Mad 4 Blog

At Mad 4 Marketing, we’re always wary of resorting to gimmicks when we’re building a campaign for your business. Although it can be fun to come up with extremely creative and off-the-wall ideas to help you get the word out, at the end of the day these brainstorming sessions are often best just to get the juices flowing and then can be scaled back to more reasonable ideas. But that’s not always the case. For example, guerrilla marketing endeavors can be classified as marketing stunts. These are often a popular and practical way to catch consumers’ attention and make a lasting impression. The important thing is knowing the distinction between what will work and what’s over the top. This takes the discretion of a knowledgeable advertising agency with a diverse skill set, from traditional to avant garde media and marketing applications.

One of the main reasons for concern is that marketing stunts are unpredictable. Since you’re ideally seeking a one-of-a-kind event or attraction, this means there’s no way to know entirely what to expect. There aren’t analytics to see how successful a similar promotion has been in the past and anticipate its reaction with the public. However, this doesn’t mean that it can’t be done correctly. It just means that it’s very important to estimate cost (in terms of money and time) vs. reward, and make sure everyone involved understands and approves the plan so that expectations are aligned. Nailing key messaging throughout the course of the event is vital, since once of the key pitfalls to avoid with marketing stunts is burying relevant ideas within the framework of comedy, outlandishness or absurdism just to make an impact. At the very least, if a stunt doesn’t go over as well as you’d hoped, it’s good to know that the brand’s name and core essence do get out.

Product placement is one of those obvious marketing ploys that audiences typically don’t like to see – or don’t like to be aware of, at least. Then again, if it didn’t work it probably wouldn’t be all over your television and movie screens. Morgan Spurlock’s most recent documentary, “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” explores the phenomenon of product placement by interviewing business execs and artists about the growing trend – while simultaneously soliciting the movie to sponsors. He actually makes an interesting point about the gimmick of product placement, however, by noting that he doesn’t consider it selling out because he maintained creative control. Similarly, if you’re going to go for a gimmicky marketing stunt, it’s important that those receiving it feel like it maintains some integrity and is more about addressing them and appealing to them than it is about doing something for your own benefit and bank account.

For more advice about the types of marketing concepts that are most suitable for you, don’t hesitate to contact us for a consultation.

When the economy got slammed, big businesses had to evaluate their budget and seek ways to trim expenses. One of the major ways that companies discovered they could save money was by reducing or eliminating their internal marketing staff and instead outsourcing this work to independent agencies such as Mad 4 Marketing.

Why Companies Choose to Outsource
The main reason that this option eliminates cost is because marketing is not a piecemeal endeavor. For any of the components to work successfully, marketing departments must offer comprehensive services. But when companies sustain a full-time, fully staffed internal marketing department, it can be extremely expensive to maintain. By outsourcing to a self-sustaining agency, business can rely on quality performance right when they need it.

Familiarity is another important perk to employing an outside marketing agency. Some companies choose to collect bids and hire freelancers each time they endeavor a new marketing action. Although you may save money by continuously seeking the cheapest options, specialists won’t have a thorough grasp of your business, brand or boundaries. If you use website developers, you’ll need to start all over again when you’d like to run a radio commercial. If you place an ad in the newspaper, you may need to find an entirely new agency when you want to rent a billboard. This strategy won’t benefit your business.

Eliminate the hassle by connecting with one agency that can provide all of the resources, connections and talent to composite any kind of campaign. Your frequent, return business allows them to understand your company, its history of marketing and all of your ultimate advertising goals. Every time you need anything at all, you can just pick up the phone and connect to a friendly and familiar voice, someone who you already trust to stay right on top of your unique business marketing needs. But your business won’t have to shoulder the ongoing operations and finances of an internal marketing department.

Why Mad 4 Marketing
Mad 4 Marketing is an ideal solution for the ongoing advertising needs of large and small businesses because we believe in and practice a concept called 360º Marketing. This means that we don’t just use isolated mediums to reach your audience. We make it our priority to understand what makes each brand unique and how to best approach its clientele. Then we creatively conceptualize campaigns that will reach out from several touch points to insightfully impact your audience.

We offer print, radio, television and nontraditional marketing (such as guerilla and viral marketing). Our interactive department can put your company online, encourage potential customers to visit your site and track responsiveness once you’re live. By utilizing all of these available outlets, your message fixes in the minds of its recipients.

In today’s economy, traditional mass media advertising (newspapers, TV, radio) may not be within your budget. A grassroots approach—using alternative media and promotional tactics—is the perfect way to make a big impact with your campaign. The grassroots approach might even be the most strategic way to get your business noticed, because it largely relies on thinking outside of the box.

We explain how nontraditional marketing was used to promote a unique client: Satori, the first eco-friendly apartment rental community in Fort Lauderdale. Which of these strategies might you use to make a big impact with a limited budget?

#1: Be Creative with Media
With a small portion of the budget allotted for print advertising, placement decisions had to be very strategic. By running ads in community newsletters and local niche magazines (especially issues focused on eco-features), targeted readers were informed of all the unique ‘green’ amenities at Satori.

Taking advantage of roadside space at the construction site to flaunt colorful, billboard-sized signage further increased awareness and name recognition.

#2: Interact with the Community
To complement the apartment rental community’s Zen theme, pedi-cabs (also known as “rickshaws”) were hired to give free rides at special events, like the Las Olas Art Festival. The cabs–and drivers!–were branded with Satori graphics, and riders were provided information and handouts. Not only did this improve local brand awareness, but the free rides extended good will throughout the community.

Satori was also advised to make strategic decisions to sponsor local events, such as an eco-friendly exhibit at the Museum of Discovery and Science and a membership meeting of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center, which was hosted on-site at the leasing center.

#3: Expand the “Dot Com”
The ad agency’s web development team utilized SEO tactics, blogging and a controlled pay-per-click campaign to achieve weekly site visits of over 500 unique visitors–generating an average of 50 leads per week for Satori. Today, the website ranks on the first two pages of Google with over 200 keywords.

#4: Befriend Technology
Website functionality was then expanded to include an interactive touch-screen display. This cutting-edge feature allowed potential renters to select floor plans by defining their own criteria, and then acquire real-time rates and availability. They could also click to explore local points of interest.

Mobile marketing was employed to boost awareness. Ads encouraged viewers to text a special code word to #34343 to get directions to the leasing center and updates about upcoming promotions. The code word changed for each campaign  so the response could be tracked and measured. The big sell was that each text automatically qualified its sender to win six months of free rent!

But did these creative grassroots tactics drive traffic to the leasing center? Ultimately, the campaign created enough buzz to keep Satori top-of-mind for Fort Lauderdale’s new lessees. Residents were ready and eager to move in when the property opened this month.

Satori’s success makes it obvious: you don’t need a giant budget to market your business–just an open mind, and big ideas.

When people think about guerilla marketing, typically they think of a specific example—one stunt that made national headlines and became thereafter notorious. Like that time actors rushed a crowded train station to perform a song-and-dance number about the product they were hired to promote. That’s guerilla marketing. This tendency to define the concept by its example perfectly elucidates the nature of guerilla marketing. That’s because the term isn’t any one thing—in fact, it’s pretty much everything that falls outside the realm of traditional marketing (such as television commercials, print advertising, digital marketing).

So what is guerilla marketing? Can we define it on its own, other than by what it’s not? Well, we can certainly try to clarify the concept. Here are a few defining characteristics of guerilla marketing:

1. Guerilla marketing is…a low-budget way to spread the word about products or services by arranging an unusual stunt in an unexpected public space. These kinds of stunts are apt to stick in viewers’ minds, create conversation, and generate buzz. Recent examples include the increasingly popular crowd stunts (such as the one mentioned above) which occur in train stations, shopping malls, and airports. Less extreme variants include marketing in quads at college campuses or advertising on street vendors—simply putting your message in an unpredicted spot to make the public take notice.

2. Guerilla marketing is…also called viral marketing, nontraditional marketing, unconventional marketing, and modern marketing. So there’s a good chance you already know what it is, just by a different name. Don’t worry, it still smells as sweet—and works just as well.

3. Guerilla marketing is…being used more and more as marketing agencies, both large and small, discover the monetary benefits of thinking outside the box. Especially in this downturn economy, guerilla marketing proves itself to be as cost-effective as it is efficient—if you know how to do it right. Helpful hint: research what hasn’t worked in guerilla marketing before you research how to do it. That will keep you from many pitfalls along the way as you plan your strategy.

4. Guerilla marketing…can be used as part of a larger campaign, or independently. Often, when guerilla marketing is used alongside other means of advertising, it’s being used to familiarize a product or service with its customers, so that when they encounter the opportunity to buy, they already feel familiar with the brand or concept. Alternately, when guerilla marketing is being used as a sole marketing outlet, its purpose is to create intrigue and generate hype—this is often done when introducing a new concept. Clever marketers can make consumers want something before they even know what it is!

5. Guerilla marketing is…as addressable as you want it to be. Large-scale guerilla marketing endeavors can be geo-targeted—it creates a lot of noise and notice in whatever location it takes place, but without the ability to accurately target demographics (that is, it hits its key audience in addition to a lot of viewers that won’t translate into customers). However, careful, clever, smaller campaigns can target a more niche audience. For example, a walking, talking teddy bear outside of a kid’s carnival can specifically target parents and children.

6. Guerilla marketing is…exposure, for better or worse. On one hand, it’s fun to throw caution to the wind and come up with unique, risqué, off-the-wall concepts that have never been done. On the other hand, it requires a lot of brainstorming, troubleshooting, and research to come up with a truly unique idea—and to calculate the receptiveness and responsiveness that will be gained. How safe is it to invest client’s cash and base a campaign on an idea that’s never been tried or measured? Guerilla marketing is a highly inspired method that’s at its best when it’s big, daring, and bold. But remember: the bigger they are, the harder they fall—and the most striking and creative ideas may expose agencies to a lot of liability. Once launched, there’s often no going back—so make sure the payoff is worth the added risk.

Mad 4 Marketing has been creating buzz for its clients through alternative means since well before it became the trendy thing to do. We know how to market businesses of all sizes and shapes—creatively, at a low cost, and for the largest possible ROI. We like to combine guerilla marketing strategies with public relations and traditional advertising to create all-out, custom-made campaigns that hit the right marks at the right time to create a lasting impression on our clients’ future consumers.

Interested in hearing stories about some of the successful and not-so-successful guerilla marketing stunts which have recently caused a stir? Check back with the Mad 4 Marketing blog for outlandish, impressive anecdotes of guerilla marketing stunts from across the globe.