Guerilla Marketing Tactic #2 - Stealthy Business Card Book Insertion

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Being my studious self, I once visited a local Barnes & Noble to check up on some of the latest business books. While flipping through Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I came across a small business card wedged between some of the pages in the book. What kind of business card you ask? It was a business card for a local financial services firm in the area. Thinking that this may have been some sort of misplaced bookmark, I went back to the shelves to see if this was actually done intentionally. Lo and behold, in each of Kiyosaki’s popular money books was a business card strategically hidden between the pages.

Now this tactic can get you in trouble if used excessively and inappropriately but I think it’s very effective guerilla marketing for websites and businesses catering to local audiences. Not only that, but since you get to choose which books you insert the cards into, you essentially have full control over who is most likely going to see your message.

Creating your book store business card

Create a small but attractive business card that will fit in most paperback books and magazines. Make sure your business name or website stands out and the site’s URL is clearly visible. For the URL, you might want to include a unique subfolder or parameter so you can track the success of this guerilla marketing project. Other than that, you don’t want to include too much information on the card because you don’t want to leave obvious footprints or easy tracking should someone report you. Business name, URL, a small image, key features, and a call to action should do the trick.

Book stores to target

Like I mentioned, this tactic works best for businesses that are local and cater to a customer base in a specific region. While it can be effective for non-regional websites, the method is hard to scale. You’ll have to visit a ton of bookstores to get anywhere and this really wouldn’t be the most effective use of your time. The biggest and most high-traffic bookstores in the area should be targeted. This is usually a Barnes & Noble or a Borders in a metropolitan area.

Books to target

Books to target for your stealthy business card insertion tactic really depends on what you are promoting. If you have a recipe website, insert your cards into the most popular cooking books. Similarly, if you have a music site, insert your cards into music album sleeves, songbooks, popular music magazines, and educational music books. You can check for best sellers on the New York Times to research which see receive most activity.

Stealthy insertion

Now that you know what books to target and where, we’ll go into how you should go about the whole process most effectively without getting yourself into any trouble.

• Bring a stack of your business cards. 100 or more should be more than enough depending on the topic you are targeting.
• Bring a list of books, magazines, music, and other publications you definitely want to be included in.
• Sections of the book store are usually divided by topic. Go to your targeted section and insert your card into all appropriate books and publications, giving priority to the most popular ones.
• Insert your cards on the first page of actual content in the book. This doesn’t include the title, table of contents, or dedication page. I mean the first page of actual writing.
• Don’t be obvious about what you are doing. Be discrete and don’t leave any cards behind or unhidden.

This tactic may generate some controversy but that’s what guerilla marketing is all about. Cards are relevant to what the reader is interested in and it also gives them a free bookmark. Have you used this sort of tactic before? What were your results?