Grassroots Marketing: Building From the Ground Up

Here at the Williams Agency, we have a few strongly held beliefs: we believe in green, we believe in culture, and we believe in local, among other things. This is why grassroots marketing is such a good fit for us. Grassroots marketing is a marketing style that depends on community, connections, and the power of people. Unlike traditional media, grassroots builds by distributing information from the bottom up, starting with small communities to reach a larger audience. Rather than advertising to the masses in hope of information  trickling down to thought leaders, we begin with those thought leaders and work our way to the masses.

Grassroots effort relies on people’s passion. Luckily for us, we work for a variety of clients that have causes that people can feel passionately about – whether that be food access, local business, and even sustainable fishing. Creating campaigns for causes that people feel passionately about makes connecting those messages to people a whole lot easier. It also forms long lasting, loyal and deep relationships with the communities we are engaging with on behalf of our clients.

Grassroots marketing can consist of one-on-one conversations, blogging, social media, event outreach, and many smaller communication channels. Really, it’s  whatever it takes the reach each person at their level and inspire them with our message or cause. It’s whatever it takes to build a connection and a relationship with people. People who become passionate about something enough talk about it, and share it, and promote it in ways much more effectively than a newspaper ad or a radio spot ever could alone. Grassroots is about creating viral, highly shareable content that moves on its own. These audiences connect with one another and build community.

And that’s our mission. To connect people. To foster relationships, and conversation. To connect those people with organizations creating a social impact and ultimately positive change.

That’s what Grassroots Marketing is. While it may seem simple, it is powerful. Don’t underestimate the power of the people – especially, if you do it as well as we do.

by Ella Clausen, Marketing Coordinator, The Williams Agency