Gorilla Marketing our Etsy

GORILLA MARKETING YOUR ART

Well, I must say, Blue Jade totally touched on the topic that I was going to discuss this evening. (Please see comments from yesterdays post.) OK hang onto your hats...here we go.

Have you ever heard of the phrase "Gorilla Marketing"? I have seen many books about this topic in the business section of the book store, but none of them sparked my interest. I have also noticed several mentions about Gorilla Art in the blog and art book world. I just thought it meant to leave random little pieces of art in random places so you could make someones day! There is a book that further explains this concept by Keri Smith.

My sister Rhea who is working on her MBA (and has experience in marketing) was able to help me wrap my brain around this concept. Let me just insert here her response to my asking her to explain:

"Basically it means, instead of putting all of your money into a great big marketing campaign...you apply your wits and creative thinking to get your name out there and recognized. Another form is called tagging....where you place stickers with your website everywhere like parking meters, phone booths, etc. places that people always look and would notice something different. Some people get really crazy with it...a few years ago some guys were arrested for placing a neon flashing sign of some sort on a major bridge and the cops thought they were trying to blow the bridge up and got arrested....but it worked because they became millionaires because their name was on national news. Realtors use the term by using ALL of their contacts and all of their contacts, contacts and so on and so forth. Making what you do a part of everyday living where your name is a synonym for Funky Art Queen.

Ideas:
- put your flyers on every bulletin board you see (starbucks, walmart, target, etc)
- leave business cards at tattoo shops and such (like you mentioned in your blog)
- use stickers
- send emails to everyone in hopes of a forward"

So do you see how you can combine the concepts of Gorilla Marketing and Gorilla Art to promote your Etsy shop? I think it would be cool to get some ATC's professionally made with your ETSY address on them and just leave them in random places. Or since that is probably expensive, you could leave business cards that can be relatively inexpensive.

Like Blue Jade says, when will we have time for this? Well, I'm thinking slip them in your bills when you pay, put them in the bank deposit envelopes, slip them in a magazine that like minded people might thumb through at the grocery store, post them on bulletin boards at Wally World, oh the possibilities are endless. Please don't put them on my windshield! I hate that...don't you?!!! Give them to all your family and friends, leave it with your tip at a restaurant, keep them handy in your purse for when you run into old friends. Lots and lots of ideas here. But are you brave enough to do it? Let's talk about that tomorrow.