5 Grassroots Marketing Ideas to Try

Sometimes it pays to strip away all of the trendy, hype marketing trends and get back to simplified marketing. Even in today’s fast-paced society, grassroots marketing still provides powerful results that can grow virally. Learn more about how you can take advantage of grassroots marketing to improve your company’s branding and exposure.

Most businesses, regardless of their size, understand the power and importance of grassroots marketing. The key behind grassroots marketing is to connect with the community on a much simpler level by getting involved in the community and understanding what makes the community tick. If you can reach your community on a local level through grassroots marketing ideas, then you’re off to a good start.

Your grassroots marketing ideas may be as simple as hanging flyers on doors or volunteering at a local charity event. Or, it may involve viral marketing through community blogs and social networks. The key to grassroots marketing ideas, however, is to connect with the public on a more intricate level than standard advertising and marketing platforms. It’s all about getting creative and getting the word out!

  1. Consider refer-a-friend promotions

    Appeal to your current customers by offering special discounts or offers to them if they refer a friend to your business. Customers who enjoy your services or benefit from your products are sure to pass on the good word to their friends and family, so why not give them an added incentive to do so? You may send emails to all of your current customers or send them a letter, explaining the details of your refer-a-friend program. The key is to offer your current customers something of value to them so that they are more apt to pass the good word along about your business.

  2. Find online local forums and get involved

    Viral marketing is all about developing a presence in your community, and there is no better way to developing your community presence than getting your message out to your local customers. Many online local forums are visited by the community, so if you can subtly join in on these forums, you will gradually develop a better community presence.

  3. Join local networking organizations

    From local small business organizations to the chamber of commerce, there are plenty of ways to begin networking with others in your community. The colleagues in your community can be the root of some of your best business ideas. Through local business organizations, you can also begin to co-market with other businesses in the area, thereby helping one another and getting the word out about your business.

  4. Organize a charity event

    There is, perhaps, no better way to increase your business’s presence and to show the community that you are involved than to host a charity event. Charity events accomplish several things: they help local charities, provide you with the opportunity to meet members of the community, and increase your community presence, which of course, is the idea behind grassroots marketing efforts.

  5. Consider social networks

    Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, allow local businesses to spread the good word about their business. You can upload fun and informative ideas about your business, or share useful information and topics through your viral marketing efforts, so don’t forget about the value of the Internet when developing your grassroots marketing plan.

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