18 September 2008

Can Ambush Marketing actually Work for Online?

Ambush Marketing is a strategy used by companies to promote their brands at events without paying any sponsorship fees.

Last Sunday millions of Punities was gather in the heart of city for “Ganesh Visarjan”. Smart marketer can easily point out an opportunity for mass marketing their product or services, the rat race between mobile marketers and local Masala Supari producer’s was on the top. They had capturing each and every corner, hording and banners outside the road and sponsoring Ganesh Mandals. Idea Telecom had utilizes this opportunities and distribute free caps to devotees the caps reflecting their brand and tag line “What an idea ……..”

Ambush marketing is opportunistic. Its goal is to take advantage of situations, which allow brands/products to get extra exposure at minimal cost. Sometimes that involves going right into the lion’s den and clashing head on with a competitor who dominates the main message dissemination channels. Sometimes it requires stealth and more guerrilla-like tactics.

What marketers and anyone who wants to promote them can learn is the strategy of seeking out people-saturated public spaces (online or offline) and seeks to populate that area with your message.

Contextual relevance is also important. Selling is more natural and persuasive when it flows alongside the momentum generated by the immediate environment and current news/trends.

Can Ambush Marketing actually work for online? Let’s talk a little about ambush marketing online. Is it even possible?

Maybe. Take the example of Some people carefully monitor the upcoming stories with the most votes on digg.com or other popular social news sites and insert comments with links to their website. When the story hits the front page or gradually accumulates visibility, the well-placed links can each easily net you upwards of 1,000+ visitors.

This is a tactic that piggybacks on an existing occurrence. To do this effectively, you should constantly push news/events related to your target market and specific keyword-relevant searches on major online communities to a central location, like an RSS reader or dashboard. Monitor this repository of occurrences constantly. Or get someone to keep an eye on it.

Of course, this isn’t ambush marketing per se, but rather something that builds on the opportunistic mindset, which underlies it. The tactical principle is simple: stay in the loop and watch for openings to divert attention towards your brand. A rule of thumb: where people gather online in large numbers, you should be there with a relevant message.. ...
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