Imagine I write you a check for $1300. Could you turn that money into 76,324,332 people watching a video that you created? Could you capitalize on the awareness, attention and traffic for your brand.
Melissa Coker, founder of Wren, a small indy clothing company developed the viral video that was a promotion to help drive awareness and attention to her brand. With practically no money, they arrived at an emotional and compelling idea that was powered by social sharing.
The simple idea: Imagine 10 people meeting 10 other people and kissing for the first time.
The catch: They would all be wearing clothes by Wren, Melissa’s company.
The video was her way, along with the film maker Tatia Palleva of showing off a clothing collection instead of a traditional ad to promote her brand. The kissers are both actors and friends who were part of this short video. All were unpaid and the $1300 went to rent the space where they taped the kisses.
The Lessons:
- Connect with your audience emotionally. This video doesn’t act like an ad but an experience.
- Simple ideas, when they hit a vein, are powerful.
- Marketing has changed and you can’t expect advertising to be the only tool in the toolkit. It can help but sometimes at great cost and risk. Only $1300 was at risk with this idea.
- The playing field is leveled by the ability to get a big idea to spread. Take advantage and don’t hesitate to experiment. Watch out big companies.
- Don’t clutter your video with a salesy message. Get credit, raise awareness and drive interest in your website/blog but do it with a gentle touch.
- Traffic will follow. Of course only a small percentage of the visitors will be buying customers. But imagine how much traffic was generated to Melissa’s site. She indicated that sales significantly increased which sounds like an understatement.
- The number of visitors to Wren’s site are astounding but the real benefit is if you can make your target audience gain awareness of your brand through a compelling, low-cost connection that is entertaining and hooks them emotionally.
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