Increasing sales, attracting new customers, building brand awareness—these are all common business goals often tackled through standard marketing strategies. But what if you need to change consumer purchasing criteria? Or bring a new type of customer into your market? In those cases, you might consider grassroots marketing—a marketing approach rooted in political organizing that’s uniquely suited to changing what audiences value.
Learn what grassroots marketing is, how it works, and six strategies that can help you launch a successful grassroots marketing campaign.
What is grassroots marketing?
Grassroots marketing is a word-of-mouth marketing strategy in which each campaign has twotarget audiences: a small primary (or campaign) audience and a larger secondary (or general) audience. Grassroots campaigns inspire members of the primary audience to promote an organization to its larger secondary target audience. In other words, you go after the small group to get to the big group.
How grassroots marketing works
Grassroots marketing can be an affordable way to attract new customers and influence customer priorities in your market. Here’s how it works:
1. The business defines campaign goals and audiences. The business sets goals for its grassroots marketing campaign and identifies a primary campaign audience—typically a subset of the business’s overall target audience or a group with a shared interest in the marketing message.
2. The business plans and executes a grassroots campaign. The business researches its target campaign audience and develops marketing materials to compel audience members to spread the word about the brand.
3. The campaign audience promotes the business broadly. The primary campaign audience engages in social groups, refers new customers, and shares campaign materials on social channels, raising brand awareness within the broader target market.
Grassroots vs. guerilla marketing
Grassroots marketing and guerilla marketing both raise awareness by getting people talking about your business, but the two strategies differ in approach:
- Guerilla marketing. Guerilla marketing targets a broad audience with unconventional or surprising marketing tactics designed to evoke strong emotional reactions, increasing the likelihood that consumers remember the brand and discuss it with others.
- Grassroots marketing. Grassroots marketing targets a small subset of a business’s overall target audience using conventional or unconventional marketing tactics. The defining goal of a grassroots marketing campaign is to motivate this specific niche audience to promote a brand to a larger audience base.
How grassroots marketing benefits your ecommerce business
Grassroots marketing can help ecommerce businesses cut marketing costs, improve brand reputation and positioning, and gain market share. Here’s more on these three key benefits:
1. Decreased marketing costs
Grassroots marketing cuts marketing costs by targeting efforts on a small group of customers. This eliminates the need to pay for expensive mass reach or multiple campaigns for different audience segments. You can instead rely on low-cost research strategies like connecting with customers on social platforms.
Cost savings is one reason founder Janell Stephens relied on grassroots marketing to launch her skin care and hair care brand, Camille Rose. “Initially, I could not even afford [traditional marketing]. Everything was grassroots,” she says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “We had to rely on our followers and word of mouth. It was really an organic growth for the brand.”
2. Improved differentiation
Conventional marketing follows this basic process: Find out what customers say they want from brands like yours and say that’s what you deliver. This approach can be effective, but it can also lead to generic messaging and position. Grassroots marketing, on the other hand, flips the script so you decide how you want people to see your brand and find the subset of your target audience who cares about that. This approach lets you highlight what makes your company unique.
Here’s an example: A nutrition- and sustainability-focused energy drink company learns that while energy drink consumers care about flavor, price, and immediate results, there’s a niche group that values sustainability and nutrition.
Instead of building a campaign that targets the broader market, the company focuses on a niche market subset that values sustainability and nutrition, developing a grassroots campaign aimed at young, active nurses and medical residents in major metropolitan areas. The campaign increases brand recognition, allowing the business to expand its reach without mimicking competitors.
3. Increased market influence
Conventional marketing efforts respond to customer needs—grassroots marketing can shape them. Successful grassroots efforts can draw in new audiences and encourage legacy consumers to rethink what they value in your product or service.
Take the nutrition- and sustainability-focused energy drink campaign, for example: In addition to increasing sales, the campaign shifts the conversation about what an energy drink should offer. While consumers haven’t historically associated energy drinks with health or sustainability benefits, a segment of the market begins to prioritize these factors in future purchases. The brand’s unique value proposition also attracts new types of customers to the energy drink market, expanding its reach and appealing to an audience increasingly aligned with its values.
6 tips for effective grassroots marketing
- Follow trending topics
- Use social media to build community
- Network in person
- Support a cause
- Remain flexible
- Build brand affinity
Grassroots marketing is a flexible, scalable marketing strategy. Here are six tips to help you plan and launch a successful grassroots marketing campaign:
1. Follow trending topics
Successful grassroots marketing campaigns tap into issues that resonate with target audiences. Use brand monitoring and social listening tools to monitor relevant keywords and social conversations within your industry. Social media platforms can also help identify key influencers and trending hashtags in your niche; follow them to stay current on topics that matter most to your audience.
2. Use social media to build community
Social media marketing is a powerful tool for reaching niche audiences. Connect directly with potential customers, join relevant social groups, and use native targeting functions on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to connect with relevant audiences. Social media analytics tools can also help track audience engagement with your marketing content and ensure no comments or mentions slip through the cracks.
Janell used social platforms to build community and respond directly to customer needs. “We’re very heavy on social media,” she says. “If I miss something, if you’re dealing with something, let me hear you, and let’s create; let’s try to solve it. That’s very important to me and to my brand.”
3. Network in person
In-person events are a great way to connect with customers and drum up grassroots support. Janell attended industry events, for example: “We just started traveling around doing different shows, hair shows, body shows, and gift shows, and it was really an organic growth for the brand.”
Consider also hosting or sponsoring local events to connect with niche audiences. A cross-country skiing brand, for instance, might sponsor local ski races or host technique workshops for high school athletes, while a gluten-free flour company could partner with a specialty grocery retailer to host gluten-free baking classes.
4. Support a cause
Grassroots marketing finds an audience invested in a particular issue and motivates them to persuade others—the more your primary audience cares about your message, the more likely they are to advocate for your brand.
For-profit businesses can increase audience investment by aligning with a charity or cause. For instance, a dog food company might donate a portion of each sale to an organization that rescues and rehomes dogs from overcrowded shelters.
5. Remain flexible
Audience concerns change, so successful grassroots marketing requires businesses to adapt. When the 2020 pandemic forced Camille Rose to cancel in-person activations, it pivoted to an online format. “We said, ‘Let’s take our 2020 plan, which is going around the world with the Camille Rose Culinary Beauty Kitchen, [and bring it] to our Instagram page,’” says Janell. “We have all these followers on our page; that’s an amazing opportunity to let all of them experience it.”
The brand also adjusted its activation to meet emerging audience needs. In addition to stylists and aestheticians, Camille Rose brought in yoga instructors, musicians, and medical professionals. “We brought a violinist just to help calm people’s anxieties,” says Janell. “I had a psychologist on. My husband is an oncologist. I had him come on and talk about COVID and how to stay safe and the effects of it.”
6. Build brand affinity
Brand affinity is the personal connection audiences have with your brand, and strong brand affinity encourages them to promote your business. You can build this connection by offering an exceptional customer experience and personalizing your marketing and outreach. Some brands even contact target audience members by phone or send handwritten notes as part of a grassroots campaign.
You can also increase affinity and build trust by staying true to your brand. Janell cautions against chasing rapid growth at the expense of authenticity. “Stay true to yourself; stay true to your craft,” she says. “If it is for you, if God puts you on that path, then no one can stop that,” Janell says. “Stay true, grow organically, and enjoy your journey.”
Grassroots marketing FAQ
What is a grassroots strategy?
Grassroots marketing efforts raise awareness by motivating a small subset of an organization’s audience to promote the organization to its larger target market.
Who benefits from grassroots marketing?
Grassroots marketing can benefit multiple types of businesses. It’s a cost-effective marketing strategy that can help attract new customers, improve marketplace differentiation, and influence consumer values.
Who is the target audience in grassroots marketing?
Grassroots marketing strategies have two target audiences: a small primary (or campaign) audience and a larger secondary (or general) audience. Grassroots campaigns inspire members of the primary audience to promote an organization to its larger secondary target audience.