Yesterday, at an association function, a client shared a story which changed my perceptions. I can’t “name names” here because I haven’t verified the story and, in any case, I don’t generally publish negative news about individuals or businesses here.
This story isn’t that negative, really, but it certainly shows how a combination of marketing activities can achieve, well, surprising, results.
The middle-scale builder entered an attractive but modestly priced home in the local home builders’ association annual design competition. Fair enough. Competitions can be great ways to attract a positive reputation and help your business grow.
Then he volunteered to help out at the large association booth at the local home show. Fair enough, as well This voluntary activity allows for credible interaction with potential clients and builds good-will among the association and its peers. Even better, the builder offered to work as many extra shifts as possible.
A few weeks later, the builder who entered the housing awards competition and helped out at the home show enjoyed a wonderful piece of good fortune. While most of the several design awards competition categories are judged by independent expert judges, the most important award, the “People’s Choice” Award sponsored by the local daily newspaper, is decided by a secret ballot among visitors to the local home show. The home with the most visitors wins
Usually, the winner is an awe inspiring luxury home. But this year, for some reason, the local builder with an affordable house won the competition. Not surprisingly, the local newspaper provided the builder with great publicity including page one photo spreads — and the builder told me in later interviews that his sales skyrocketed.
Yesterday, I learned the hidden additional story behind the story. The person sitting next to me had also been a volunteer at the home builders’ association at the home show booth. “He (the successful builder) asked everyone he saw to help out and vote for him,” said the other builder. “He did this throughout the show, and spent far more time there than anyone else. I thought the award should be won naturally, but he really helped it along.”
Aha, I thought. A little live campaigning in this case could go a long way. Sure, hundreds of ballots are cast, but would a little nudging and campaigning help? In this case, it surely did. The cost: A weekend’s voluntary labour. The reward: Incredible free publicity and hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional sales.
I certainly only made the connection between the two separate events — entering the housing design competition and volunteering at the local home show — when the builder’s peer shared this story some years after the fact. The peer thought the results clouded the results but then acknowledged he had “helped” a bit with our own publications’ Readers Choice Awards with an email to his suppliers and colleagues urging support. Is there any law against campaigning for a “most votes wins the race” election? As far as I know, that is expected in democracies. So is it wrong to quietly campaign for a high-publicity value award? Obviously not.
Sometimes thinking creatively and combining ideas provides incredible dividends. The builder could of course have elected to spend thousands of dollars in advertising to get people out to his show homes, or he could have relaxed at home (or tried to sell houses to individual purchasers) the weekend of the home show. No, he volunteered to help out — and in the process, helped himself win the grand prize.
You can do that too.
