Back to Grass Roots: Grassroots Marketing Ideas Your Business Can Try
When people talk about marketing today, they primarily talk about digital marketing. After all, people spend so much time online today that a digital presence is an important opportunity to catch customers’ eyes. It is far from the only marketing strategy that can help your business be successful, though. Grassroots marketing is one of the forgotten gems that too many practices and companies have left out of their strategies.
What is Grassroots Marketing?
To be broad, grassroots marketing is all about word of mouth. The purpose is to generate organic conversations about your brand. To be more precise, true grassroots marketing creates word of mouth by targeting a small group of people to start. Essentially, the idea is that you tell your message to a select group of people who have a lot of contacts. Those people start spreading the message to their own network, and some of those connections will pass the message on further so it continues to grow.
In today’s digital world, social media plays a powerful role in grassroots marketing. It is a medium that allows people to share content and spread it from person to person in a hurry. However, grassroots marketing can still be successful without social media involved as well.
Why Does Grassroots Marketing Work?
It’s no secret that most consumers do not enjoy ads. They have found countless ways to filter ads out of their lives, from online ad blockers to commercial-free streaming services. Grassroots marketing bypasses all this. People are getting recommendations from friends they trust, not spammy messages from companies that are trying to sell to them.
In particular, grassroots marketing works best in industries that require a lot of trust from customers. For example, when someone chooses a healthcare provider, they need to have a high level of trust for that provider before they become a patient. That buying choice has far higher stakes than, for instance, buying a pair of jeans. When someone is hearing about a provider from a trusted friend, they are more likely to act on the advice than they would be if they heard about it from the provider themselves.
Examples of Grassroots Marketing Ideas You Can Use
If you are trying to use grassroots marketing for your business, the possibilities are endless. It is all about finding ways to generate a buzz. Consider these possible ideas.
Invest in a Video That Goes Viral
It seems like every day there are dozens of new viral videos that are making the rounds on social media. While many of those videos are simple, amusing clips of daily life, some of them are well-crafted videos from brands that will benefit from the word-of-mouth grassroots marketing that it generates.
One fun example is the low-budget “commercial” made by FurKids, an Atlanta-based animal shelter, in 2016. It’s silly jokes brought in national attention, and today the YouTube video has over 5.5 million views. While we can’t attest to FurKids’ method, a way to spread this video even further would be to send it to the organization’s followers and to promote it on social media to people who have pets or love animals. Those are the people most likely to spread it.
Get Charitable
Another helpful way to use grassroots marketing is to use it to spread the word of your charitable efforts. Get involved with a local charity, such as by hosting a fundraiser with them or sponsoring another type of program with them. Spread the word to people who support similar causes. When they hear that you are giving to a cause that is near and dear to their hearts, they’ll be more likely to support your business themselves and they will also tell their friends to do the same.
Grassroots marketing has been a successful form of marketing for decades, and it continues to work well for businesses in every industry today. If you want to bring in more grassroots efforts in your marketing strategy, our experts can help. Call McCauley Marketing Services to schedule a meeting and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more useful tips.