Most of us equate marketing our sweeping service businesses with traditional tactics—websites, magazine ads, yellow pages listings, business cards, truck decals, and direct mail.  Some or all of these techniques may occupy a spot in your marketing mix, but it is also important to think outside the box when you are prospecting for new customers.

At 1-800-SWEEPER, we are never afraid to try new techniques to attract new partners.  If you have been with us since our humble origins, you may recall the NPE trailer conference room, the Florida sunset yacht cruise, or our mobile billboard in Vegas.  Some of these guerrilla marketing campaigns worked better than others, but we have never lost sight of our vision—growing the only nationwide alliance of sweeping service companies.

There all kinds of ways to use unorthodox tactics to quote your company and brand.  Most of us have received YouTube links from friends that end up going viral.  Good examples of these types of campaigns include the Geico Hump Day and the Dollar Shave Club Videos.  When a friend unexpectedly shares a link to a viral videos, you watch—and then you talk about the content with a friend.  Delivering clever content in an unexpected manner or place creates a viral buzz.

Those of you who attended NPE last month—and visited the men’s room—may have seen our “messaging” showing up at a time and place that was least expected:

Will we land multiple new members as a direct result of our creative guerrilla marketing tactics at NPE?  It may be too soon for a definitive answer to this question, but one thing is certain:  folks took notice.  We are often tempted to equate success or failure of a marketing idea based on quantifiable results, and in this particular instance, chances are good we will land new partners.  That said, even without a bump in membership, this campaign sends a message that we are willing to try new ideas to grow our organization.  It also demonstrates our commitment to remaining a market leader in our industry.

Have you successfully implemented any guerilla marketing techniques to promote your business that you are willing to share?  If so, please contact Carolyn Bell and we’ll make arrangements to share your ideas with the rest of the group.