Street marketing

Street marketing is marketing or promoting products or services in an unconventional way in public places. The main characteristic of street marketing is that the campaigns are run exclusively on the streets. Ambient marketing uses other public places, such as shopping centers. Unlike typical public marketing campaigns that utilize billboards, street marketing involves the application of multiple techniques and practices in order to establish direct contact with the customers. The goals of this interaction include causing an emotional reaction in potential customers, and getting people to remember brands in a different way. Street marketing is marketing or promoting products or services in an unconventional way in public places. The main characteristic of street marketing is that the campaigns are run exclusively on the streets. Ambient marketing uses other public places, such as shopping centers. Unlike typical public marketing campaigns that utilize billboards, street marketing involves the application of multiple techniques and practices in order to establish direct contact with the customers. The goals of this interaction include causing an emotional reaction in potential customers, and getting people to remember brands in a different way. Street marketing was mentioned by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing. Street marketing has adapted from the simple use of advertising on the streets to developing inventive ways to promote businesses. A method used by many businesses is the distribution of fliers, using personal contact to deliver a message directly into the customer's hands. There are many other techniques to catch the attention of customers, such as billboards, ads on public transport vehicles, etc. The first case study about street marketing was published at Harvard Business School in November 2014 (written by Lena Goldberg, Marcel Saucet and Christine Snively). Street marketing is more a non-conventional media used by startups and big companies. USA Book News conferred its 2015 Best American 'Business: Marketing & Advertising' book award to a book on the subject. Street marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing, which is about investing time, energy and imagination into a business campaign. Guerrilla marketing is popular among large businesses, as it uses low-cost unconventional communications which can provide a higher impact for a given investment. The use of viral marketing and engagement marketing help to heighten this impact. Guerrilla marketing exploits services which already exist, such as social networking sites, to create brand awareness. This could be spread by word of mouth or by exploiting social media. Viral messages appeal to individuals who already make high use of social networking, and because the messages do not look like traditional advertising the target audience is less likely to ignore them. Guerrilla marketing targets those who are more likely to share the message with others. Street marketing has the characteristic of being non-conventional. However, unlike other forms of guerrilla marketing, it is limited to the streets or public places, and does not make use of other media or processes to establish communication with customers. The goal of street marketing is to create experiences that engage the target demographic while meeting the expectations of the advertiser. One technique is to place advertisements such as billboards and static ads in unexpected or random locations, such as down alleys or behind large buildings. Although the ad itself is conventional, the unexpected placement is intriguing and people may take an extra moment to ponder the ad. Street marketing may also use brand ambassadors (typically of the target demographic) who give away samples and coupons to customers that stop and take time to answer questions. Giving customers a choice of interacting with the products makes a stronger impact on purchasing decisions. Street marketing can be used as a general term encompassing six principal types of activities: