#1240 2000 · Salesforce.com · Enterprise software / CRM
Salesforce hired protesters outside a rival's conference, then took its crowd for itself
问题
An unknown startup had no brand, no marketing budget and no way to reach enterprise software buyers
背景
In February 2000, Salesforce.com was a nearly unknown startup pitching software delivered over the internet instead of installed on company servers, competing against established CRM giant Siebel Systems, which had just gathered its entire customer base - thousands of IT decision-makers - in one place for its annual user conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
Salesforce had nowhere near the budget to sponsor a booth at Siebel's conference or run a comparable campaign to reach those same buyers separately. It needed access to Siebel's own gathered audience of exactly the customers it wanted, without Siebel's permission and without paying Siebel a cent.
换别人会怎么做
Sponsor a booth inside the rival's conference or run separate paid advertising to the same audience elsewhere - both require a marketing budget the startup didn't have and would have blended into the noise of every other vendor.
他们看到了什么
Salesforce saw Siebel's conference wasn't the asset, its assembled audience was. A spectacle just outside meant no budget was needed to gather a crowd - only to redirect the one Siebel already paid to bring together.
那一手
Salesforce hired actors to march outside Siebel's conference carrying 'No Software' signs and staged a fake film crew to cover the protest, then walked the curious, badge-wearing Siebel attendees a block away into a small rented tent for an 'End of Software' party - using Siebel's own gathered customer base as Salesforce's lead-generation funnel.
为什么管用
The protest cost almost nothing but generated a controversy Siebel itself amplified by calling police, and because the target audience was already physically present and curious, converting attention into leads required only a short walk to a nearby tent.
值了多少
Siebel called police on the protesters, amplifying coverage; nearly 30 outlets covered the stunt, launching Salesforce's brand for free.
什么时候会失灵
It needs a rival's audience to be physically concentrated somewhere accessible, depends on the stunt being provocative enough to draw press without crossing into harassment or trespass, and loses surprise value once rivals learn to expect and preempt it.
后来呢
The 'No Software' slogan and its red-slash logo became Salesforce's core brand identity as the company grew into the dominant cloud CRM provider and, by the 2010s, a company worth well over $100 billion, with the 2000 stunt still cited in marketing courses as guerrilla marketing that converted a rival's own event into free press and leads.
资料来源
- [1]Salesforce.com: The Web's Big UpstartForbes, 2010forbes.com
- [2]Salesforce at 20 offers lessons for startup successTechCrunch, 2019techcrunch.com