(My session given at Columbus Startup Week)
Big ideas with small budgets. It's kinda my thing. I'll take you through a few case studies from my career where guerrilla marketing tactics were used and proven successful. And you'll get some takeaways from each project that you can apply to your own business or marketing challenges. Plus, a sneak peek at my favorite exercise, by one of my favorite authors. If you want the whole peek at this presentation, and more of the WHY behind my case studies, hit me up. I'd love to nerd out with ya. Thanks.
3. CASE STUDIES
Big ideas. Small budgets.
1. Unconventional business card
2. Guerrilla clearance sale
3. Scrappy, environmental design
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
4. Strategy
Give them something intriguing
enough to open and different
enough to hang onto.
Challenge
People get hundreds of business
cards at the SXSW conference.
How do we make sure ours
doesn’t end up in the trash?
Longstride Scroll
Make an impression. Leave an impression.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
5. zig when they zag. and all that.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
6. ROI
• Skype meeting with Head of Philanthropy at Zappos
• New biz connections and collabs
• Leads and easy follow-up convos after SXSW
• Social friends in the U.K. and all over the country
“This was the only business card I
remembered and thought about after I
got home.”
- Jim Linn, Zappos/Delivering Happiness
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
7. Budget
• $85 for stamp and wax
• $10 for parchment paper
• $3 for candles
• $32 for t-shirt ruined by wax
Total: $130
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
9. TAKEAWAYS
• Know your story, understand your audience, study the situation.
• What’s the first impression my brand makes?
• What’s the first chapter to my story? What do people think or
feel when they come to my website? Instagram page? Shop?
• What can I do differently that everyone else takes for granted?
• What little details and touchpoints can I button up RIGHT NOW?
• How can I ensure my biz card, email, etc. isn’t forgotten?
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
10. Every single touchpoint is an
opportunity to build your brand’s
reputation and start a
conversation. Don’t waste any.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
11. Strategy
Make a spectacle of the sale, almost
like a carnival where people play games
and win prizes. But interactively, on social.
So, disrupt people’s feeds in a fun way.
Challenge
Quickly sell a bunch of stuff. The
weird, old and over-inventoried
stuff. And do it organically.
So how do you stop people from
scrolling?
HOMAGE Wheel of Deals
Give people a real reason to come back.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
14. ROI
• 80% increase in sales, YOY
• 2,000 avg comments per hour/video
• Double the avg organic reach and impressions
• 500 + views per hour/per video
• 40% increase store traffic YOY
• Excited a lot of people and ruined a lot of productivity
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
15. Budget
$50 - wheel construction
$150 - wheel slices
$50 - kazoos, confetti, balloons, pies
$20 - crystal ball
$30 - giant stuffed bear
$0 - ringmaster’s outfit (yeah, we had one)
$0 - video production, talent, cameras, editing
Total: $400
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
16. That’s fun.
But, I don’t own a Ringmaster’s outfit, and
what am I gonna do with a giant wheel?
17. TAKEAWAYS
• What sort of freebies can I offer?
• How can I lighten up my brand and message a bit?
• How can I use technology to enhance my idea?
• Should I get the new iPhone X (answer: yes)?
• How can I gamify my services?
• How can I stop traffic or incentivize someone to come in?
• What can I do to make my customers feel heard?
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
18. People love free shit. And they
like to be entertained.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
19. Strategy
Build everything by hand. Instead of
making it feel authentic, let’s just
make it. Period.
Give people a platform and an incentive
to speak on our behalf.
Challenge
Take a startup concept from a
carryout window in OTE to a full-
fledged restaurant in the North
Market. While maintaining brand
authenticity.
And spread the word. Quickly.
Hot Chicken Takeover
Get people talking. And sharing.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
21. ROI
• Sold out lines starting Day 1
• Extended hours, Week 3
• Extended days, Month 2
• Endless customer testimonials providing
constant social proof, content and ideas.
• Just celebrated 1,000 Yelp Review, Year 4
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
22. Budget
$100 - plywood
$120 - paint for menus and pallets
$200 - vinyl art
$75 - chalkboard paint
$15 - red electrical tape
$100 - msc. materials and parts
$0 - cardboard
$0 - pallets “borrowed” from Hilliard warehouse
Total: $610
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
23. Man, I knew I should have
gone to that other 2 o’clock
session,ugh!
24. HOT CHICKEN TAKEAWAYS
• Get your hands dirty. Like, real dirty.
• Don’t worry about being perfect. Just ship it and iterate.
• Why would people take the time to review my business?
• What’s the authentic element of my brand that I
can embrace, lean into and talk about more?
• How do I incentivize sharing?
• How can I create demand through scarcity?
• What’s the one thing I want people to tell their friends?
• How can I make people feel more welcome?
(see what I did there?)
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
25. Be intentional. Be real. And don’t
even try to be perfect. Perfect is
boring.
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
26. And now, for a less-than-smooth transition because I thought this next
part would be really useful information for you guys but I didn’t know
exactly how to segue way into it, but, trust me, this is good shit and I
use it all the time and it’s basically cheap because it’s free and it’s
different than how most people think and market so in that sense, it
could be considered “guerrilla strategy” I suppose. But, whatever, let’s
get on with it because now with all this time I probably could have
thought of a better way to bridge the two, uggghhh. Sorry. Click next.
31. • Don’t be a turd.
• Surprise & Delight customers.
• Read every single comment/review.
• Barter (I did print ads for legal docs).
• Create ambassadors.
• Find influencers.
• Always be producing content.
• Collab with people in town.
• Get an intern.
• Try stuff. Make stuff. Find stuff. Break stuff.
• Show your personality through IG stories.
• Own something and blog/vlog/podcast about it.
• Network your ass off; buy a lot of coffee.
• Write handwritten thank-you notes. You get enough emails.
• Pick 1 or 2 social media channels and be present.
• Have amazing customer service. You can’t afford not to.
• Join the Chamber.
• Go to conferences.
• Invest in good biz cards (don’t steal my scroll idea, k?)
• Stop perfecting, start producing.
More Cheap Tricks
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
32. Message before the medium.
(Don’t think of it as marketing.)
Anthony Trimpe
Cbus Startup Week 2018
33. I probably talked too much and we’re out of
time, but any questions?
Hit me up (or give me a S/O) if you wanna:
anthony@wearelongstride.com
@trimpewords
LinkedIn works, too.
