What’s trickier than identifying the who, what and where of your business? Consumer behavior!
Building a marketing strategy is challenging because the way your audience consumes content can change so much over time. This is difficult no matter the size of your business or the length of time your company has been around. Heritage brands often struggle to stay relevant because their target market has changed tremendously. On the other hand, newer, smaller brands have an even bigger problem mapping their content marketing strategy since they don’t have enough history from which they can extract patterns. How can brands consistently gain trust and stay relevant?
One smart marketing strategy to help businesses stay on top is grassroots marketing. According to HubSpot, “Grassroots marketing is a strategy where brands create content that’s highly targeted to a niche or specific audience. The goal is to reach a target audience with content that inspires them to amplify and share your message. It’s like word-of-mouth marketing x10.”
This is a holistic type of marketing that focuses on building relationships with customers and then leveraging those relationships to promote your business, rather than simply trying to sell them a product or service. This can range from influencer marketing to content creation and public relations. It is not a new concept, but it can help you with branding that will create a loyal customer base more likely to return in the future.
How Do I Start My Grassroots Marketing Campaign?
Note that the key piece of an effective grassroots marketing campaign is the content that is created. This content is generated by collaborating with influencers and the media or by producing your own assets. Before you begin work on a campaign, keep in mind the following five tips to enforce this content marketing strategy for your business.
- Define your goals
When creating content for a grassroots marketing campaign, it’s important to first define your goals. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to increase your social media engagement? Would you like to promote a new product or service? Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can identify your target audience and create content that resonates with them.
The key to grassroots marketing is tapping into a specific community or group of consumers who identify with your brand. This is where going back to the “who, what and why” of your business comes into play.
One of the brands I’ve worked with has skateboarders and artists as their target market. Their goal is to communicate that they support creative expression in any form, no matter how unconventional it may be. That goal was central in planning the brand content for social media platforms, which brings us to the next tip.
- Tell their story
Your grassroots marketing content should be engaging and authentic to encourage your audience to share them.
Your content should tell a story that is interesting, informative, authentic and engaging. To do this, you may want to feature key personalities within your industry or target your customers’ community. The goal is to produce pieces of content that are high in quality and will help you capture the attention of your target audience, thus encouraging them to share your content.
Another way of telling your customers’ stories is by encouraging them to create user-generated content around your brand. This will not only improve your overall engagement but will also increase your brand credibility. Consumers love to know that when they start engaging with a brand there are real people behind the products or services being offered.
- Get social!
Getting social is an important part of any content marketing strategy, and customers love to search for various brands online. Boost your visibility by sharing your materials on any social media platform where your market is — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or even BeReal! You can use hashtags and tagging to reach an even wider audience.
With the great power of getting your content published comes the great responsibility of constantly engaging with your audience and customers. As Buffer explains, “Social media posts with more active and thoughtful interactions will get more reach.” This doesn’t mean to mindlessly like and reply to comments and messages — instead, keep each response thoughtful and genuine. Your fans will definitely appreciate this gesture — I know I do when the brands I follow acknowledge me!
- Collaborate with influencers and endemic media
When creating your grassroots content marketing strategy, consider teaming up with digital creators and endemic media to boost engagement and effectively reach your target audience.
According to a recent study by Hootsuite, the key to unlocking online communities is in the hands of digital creators — and with great reason!
Influencer marketing is certainly helpful in building credibility and strengthening your branding and reach. Find and build relationships with influencers in your industry and community who can help promote your content, and offer them content (or let them create their own) that they can share with their followers.
Since grassroots marketing is a holistic approach to your brand’s marketing strategy, reaching out to endemic media — that is, outfits that are native or relevant to your target market — is essential in amplifying your branding and message. Have them share the content you created or work with them to create native content on their platforms. It is best to again review your goals and 5Ws of your business to identify the best media to work with.
This active collaboration between content creators and endemic media will definitely help you to understand your audience and customers better and to build a strong brand affinity.
- Analyze your results
All content and no return on investment makes a dull brand — do you agree? Gone are the days when brands and businesses were only concerned about producing content and then leaving it at that. Over the years, marketing has matured way past content quality and has grown into knowing how to set digital KPIs and quantify them through sales.
After your content has been shared and collaborations have taken place, take a look at the analytics to see how they performed. Use this data to adjust your strategy and content for future campaigns. By analyzing your results, you can fine-tune your approach and create even more successful content in the future.
Benefits Of Grassroots Marketing
How will a grassroots marketing strategy help you to grow your business? Take a look at the following for three key benefits:
- It allows you to focus your content marketing efforts on a specific audience. This can be especially helpful if you have a limited budget or if you’re selling a product or service that requires a high degree of trust and loyalty.
- By working with influencers and the media, you can reach a larger audience through relevant public relations tactics than you would be able to through traditional marketing channels.
- By focusing on content that is relevant and useful to your target audience, you can build a strong relationship with them that will last long after they make a purchase.
No matter how big or small your business is, it’s essential to have a marketing strategy in place to adapt to the ever-changing consumer demographics. Consumer behavior changes so rapidly these days that it can be difficult to keep up. By focusing on a grassroots marketing strategy that encompasses content marketing, public relations and influencer marketing, you can stay relevant regardless of consumer type. This also creates a loyal base more likely to return in the future and strengthens relationships within your industry and communities.
We’re Here To Get Your Grassroots Marketing Started!
Three Girls Media has a team of marketing experts who can get you started with your grassroots marketing campaigns. If you need help putting together a marketing strategy that best suits your needs, don’t hesitate to contact us for a complimentary consultation — we would be happy to assist you! Get in touch with us today.
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Sign up for a complimentary consultation during December and receive an Annual Marketing Planning Guide valued at $475! We offer a 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO, and can answer your questions and discuss your specific marketing needs - no strings attached. Call 408-218-2391 or contact us today to arrange your consultation!