Explosive revenue growth at little or no cost –is it possible?
Posted by Brian Snider
In today’s tough economy there are still ways for creative marketers to achieve remarkable results without having to make a major investment —here are two examples:
- Social media – YouTube: Blendtec, a manufacturer of high-end blending machines is one of several great examples of how this medium can yield incredible results –in fact it achieved over a 20% growth in revenue from a $ 300 investment!!! The skinny is this– the new marketing director was amazed at how the blender could grind up wood in the testing center and thought it would be great to show the world a demo of it’s power. With that, he thought of putting “extreme blending” videos on the web. Initially they put the videos up on their website and linked with Digg. Then on to YouTube. Then the explosion took place– 6 million views in the first week! Soon fans on YouTube were suggesting things to grind up –such as the iPhone …and Blendtec obliged. The result: over 60 million views plus appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with Jay Leno.
- Partnerships. Here’s where you really need to think out of-the-box. Customers, suppliers, other organizations in your industry, etc. all have their own market reach that could be tapped with little or no cost. Here’s an example…
The marketing director of a large magazine approached one of their retail advertisers with this promotional concept: promote a sweepstakes contest that would drive the consumer to the magazines’ website to register for a free e-newsletter and to enter into the sweeps contest. The advertiser agreed and paid for the floor banners that were place in the isles of their retail stores. The publisher gave the advertiser exclusive sponsorship and appropriate online exposure. The results: Several thousand folks signed up for the free e-newsletter that has become a revenue generator for the publisher. The retail advertiser increased it’s brand awareness. The revenue generated from this campaign was not divulged, but regardless the cost to the publisher was ZERO since the web work was produced in-house.
Do you have any such stories? Have a great day!
Brian