Imagine you are in the biggest tech conference in the world. There are literally thousands of people, from founders, CEOs, VCs, and media. How do you rise above the noise? Conferences can be incredibly noisy for startups. It’s tough to stand out when everyone is trying to pitch their ideas and stories. It’s not like ‘Will the real slam shady please stand up?
Guerrilla Marketing is one of the most unused tactics at startups. It’s unconventional. It’s not even outside the box, it’s removing the box all together. Guerrilla Marketing at its best is obtaining “maximum exposure for a product”. Yet most startups don’t even think about Guerrilla Marketing. While having a great product is a start, without marketing it goes no where. The ultimate company needs to engineer their product and marketing. After all one without the other, will never workout.
Truly Financial was one of the 1,500 companies at Collision Conference. For the complete list of the companies see here. They organized rickshaws for participants. This was the first thing you could see when you arrive at the event as s they were moving the participants to the venues. This turned out to be one the most successful marketing campaigns. The rickshaws was incredibly valuable for participants. It’s a memorable experience! It delivers massive value when you need it the most. If you have a good experience, you will remember the product. As a startup you will certainly be forgotten, if you don’t create a memorable experience for your users. In a world that where we are bombarded by content and advertising every second, only those that differentiate can win.
Sandeep Todi and his team brainstorm this idea before the event to help founders. Truly Financial is a Global Business Banking for growing businesses. It’s more than just a business checking account, it’s a whole experience around it. Traditional banking for growing businesses and startups can tedious and often times expensive with all the banking fees.
“At Truly Financial our ethos revolves around giving equitable access to global banking for growing businesses and we were looking for meaningful ways to connect with entrepreneurs and visitors to Collision. With this in mind, my cofounder Kanchan and I started brainstorming with our team, about how we could connect with the attendees when the idea of the pedicabs (rickshaws) popped up. You might have seen one of them while walking around downtown Toronto. We figured it would be cool and memorable to offer free rides to the tired legs doing the long walk from the Go station and TTC stops to the conference. The free rides won many a heart and was a huge boost for the Truly Financial brand as we continued getting compliments well after Collision was over.”
– Sandeep Todi
Next time if you’re thinking about marketing your startup, consider using Guerrilla Marketing. You have to get incredibly creative at your next growth marketing meeting! Of course as with any marketing tactic, there are no guarantees, only experiments.
