Photo by Adam Kalsey
I recently moderated a panel of local Sacramento startup founders on guerilla marketing and what we called PR hacks. How to breakthrough and get the word out without breaking the bank.
Along the way we talked about the use of faux-protests, by Salesforce.com when they launched, Oreo’s recent a cappella flash mobs across New York and heard from people on the front lines of making people learn about their business including:
- Robb Moore, CEO of ioSafe, who has made a business out of building indestructable hard drives and a career out of devising ways to show them off;
- Brett Owens, CEO and founder of both Chrometa and LeadDyno, who shared his methods for getting the most out of a trade show experience without blowing budget on a booth;
- Beth Dodson, co-founder of HomeZada, who uses partnerships to help get the word out;
- Alex Lowe, CEO of iSnap, who has created a product that itself is intrinsically guerilla and are now placed in cool places all over the US; and
- Aaron Klein, CEO of Riskalyze, who pivoted from his initial customer target and marketing plan and now spends a lot of time using web-based guided tours and face to face meetings to close deals.
The whole panel runs about an hour and can be viewed on the Social Media Club Sacramento channel on Ustream. if you don’t want to watch the whole thing here’s a few tips from the panelists:
- Sure, it’s fun to blow things up, but if you are going to do a stunt make sure it maps back to what you are trying to show about your product;
- If you can’t be good, be really, really bad. Example, don’t go halfway at a trade show. Stand out, at either end of the spectrum;
- If you’re measuring, don’t be afraid to try something risky. If you see a positive result, do it again; and
- Be a source of information for reporters before you ask them to write about you.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: aaron klein, alexanderlowe, alexlowe, beth dodson, brett owens, chrometa, elizabeth dodson, guerillamarekting, guerillamarketing, hackingpr, homezada, iosafe, isnap, josh morgan, leaddyno, riskalyze, robbmoore, smcsac, socialmedia club sacramento | 1 Comment »
