Zammit maintains that while he’s eager to get the T-World brand through to as many people as is possible for a small business, it’s not his brand that counts the most.
By focusing on creating a piece of enjoyable content that will, hopefully, be spread across different media outlets, Zammit is attempting grow the size of his potential market, rather than merely plug his own brand.
“The campaign video has high-profile people from the industry featuring in it, lending it credibility, as well as unveiling the new look of the magazine… (but) the campaign is more about getting people interested in t-shirts again, with only very little actual T-World branding on it,” he says.
Naked’s Ferrier says: “Media is often more likely to pick up a story if you’re a SME – they’ll back an innovative underdog.”
“You’re also more likely to be able to respond nimbly and quickly, and create more topical and timely communications.”
“The opportunities are limited only by your imagination and creativity, and the resources it takes to develop the idea and carry the activity out.”
Avoiding the slip-ups
But the the door swings both ways. Growing burger chain Grill’d got itself into trouble over a “2 for 1” campaign that involved a print ad it placed as an “O Week” promotion in a university newspaper for students in Victoria.
The promotion itself went viral, with friends emailing it to each other and printing out copies. The problem was that the Grill’d marketing team neglected to add the proper T&Cs that would restrict the coupons to the print version only.
When they attempted to retract the offer, the public lashed out, claiming, quite rightly, that the chain was penalising its consumers for a mistake that it had made.
The error was compounded when its competitor Nandos took advantage of Grill’d’s situation by launching its own guerrilla tactics, offering to redeem the disaffected Grill’d customers’ vouchers for its own burgers.
While Grill’d managed to get itself out the situation by accepting the vouchers to a specified date and openly admitting its mistake, owner Simon Crowe accepted that regaining its consumer’s trust would be difficult.
“We’re not a big chain, so we can’t just ‘turn on’ an offer like this… we’ll be trying our hardest to still deliver the same burger and customer experience that (consumers) come to expect from us,” he said.
This is an example of a good marketing idea not going quite to plan, but the indication of success is how it’s dealt with at the time of crisis.
While Grill’d may have received an amount of media attention that any SME would have dreamed of, it was for the wrong reasons.
“Ultimately the success of a campaign can only be based on (answering the question): did it meet or exceed your objectives?
“The objectives could be to raise awareness, generate sales, or build the brand, or any combination thereof,” explains Ferrier.
“So for all SMEs, go for it – as long as you do activity that builds on your brand proposition.”
Pondering strategy
So think about your brand/company/product and what you want it to be linked to.
Integrate a number of platforms and don’t rely just on the print ad or billboard – allow your consumer to interact with you through social media, see you in outdoor executions and feel the incentive of seeking out your business or purchasing your product.
For example, if you’re marketing a new kind of freshly squeezed juice and want to align it with your favourite sport, get some tickets to a local game for you and your mates and go wearing some eye-catching sponsorship gear that will spruik your juice.
Post some footage and photos across your social media channels and offer some tickets as a prize.
Small incentives, done with little outlay but with clever ideas and utilising integrated marketing platforms, will no doubt raise your profile with your customers and create the attention that will, hopefully, deliver the objectives you’ve set out to achieve.
