Nurses and teacher appreciation are among my favorite Guerilla marketing events of the entire year. Technically, teachers are recognized during the first week of May, while we celebrate nurses for the whole month. From a strategy standpoint, that means you have more time to get your nursing ducks in a row, but the good news is that you can rinse and repeat both of these marketing campaigns for each group and repeat it every year. It just takes a bit of coordination upfront. 

First: What is Guerilla Marketing?

One of my favorite blogs is one I wrote for fitDEGREE, which details what guerilla marketing is and why you should use it. Here is a quick excerpt, "The main ideas behind guerilla marketing are unconventional, inventive, and low-cost advertisements that get noticed. Often, they engage their ideal target customer in creative ways and land because of their whimsical, imaginative nature. If you've ever taken a picture of a funny or remarkable ad and sent it to a friend, that was likely a successful guerilla campaign." 

Guerilla marketing is anything out of the box outside of your typical digital/signage-based advertising campaigns, and the sky is the limit. Guerilla campaigns often infiltrate where their target customer naturally exists, and- fun fact- it is almost exclusively how I marketed my first business. Think boots-on-the-ground marketing. If it fits that definition, it's likely guerilla. 

Teacher/Nurse Appreciation in a Nutshell

The very brief summary: Current studio staff or clients involved in the school or medical field will bring baskets of bath bombs/protein bars/apples (whatever you want) with business cards attached to them into their employee lounge. The cards are vouchers for a free week (or whatever you're gifting) for the staff in recognition of their selfless work. Your studio receives an influx of new clients you would otherwise not have had access to. Sound interesting? Let's break it down.

Here's how I like to run this campaign in detail. I will use teachers as my example, but nurses are interchangeable. 

Step One: Choose Your Targets

First, choose schools within a five-mile or fifteen-minute commute radius of your studio. Write them on a spreadsheet and -optional- contact their secretaries for approval. I've never heard of a rejection, but you'd hate to go through all the work to be turned away. 

Step Two: Organize Your Ambassadors

Next, email your community asking who is involved in the school system as a teacher, admin, PTA member, etc. In exchange for acting as your benevolent Trojan horse gift delivery specialist, they'll earn a $10 studio credit for every teacher from their school who redeems their voucher. Now you've turned your basket-bearer from a delivery person into an unofficial sales assistant, singing your studio's praises in the staff room. Write each volunteer next to their school on your spreadsheet so you can track which schools bring in the most clients and give your client the appropriate reward at the end of the campaign. 

Step Three: Create Your Cards

The sky is the limit here. Here is an example of our first year's card. Now, I would include a QR code that leads directly to a short landing page where you capture their first name, email, and phone number in exchange for their free week pass. Include your social media if you're active, and encourage them to follow. Remember, most clients need multiple interactions with a brand before they jump on an offer, so your goal is to capture their contact information and keep the nurturing campaign going. 

Step Four: Build Your Baskets

Chances are, these baskets aren't coming back to you, so head to the dollar store or Amazon and grab some inexpensive ones that you don't mind donating. Next, head to Canva and create your flyer to hang on the basket. Remember to include your "WHY statements"- not just your features (Reminder: why statements are what makes your studio special, unique, and worth trying out. Speak directly to your audience's wants). Include a QR code to your landing page.

Step Five: Deliver!

Your school ambassadors will drop off the baskets in the staff rooms. Give them a little pep talk about checking in and recommending the gifts to their teacher friends, remind them that everyone who signs up earns them $10, and thank them profusely. 

Bonus Step- Add a Contest

May is the busiest time of year for teachers, so it can be challenging to capture their attention- especially your first year, which is always the quietest since your audience is still learning about you. I've had clients add a "Nominate a Teacher!" reward where other teachers, parents, studio members, etc., can enter their favorite teacher for a free month at your studio. If you want to include a contest, add it to your basket and incorporate it on your landing page. I also like to let people self-nominate because you're still capturing email addresses. 

Strategize Your Advertising

If you know me, you know I don't love Facebook ads because they're usually more expensive than they're worth. This campaign is an exception for me, and it usually converts well because it's marketing a free event. Organically post about your event on social media and (optional) run ads that link back to your landing page for the nomination opportunity and the appreciation event. Remember, free content converts lower, so expect some ghosting, but don't be discouraged. One conversion to a membership pays for the campaign.

Big Picture Strategy

These teachers will usually activate near the end of May after school is out, which is perfect timing for your summer challenge. I like to run a teacher special like a two or three-month unlimited option for teachers to get their workouts in over break, and it should be ready to tee up as soon as their free week ends. This is a quick turnaround for your sales team, so make sure you add them to your lead sheet and use your assumptive close skills on day one. 

Disclaimer

Guerilla marketing is a numbers game. It takes time for these brand awareness campaigns to settle in and start to return on your time investment. Don't give up if your first year only results in a few leads. Remember that brand awareness campaigns are for just that- awareness that your studio exists so that the next time those teachers or nurses drive by, they think, "Oh, that's the studio with the __insert your WHY statement here____." We would have teachers come in months later and mention how much they loved their Kind Bar gift card, even though they didn't attend during the free week due to time constraints. It's working- stay the course. 

Lastly, after your campaign is over, run a post-mortem on how your campaign went, which is just corporate speak for which schools returned the most teachers? Which ambassadors did the best job? What did you learn from your marketing that you want to improve next year? Write it down and include it in your Teacher Appreciation Week Google folder, along with your signage and spreadsheets, and you're ready for next year already!

Here's to your guerilla marketing success!