After talking about guerrilla marketing in my last post, I was encouraged to see an article about grassroots marketing in Tuesday’s American Banker. While the terms guerrilla and grassrootsare often times used interchangeably and are considered the same by some, the article got me thinking about my perceived differences between the two.
When I hear guerrilla marketing, I think of something that happens to a group of people. On the other hand, when I hear grassroots marketing, I think of something that happens/spreads within or among a group or people. Both share the goal of building awareness and influencing people but the approach differs.
This is important because I think a lot of financial services marketers and executives are turned off when they hear guerrilla marketing. For some, it’s too aggressive, too bold, perhaps too risky. Because of this, I think many non-traditional marketing efforts are left at the drawing board in favor of traditional and safe marketing efforts like print and radio advertising.
As the American Banker article points out, grassroots marketing doesn’t necessarily mean doing something crazy. As an example, the article highlights Intermountain Community Bancorp (Sandpoint, ID), an institution that started a grassroots stimulus plan called Powered by Community where executives meet “with local leaders to identify opportunities to finance new businesses, commercial real estate projects and even worker training programs, all with the intention of stimulating growth in the communities it serves.”
The Powered by Community initiative’s online component is similar to what we’ve seen with Helping AZ from Arizona State Credit Union and From Woe to Whoa from First Independent Bank of Nevada. I’m sure we’ll see more along these lines from other institutions in the coming weeks.
The article also uses the examples of blog posts and town hall meetings as examples of grassroots tactics. The idea really just expands on the issue of having conversations with your customers (a topic we discussed previously here and here) – to include prospective customers/members and the community as a whole. And in reality, these initiaitves aren’t earth shattering or new. Nonethless they are important.
One of the keys here is identifying the local leaders; the centers of influence; the movers and shakers in the community. This is where community-based institutions may have an advantage over larger regional or national players. Targeting these people directly, as opposed to trying to reach them (and everyone else) through mass media, allows institutions to:
- Engage in two-way conversation: Consumer uncertainty can be lessened when consumers have answers to their questions. Find ways to invite questions, listen, and offer direct feedback.
- Build credibility: We have all become skeptical of advertisements. Engaging people in conversation can serve to build creditilbity – once again, it promotes a direct connection.
- Generate visbility: People pay attention to the unexpected. Remember, it doesn’t have to be crazy.
And, perhaps most importantly:
- Connect with people who have the ability to spread the word and influence others
It’s kind of like politics. Not surprisingly, the term grassroots started in the political arena.
I say all this because I think marketers will have more success proposing grassroots marketing efforts to the executive team than proposing guerrilla marketing efforts. Marketers need to be looking to leverage the unexpected and the unconventional. And in today’s marketplace, where effective marketing is critical, a grassroots approach to marketing is one way banks and credit unions can introduce non-traditional initiatives into the mix…without being too crazy or over-the-top.
