I'm fascinated with grassroots campaigns...you know, ones that try to develop interest at a local level before expanding out regionally/nationally/globally. Think political campaigns and charities. When I was in high school, I handed out flyers door-to-door on behalf of my friend's dad who was running for a local political office. I learned first hand that this approach is brutal...you have to have a very thick skin to be able to take a consistent level of rejection. But it's also effective. Even if the individual rejects you outright, the goal of improving name recognition and visibility is still achieved through the personal, one-on-one interaction.
This past week, I was at my physical therapist's office when a young pimply kid in a jacket and tie walked in representing the Oakland A's and (quite eloquently I might add) was trying to sell tickets to upcoming games at a hefty discount. He didn't make a sale, but he got everyone in the office thinking about going to the ballpark. Pretty good.
That experience got me thinking back to my days in the shoe business (and no, I didn't sell ladies shoes Al Bundy style). I had an amazing internship during college working in the biomechanics lab at shoemaker Converse. The beauty of the job wasn't necessarily the work (conducting hair-pulling, repetitive procedures to find the breaking point of materials and shoe components). It was the daily interactions with product designers and sales and marketing folks that made it fascinating. One of the insights that a Sales Rep revealed to me was the way in which Nike approached their own grassroots strategy. This could just be hearsay, but supposedly Nike would target "cool/influential" kids at high schools around the country, giving them (for free) the latest sneakers and clothing to parade around. If it's true, it's a brilliant strategy...and you can see how the "cool" kids could have an immediate and positive impact on sales of those same items in that region. The thought of adults stalking high schools to pick out those influencers seems a bit creepy...but effective.
You can read about some of Nike's official grassroots campaigns on their website. They are doing some really amazing things, and you can foresee how strategic programs at a local level can lead to long-term brand loyalty in expanding markets. Quite brilliant indeed...and they make a difference to the lives of lots of folks at the same time. But how do you translate this type of strategy to the less glamorous enterprise software/consulting marketing process? It's not easy...especially if your brand isn't a household name.
Our best successes have actually been quite similar to Nike's programs, but with a much different audience and eventual reach. For many of our clients, we sponsor social outings, happy hours, game nights, etc. We invite folks we know and ask them to bring a bunch of folks we don't. The result is always the same...a good time and personal interactions that improve the visibility of our brand and our ability to expand the opportunities within that client. Seasoned Sales Reps and Account Managers implement these techniques all of the time. I call it the "wedge". With new clients, we often times start with a small test project, during which we'll do pretty much anything to ensure its success and build trust with that client. Then we start a grassroots strategy to increase visibility across more and more divisions...wedging ourselves into more and more opportunities.
This approach takes time and expensive resources...it's a long slog, as is most grassroots movements. So how do you scale it? With tons of local meetups, meetings like the TEDx conferences, industry events, hackathons, social clubs, etc. this is actually a very exciting time to take your grassroots strategy to the next level. It takes dedication and the right personalities, though, since you can't be the upfront salesman in most of these settings. Watching Mad Men last week, Roger Sterling "stalked" the airport waiting areas for car industry heavy hitters that he might make a personal connection with. It's pretty much the same approach...although few can pull it off like Roger...or Nike for that matter.