Non Traditional

Non-Traditional Advertising

Non-traditional advertising is form of advertising in which the brands put aside the traditional and popular advertising mediums such as print, radio and electronic and communicate to the target audience through innovative ways. The motive of implementing non-advertising is to attract audience's attention through unusual, new and out-of-the box creative advertising. Non-traditional advertising can either be used as part of media mix or can be used solely to create awareness, extend reach and visibility of the brand and for brand reinforcement.

Non-Traditional form of advertising campaign includes:

Though the marketing strategies around non-traditional advertising are constantly changing, placing the various kinds of advertising techniques in broad categories is tentative and subject to speculation and continual evolution. However, to put it roughly, non-traditional advertising can be of the following types:

• Street marketing

• Transit advertising

• Guerrilla marketing

• Bill letter advertising (electricity bill, gas bill and phone bill)

• Mall advertising

• No-parking boards

• IT Park advertising

• Social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.)

• Seminars

• Events

• Stealth Marketing

• Museums and Factory Tours

• Stunt Marketing

• Theme Parks ( Disney, Kidzania etc)

• Product Placement

In addition to above it also includes -

•Guerilla Marketing – Guerilla marketing allows you to wield profitable results from a bare minimum investment. Guerilla marketing is especially famous among the other unconventional forms of advertising as it allows advertising agencies and companies to reap the maximum outreach from low budget investments by grabbing the attention of people at places where they do not expect any kind of advertising or media.

•Event Marketing or Seminar Marketing – Though categorized under non-traditional advertising, event or seminar marketing does involve one-on-one interaction between the company of the brand and the people. This kind of branding or marketing is mainly exercised at malls and at occasional events like concerts, fairs, sporting events, film festivals or any kind of social and public gathering.

•Street Marketing – As can be inferred from the name, street marketing utilizes the street spaces for their branding campaign. Unlike guerilla marketing which is carried out also on the online and social media platforms, street marketing is essentially just concentrated on the street and other public spaces. Street marketing techniques include handing out pamphlets at a street corner or advertising in associating with a local food truck or ice cream van.

•Stunt Marketing – Stunt marketing is all about marketing your brand through gimmicks. As unusual and as unique as it sounds, stunt marketing involves the release of a false narrative or a comic story during the time of a brand release. The false narrative then makes its way to garner major media coverage and headlines, grabbing the public eye. Stunt marketing is one PR move that creates a substantial buzz just before the launch of the brand or the product.

•Stealth Marketing – Stealth marketing is a branding technique that includes advertising for a brand without the realization of the people. This gives you and the advertising agencies the upper hand to advertise your product to the people. When people do not understand advertising at its face value, the chances of them opting out of the advertising campaign gets reduced. Stealth Marketing, in fact, works the other way. Since people don’t comprehend the meaning or even the eminent presence of a branding effort, they tend to grow even more curious to attest meaning to the thing that they are unable to grasp.

•Membership Marketing – Membership marketing turns probable customers to regular ones. This kind of marketing has the highest rates of conversion and market returns as membership marketing is a well thought out approach of the company. Membership marketing not only brings a regular base of customers for the brand, but also increases the number of customers gradually with time through referrals efficiently utilized by the company from its resources. Membership marketing is a sure shot formula to bring in a steady number of customers and company revenue to determine the success of the brand in the future.

•Content Marketing – To put it in simple terms, content marketing includes the production of content to keep the audience interested. This is a marketing approach that is driven to churn out valuable, relevant and creative content periodically and strategically to arrest the attention of a sizeable portion of audience. Content marketing ensures that you retain a specific kind of audience loyal to your brand. This kind of marketing also makes sure that your company enjoys regular revenue returns from your loyal base of customers.

•Growth Hacking – Growth hacking involves researching and learning about the things that would make your brand a rage among the people. Growth hacking also involves conducting quite a few experiments in the product development and in the marketing channels to achieve the same. 

Advantages of Non-traditional advertising:

• Attracts audience by standing out from the clutter.

• Relies completely on creativity, surprise element, innovation and uniqueness.

• Format of non-traditional advertising is such that it is hard for the audience to ignore the communication massage.

• Suits both small and big business but highly fruitful for smaller brands as the investment is less but can fetch in huge returns.

• Can reach niche as well as mass audience.

• Low- cost

What makes non-traditional advertising crucial in recent times?

As is evident from the name, non-traditional advertising is a unique approach to advertising. Non-traditional advertising is solely powered by innovation and creativity and is driven by the motive to take the audience by surprise.  Needless to say, if you are adopting an advertising measure in places and in ways where the audience or viewers least expect to find a branding campaign or an advertisement, they cannot just look away from it. The type of advertising which includes electricity bill advertising, newspaper insert advertising, NoParking board advertising, Shopping outlet advertising, ATM advertising, telephone bill advertising, etc. are nothing but non-stereotypical ways of branding.

Non-traditional advertising is the key to impress your customers and take your business to the next level. In this age of consumerism and over-consumption, making your brand heard among the thousands of other brands in the market is extremely crucial. With the help of non-traditional advertising, you can make your own place in the economy among the other giants. Non-Traditional advertising is the formula for success especially for the relatively small businesses and start-ups. Non-traditional advertising is a potent and an invigorating enterprise that can be used to interact with future customers at places where they least expect it.

What are the probable forms of non-traditional advertising?

Non-traditional advertising is a dynamic form of advertising which breaks the barriers of the conventional forms of advertising. New unconventional forms of advertising are emerging each day to reach out to the audiences in greater numbers and create a brand image that is sure to incite a strong response in people, the one which will prompt immediate action. From the ever-expanding and ever-evolving catalogue of non-traditional advertising, a few of them are listed below:

·         Newspaper insert advertising

·         RWA apartment advertising/ advertising inside apartments

·         Shopping outlet advertising

·         Advertising inside bars

·         ATM Advertising

·         Bill advertising (Electricity bill advertising, telephone bill advertising, gas bill branding)

·         NoParking board branding

List of Top Newspapers in India

What makes non-traditional advertising highly effective among people?

Non-traditional marketing adds the element of a pleasant surprise among the people and the viewers. Non-traditional advertising is an upcoming concept and is relatively an untouched territory in the advertising market. The uniqueness of this mode of advertising is the biggest USP of non-traditional advertising that has quite a lot of scope in the advertising world. Since, non-traditional advertising breaks away from the conventional forms, it can include quite a lot of advertising options and activities that are not considered to be a regular part of the more accepted and the traditional marketing techniques. This makes non-traditional advertising a dynamic and forever evolving form of marketing, inviting more attention from the marketing giants.

What are the tips for effective non-traditional forms of advertising?

Since the scope of non-traditional advertising is immense, a number of steps could be adopted to maximize the outreach of the brand.

•Make the advertising as unconventionally creative as possible. 

•Tie social media branding with the non-conventional marketing. Creating a space in social media will enable customers to know about the brand closely. Organizing weekly live sessions on the social media, demonstrating the product and answering the questions of people, goes a long way in ensuring deeper connection of the brand with people. Additionally, make sure the FAQ page on the website of the product is etched out well.

•Associate the brand with an organization or a community that gives back to the society or is engaged in humanitarian work. People love to associate themselves with the brands which look after a community or a society. This would, in turn, give your brand a loyal base of regular customers who will also help to generate the required buzz in the market.

•Have your own podcast. Podcasts will help you to have a fair base of consistent listeners and eventually, customers. Have a weekly episode of podcasts and make sure that you address a few questions from the customers to ensure greater transparency and relativity with the brand. 

•Develop an app for your brand. Though it may seem like a far-fetched idea, developing an app for your brand will enable people to get good service before and after the purchase of the brand. This rather non-salesy approach would ultimately lead to generating greater sales for the company due to your brand’s customer friendly service.