Undercover marketing

Undercover marketing, also known as buzz or stealth marketing, is a marketing technique that focuses on “hidden” marketing activities. With undercover marketing, a representative of the company uses or talks about a certain product or service in places where target consumers congregate as if a spontaneous activity and not a planned marketing effort. The target audience does not realize they are being marketed to and the hope is that the efforts will generate a buzz and get people talking excitedly about the product or service.

Benefits of Undercover Marketing

It can be difficult to execute a successful undercover marketing campaign, but if you’re able to pull it off, here are some of the positive results you can hope for:·    

 Reaching potential customers who are typically cynical of advertising·      

Generating a grassroots buzz that has the potential to go viral·      

Giving customers the feeling that they “discovered” a valuable product or service

While this kind of marketing typically takes creativity and planning, it can involve less financial investment, which is a huge benefit, especially for small businesses.

Some ways you can use undercover marketing in your business include:·      Having someone, other than yourself, post positive reviews for your company on various industry websites·     

 Ghostwriting a blog post on the success a company has experienced from working with you and having it published on a popular industry blog (provided it’s factual)·     

 Enlisting the help of current clients to vocally recommend your services in spontaneous ways·      

Creating social media personalities to casually plug your services during organic conversations