Unsolicited services, unconventional product “donations” are not new strategies for businesses to get noticed, they’re just bold strategies. I knew a very creative business owner who told me his idea to create storefront signage for small businesses with broken or lackluster signs. He wasn’t going to sell it to them; he planned on replacing their sign on the DL during the night. Attached to the sign would be a business card from the Underground Signage Company. His hope was that the next day the dumbfounded business owner would be on the local news going, “I was driving in to work today and drove past my building. I couldn’t believe it when I discovered this beautiful new sign…”
The Underground Sign Company never happened. Too bold? The element of surprise makes for a great story, but it’s not a sure thing. It takes investment, strategy and transparency.
A purse company was featured on Daily Candy for leaving their purses in cabs. The next commuter that got in the cab found the purse. When they looked for contact information inside the purse what they found was a pleasant surprise. They had just found a designer handbag that they could keep!
Had that handbag been donated to an auction, there would have been no risk. The company would have received a thank-you and a tax write-off. Those present at the auction would then have been exposed to the stylish handbag. By leaving it in the cab, they ran the risk of it not being noticed, or being found by someone who took it home and sold it on Ebay. But that’s not what happened. The media caught wind of it. (The handbag company may have been the ones to tip off the media.) And where do reporters get most of their stories? Other media outlets. Believe me. I’m sure Daily Candy didn’t break the news of this PR stunt.
So, if you’ve got the balls, get passive aggressive with your product donations. Who needs a thank-you from the Junior League when you can have a “hell-yeah” from ten news outlets!