I could write 20,000 words on great marketing, and there will be that many articles, infographics, webinars, podcasts, and more on this topic. But, for the sake of having my two cents thrown in with the rest, here are some examples of incredible marketing I have witnessed, and all here in Cape Town, South Africa. Just for those that wonder what comes out of this city and country, and if we can match up with the rest of the world. Which we can.
This is then also a plug to those potential foreigners looking in and wondering “should we hire a freelancer or agency from South Africa?” – because our time zone is good, our value for money excellent, and our way of thinking and ‘work hard’ culture outstanding. Hire us, we’ll prove ourselves to you. #elonmuskwasbornandraisedhere #beatthat
Yuppiechef and the Woolies lovebirds campaign – One that I was personally a part of – so excuse the bias – but this took almost zero work, but rather some bravery and quick moving on the part of the Yuppiechef team. They generated ‘R3.5 million worth of media coverage’ and raised money for charity. SEO slant: they also got a huge heap of backlinks to their website, and for Soil for Life – a charity they love to support. This campaign won on all kinds of levels, and it all came down to some quick thinking, and teamwork from a few people in a Monday meeting.
Ucook and their partnerships – I have used UCook three times and every time it was worth it, and that is saying a lot – it’s expensive! However, what you and UCOOK gets is more than meets the eye. You get food, you get recipes you can reuse, you get “an experience”, and then you get the free gifts. 2 out of 3 times my gift has been of the same value or more than the food (for example, the seven bottles of Lanzerac wine for my R600 UCOOK order), the other time was Le Creuset goodies. But, why does this make sense to UCOOK? They almost certainly are getting huge discounts from the brands giving them the gear/goodies/gifts. They are definitely doing some marketing to their huge newsletter/customer fanbase, which they can earn money from. They are likely not making any profit off of their food, and the huge costs in assembling and delivering them but… like most of these modern type companies, they are likely hoping to sell for a large amount in years to come. What is their value? Probably a customer base of 100,000+ people who are very clearly within a certain market segment – one you don’t have to guess at.
Taxtim does some amazing things, and I mentioned that in another post about creating great content.
FlySafair with their decision to use marketing budget to make flights cheaper rather than promote themselves – I am sure it led to many, many SEO-friendly backlinks to their websites!
And there are many more things I will get to adding to this list in months and years to come….