous Friday. AS

Tags: grassroots marketing, wom, advertising, Uber, stowaway cosmetics