By Brittany Oat
Sometimes a brand really lends itself to grassroots PR, so when the perfect opportunity comes along to promote it on the local level you just have to go for it. Case in point: Anti Monkey Butt Powder and the Westchester Mountain Bike Association’s 2010 Fat Tire Festival. As an avid mountain biker, I heard about the festival and my first thought was, “Wow, this is a great opportunity to get the powder in the hands of thousands of bikers and use the results for our social media outreach.” And it was!
The Anti Monkey Butt Powder “exhibitor” table was right next to the main festival tent and it was packed with people all day long. Anti Monkey Butt Powder sample packets were flying off the table and the riders were able to get all their questions answered by one of the product’s developers. The festival also gave us the opportunity to give away some custom-made Anti Monkey Butt Powder jerseys and t-shirts, and donate some product to the charity raffle. What a fun, feel-good way to get the brand out on the trails!
But grassroots PR doesn’t have to stay at the local level. To help take this event global via the Internet and social media, I brought a digital camera and a Flip camera. The still photos were uploaded to a photo album on Facebook for our 24,000-plus fans to check out and to share with new friends from the festival. Also, I took some video testimonials and made a music video of the bikers that I was able to upload to both Facebook and the Anti Monkey Butt YouTube channel. Now, we can share the links to the videos with the bikers, post it on the bike forums and the bike association Facebook page.
So, don’t discount grassroots PR…but also look for ways to take it beyond the local level.