Street marketing

[1] Many businesses use fliers, coupons, posters and art displays as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional marketing methods such as television, print and social media.

[2] Based on the shifting characteristics of modern-day consumers – such as increased product knowledge and expectations of transparency – the goal of street marketing is to use direct communication to enhance brand recognition.

In the 1960s and 1970s, street marketing was a massive success since many consumers did not inevitably recognize guerrilla activities as an advertisement at this time because of its uncommon nature.

[7] Early on, the distribution of leaflets, coupons, posters or fliers made up the earliest form of street marketing and could be used in a strategic way to advertise to consumers for smaller businesses.

[9] These new budget cuts forced larger businesses and corporations to now adopt a new, unconventional way of advertising and promotion in the form of street marketing.

Guerrilla marketing is popular among large and small businesses alike, as it uses low-cost unconventional communications which can provide a higher impact for a given investment.

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.

[1] One popular technique of street marketing is to place advertisements such as billboards and static ads in unexpected or random locations, such as down alleys or behind large buildings.

[8] Street marketing may also use brand ambassadors (typically one that appeals to the target demographic) who give away samples and coupons to customers that stop and take time to answer questions.

[16] Plans should take into account global communication; the campaign interacts directly with the customers and media at the scene, and through them has the potential to reach a much wider audience.

[25] One example of this took place in Montpelier, Vermont, where the New England Culinary Institute (NECI) sent a group of students to a movie theater to hand out 400 fliers.

Another company, Boston's Kung-Fu Tai Chi Club, chose the option of disseminating fliers to promote its self-defense classes for women.

[24] Some street marketing may incite the ire of local authorities, such as when an agency attached a styrofoam replica of a car to the side of a downtown building in Houston, Texas.