Piggyback Marketing

When we pick up a pre-schooler and put the child on our backs for a ride, we call that "a piggyback ride". When you're marketing your business/service on a tight budget, there's another meaning for "piggyback".

When we market by "piggyback" we connect with larger events that are going on in our community: parades, school carnivals, festivals, holiday events, a business exposition. Somebody else (or a group) pays the freight for setting it up, but they invite businesses to set up booths and displays.

This is where your business comes in. Let's make it simple: Your child's elementary school is having a harvest festival in October. You contact the person supervising the plans and make the arrangements for you to set up a display. A pet store owner did that at the school that two of my daughters attended. He gave away free goldfish to the children. My girls got a goldfish. Guess where Mom had to go to purchase a fish tank, filter, and other "fish" gear? Right. That pet store owner got more dollars from me because he made appearance at the carnival.

Just having a presence along the parade route or at the big Fourth of July celebration at a city park lets people know who you are. For July 4, for example, you might give away small American flags, with your business card attached.

Think piggybacking when you want to make your marketing dollar go farther. The in-person, one-on-one contacts you will make there at the public event may well bring you customers in a way you had never considered. If the event is oriented to children, the parents will think kindly of you for participating. If you're a start-up business that no one has heard of, you'll introduce yourself as you use the "piggybacking" approach.