If you’re a small business owner, you’ll have thought about advertising at some point.
When it comes to marketing ideas for your small business, you may be forced to think outside of the box. Not having a multi-million dollar budget doesn’t mean you can’t get smart and creative about your ads.
In fact, some of the worlds greatest brands have gone about advertising their brand without spending any money at all. (Albeit, their creative advertising agencies probably charged them a fortune to come up with the idea)
Take Durex for instance. Conveying the message of safe sex is always a challenge, and there’s no easy way to say it. So why not just bite the bullet and get the message out there, in a comical way. It’s inoffensive and brings a smile to most people’s faces.
But if you’re a one man/woman business with no marketing team and no ideas, then where do you go from here?
Start thinking on a focus – what exactly is it that you want to convey? Delta Dental wanted people to think ‘deeper’ when it came to visiting your dentist and created a series of teeth crafted into various landscapes. When it comes to gaining attention – quirky works. People like to be amused, they like to relate and they like to be surprised.
You don’t really have to rely on huge advertising agencies to come up with ideas like this. Services like 99 Designs offer an easy solution to throwing out a brief into the world. You write the brief, send it off to the community and you get tons of ideas back. You pick the winner and pay them. Giving designers inspiration is also a must, show them ideas of ads you’ve liked.
If you’re trying to gain attention socially – then give people something fun and interesting for their day. People access social networks to have fun and break free. So give them something that will enlighten their day. CreativeHaus for instance showcases good design ideas from around the world that will grab people’s attention and get them sharing. Anything that can get your name out there will help!
Below are a list of some of our favorite ‘Guerrilla’ style marketing campaigns, from the local car dealership to an HBO prime time show.
We’ll start with this Audi dealership in Santa Monica. Soon after launching this ad, BMW indeed played their move.
The picture above went viral, being shared thousands of times on social media sites around the Globe. What happened next didn’t garner the same amount of attention, but nevertheless was interesting to see two competitors battling side by side in a comical manner.
In a surprise and what would hope a final move, BMW ended the affair by launching a blimp above the billboards as there was simply no more space. The last effort was orchestrated by an advertising agency. All of this from one small local dealership ad.
We can’t confirm whether a member of the public shattered this window, or DreamWorks!
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