How to master street marketing | 6 ways to put your brand in front of customers

Street marketing is a way of taking your message to where your consumers are. It’s the classic disruption – you’re not limiting your messaging to billboards, TV, websites, or social media – you’re actively approaching your audience and putting faces and handshakes behind your brand.

But where do you start? Isn’t it a bit old-fashioned? If you’ve never done a street marketing campaign before it can be quite intimidating, and could almost be considered a lost art, better suited to an older world… Don’t worry.

We’ve got 6 tactics and principles you can employ to ensure you hit the street running and put your brand in front of new customers in an innovative and contemporary way.

1. Tell a story: know your campaign objectives, how your time on the street fits in, and make every interaction count

To make the most of street marketing, it’s crucial to align your campaign objectives with a compelling narrative that resonates with your target audience. You need to understand how your street activities fit into the bigger campaign picture, and make every interaction count by having engaging conversations and delivering compelling experiences that leave a lasting impression.

Your street marketing, in terms of human interactions, is a first impression, and it’s well documented that you only get one shot at those. You probably won’t get much time, so ensure that all talking points and all supporting assets get straight to the heart of your objective.

If it’s to direct foot traffic to a specific premises or location, such as within a huge stadium for a concert or a sports event, always have that destination in mind during the conversation. If it’s to act as an ambassador for a brand and educate potential customers, set your personality to charm, have compelling open sentences on the tip of your tongue, and project approachable expertise. If it’s to collect personal details or email signups, constantly analyse what approaches are working and what approaches are not. If you’re trying to tap a new market or demographic, you could well be on a fact finding mission as much as anything else. Whether an interaction is a tick in the KPIs box or a swing and a miss, always try to leave with a learning.

2. Use guerilla tactics to subvert audience expectation and make an impact

One of the most cost effective ways of making an impact is to employ guerilla marketing tactics. Ask yourself what your audience expects, and ask yourself how you can simultaneously subvert and exceed that mark.

Think eye-catching visuals, interactive installations, or unexpected street performances that can capture attention and spark curiosity. The only limit you can put on guerrilla marketing is your own creativity. With permission from building owners, you could use graffiti or street art to set a backdrop to your street marketing efforts, or you could even use reverse graffiti, where you clean an area of the pavement or sidewalk to show your logo and your message. If you’re set up at an arena or a sports venue as part of an official event – such as a sports match or a concert, the chances are you’ll have more licence to utilise your surroundings to stage your efforts, so do your research and due diligence, and put on a show.

The more inventive and on-brand your concept is, the more effective it will be.

3. Create gamified experiences to attract people to your location and immerse them in your message

People love to play. It’s how people learn, how people unwind, and oftentimes how people get to know each other.

Gamification takes all the elements of games that get people’s attention and refocuses them to specific ends. Tailoring gamified experiences that can either be scanned on a QR code and played on a smartphone, or even having purpose-use terminals to display the games on, can give you a highly immersive tool through which to get across your message and tell your part of the broader marketing campaign’s story.

Offering a gamification experience as part of your street marketing efforts can also act as an icebreaker, or even act as a beacon, attracting foot traffic and generating visible hype. You’re not saying, “Can I have your time today?” you’re inviting them to play a branded game of Pacman, or to play a Slot Machine for a chance at a prize.

Pro tip: Sometimes gamification will be the vehicle to drive your message home, and sometimes it’ll be the bait and the social lubrication to open up a conversation and generate leads. Use gamification as part of your street marketing efforts year round for the best results, and use the data you collect from each user action to develop, adjust, and improve the types of experiences you deliver.

4. Incorporate email opt-ins into your street marketing gamification experiences to collect leads

Your street marketing efforts are the top of your marketing funnel – as mentioned earlier, they’re your first impression. With gamification experiences as part of your street marketing strategy, make sure you’re using data collection forms, and make sure you’re including an email newsletter opt-in button so you can move leads further down the marketing funnel.

This is easy to do on any gamification experience you create on the Drimify platform, and can be included either before, or after the experience.

Pro tip: Make data collection easier by offering users the chance to win prizes. Instant win games, which offer an exciting quid pro quo, can be used to distribute spot prizes, which not only encourage more people to participate and submit their contact details, but can be used to distribute promotional codes which then encourage conversions deeper down the funnel.

5. Make sure to support your street marketing activities on social media

And keep updating throughout the day…

By supporting your street marketing on social media, saying something like, “Come see us at X-location,” you can use your existing audience and customers to attract more customers. There’s a known trend in retail and hospitality of a really busy place being off-putting, but a completely empty place being just as off-putting. Inviting existing customers to come say hi creates a visible and attractive “busy-ness level,” while creating extra opportunities through shares and interactions on social media for more people to learn about your brand.

If you’re able to also document the day on social media and constantly update your Instagram and Facebook stories, you can dramatically multiply the chances of your street marketing being successful (and creating shareable content to promote future street marketing efforts).

Pro tip: Include a photo booth or installation that insists by its very presence that people take a picture. Invite people to use a branded hashtag on images they share with your installation, or better yet, easily create a Photo Contest with Drimify to encourage participation and interaction, collect contact details, and source user-generated content.

Either of these concepts can be a great addition to your street marketing efforts at sporting events or concerts – occasions that at the higher levels are far more than just the performance, or the fixture.

6. Target the right location for maximum impact

To ensure your street marketing efforts have the biggest impact possible, identify high-traffic areas or popular gathering spots where your target audience frequently congregates. This shouldn’t be too difficult, as you can scope out spots ahead of time, and check any local laws or regulations pertaining to street marketing in that area. For example, if you’re marketing to students, setting up in the big park near the local university is probably a strong starting point.

By strategically positioning your street marketing efforts in the right locations, you can optimise visibility and reach, effectively increasing brand exposure and attracting the right top-of-funnel prospects who you’ll have the best chance of converting into loyal customers. If this is part of an official event at an organised site and you’re to have a specific pitch or booth, study the layout, and speak to the organisers about where you’re going to be located if you can perceive an advantage or disadvantage to specific spots.

Pro tip: Don’t confuse a busy thoroughfare or concourse for a high traffic area. You want to be visible and hard to miss, not an obstruction and impossible to miss.

A misjudgement like this puts you in the position of the empty store next to the super busy store with a gigantic queue that completely blocks off the front door. The people that actually would have been interested in visiting you could either miss you completely, or be put off by how seemingly busy and chaotic your stand is.

Key takeaway

Street marketing is basically using yours and your staff’s social skills to put smiles and handshakes to your brand, and to bring your message directly to the people. It’s a first contact, top-of-funnel marketing mission; capitalist cosmonauts putting boots on the ground.

The art of street marketing is a little bit old school, but it’s always exciting, always an opportunity to learn, and is ripe with opportunities to innovate and make a huge impression on target customers.

The 6 strategies listed here are starting points to help you and your teams maximise your efforts and chances of success.