Sunday, April 12, 2009

Non-conventional Street Level Marketing


In a grass roots campaign, KFC has hit the streets in its hometown of Louisville, KY to fix potholes. Once fixed, the newly smoothed over potholes are stenciled with a white chalk logo that says "Re-freshed by KFC."

While it looks like KFC is taking matters into their own hands and doing something the city should have done, it does create an air of good will. It's also a great advertising opportunity as passing motorists begin to take notice.

But all KFC did was to figure out how much money it was spending to acquire a customer the conventional way and redistributed that money in a non-conventional way.

What if, instead of spending $500 per month on radio or yellow pages advertising, you instead handed a $5 bill, with your business card stapled to it to 100 of your best prospects. You could tell them "This is a free preview of what I can help you save." I'm guessing they'll call you, but I'm also guessing you're a little too scared to try this.

Everyone wants to think outside the box, but what do you think would happen if you acted outside the box?

1 comment:

WSI Web science said...

You make a great point. The phrase "Think outside the box" is totally overused. It should be replaced with "Act outside the box." Innovative ideas won't get you very far if you don't put them to work. I am going to work on this change for my own business.