What’s new with small business and digital marketing? I’m glad you asked! Here are a few things people are talking about it this week.
Marketing With… Pokemon?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’ve probably heard a little something about the new Pokemon Go game.
The idea is the same as Pokemon has always been (that is, to catch ‘em all) but now players venture to real locations to find and catch the little monsters, causing a huge increase of foot traffic in certain areas. The game quickly gained viral success and marketers haven’t been far behind in thinking up ways to capitalize on the game’s popularity.
Small businesses can tap into the trend in a number of ways including: (1) investing in ‘lures’ to drop on Pokestops near your brick & mortar, (2) keeping an eye out in the game and promoting like crazy on social if a Pokemon pops up near your location, and (3) providing resources for players’ drained smartphones, inviting them in to recharge.
ZipCar Gives New Life to Branded Vehicles
The first vehicle was allegedly wrapped for commercial purposes by Milton Hershey in 1900. Since then, the popularity of advertising on cars and other motor vehicles has risen and fallen. We still see plenty of branded trucks and vans, but it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when we think of ROI-driven marketing.
ZipCar is changing that. With the help of Wrapify, they’re launching a campaign in Washington, D.C. and Seattle that actually tracks how many people see ads wrapped around cars. It works by wrapping sensors around the car, in addition to the branding. By combining the car’s location with data from other sources, they can tell how many nearby cars see the message.
It’s unclear how affordable this kind of car wrapping may be, but it’s a cool prospect that could avail itself as a new way for small business owners to get the word out and monitor their investment.
Small Businesses and Snapchat Geofilters
If you’re not familiar with Snapchat geofilters, they’re essentially the same as an ordinary photo filter, with a design that overlays a photo. The unique part about geofilters is that you can only use when you’re in a particular location.
Recently, Snapchat has allowed anyone to create a custom filter. That means restaurants, music festivals, and other businesses and events have started to invest in their own filters. Even Gary Vaynerchuck has jumped on the trend!
Creating and uploading a custom geofilter isn’t free — about $5 per 20,000 square feet per hour — but it’s still a great option for small businesses to boost word-of-mouth marketing and get your brand name in front of more eyeballs. If your target customers are between 18 and 25 years old, it could prove a great investment.
What do you think of these emerging marketing trends? Ready to jump into any of them?
