Grassroots Marketing is purposefully targeting a high niche group of people to persuade that group to propagate your message then organically. The defining concept behind the marketing of grassroots is one of audience and intent. To succeed, Grassroots marketing depends heavily on social media and virality. Since encouraging people to share a story is an idea behind this type of campaign, social media is crucial to make this happen.
Targeting
Targeting people or groups, we identify as influential, then count on them to use their influence to spread the word about our product or idea. For example, a book author might plan to send free books to Amazon’s top reviewers in hopes that they’ll post favorable reviews about his/her books on their platforms, which will then attract more readers, and buyers, to the book. Similarly, a restaurant might give away discount coupons to frequent diners to get their friends and family to that restaurant.
Costs
Since we target our marketing efforts to a small group, grassroots marketing often costs less than other marketing strategies. It often features low-cost and free campaigns, such as posting on social media or message boards, holding giveaways and contests, etc.
Ingredients for a successfully Grassroots marketing campaign
Target emotions: Powerful emotions and storytelling will help drive your brand engagement and grow your content’s organic spread.
Example: WestJet campaign during Christmas
Leverage the Trend: Hot trendy topics help the campaign to get virality and spread the content like fire.
Pull a cool stunt: “Out of the box ideas” can create cool content that makes the campaign shareworthy.
Start a movement: Sometimes, all it takes is a few brave souls to share something that starts a worldwide trend.
For example, the Ice bucket Challenge was started by Pete Frates, which saw participation from great leaders and celebrities like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc. this movement helped ALS Association triple their research budget for two new drugs for clinical trials.
Support a cause: The desire to help – and be seen helping – a noble cause can give grassroots marketing campaigns a significant push, so rallying behind a charity or advocacy organization can be an excellent way to spread the word about your business and provide essential support to charities and organizations that rely on donations to help those who need help most.
Example: The decentralized campaign, which was observed after the Boston Marathon bombing and the #BostonStrong hashtag, began organically. It benefited the One Fund immensely, raising more than $72 million in donations and allowing the organization to disperse more than $2 million to each of the victims’ families.
Flirt with Controversy on Social Media: While most of us try to stay away from controversy, with your brand at the center, it can create a social frenzy.
Example: Controversial campaign by Dove (Real beauty)
Enjoyed the concept? Learn other concepts like Guerilla Marketing and Wi-Fi Marketing