At crowdSPRING we talk a great deal about how we can leverage our limited marketing resources to drive traffic and revenues and build strong community. Some of the traffic-tactics we use involve good old fashioned payola: paid search, banner ads, affiliate programs, etc. Other tactics leverage partnerships with other businesses to create mutual value and introduce our respective communities to one another’s services or product offering. Finally, we work hard to create marketing value in the social media space and work to engender word-of-mouth and the viral effect. This last category of tactics, includes everything from providing meaningful content in our Twitter stream and Facebook pages – and watching for the invaluable re-tweets and friends that materialize – to pitching stories to the media about our industry, our community, and the great businesses that post their projects on crowdSPRING.

We try to learn from what other businesses have done with their own (sometime limited) resources and try to learn from their successes. Here are 5 campaigns we greatly admire that used relatively scant funds and some of the lessons that small businesses can achieve from an analysis of their success!

1. That crazy chicken. Burger King’s brave new world.

In April of 2004 Burger King and their agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky had an insight that led to what was, at the time, the most successful viral effort ever launched by a business: the Subservient Chicken. The insight was that adult “cam” sites had grown widely in popularity based on the real-time interactions between the audience of internet users and the models posing in front of their web cams. If people enjoyed instructing, uh, strippers to do their bidding on camera, why not have them interact the same way with a 6-foot tall chicken acting out their commands on a bare-bones living room set? The result was spectacular: 46 million views in the first week, dozens of stories in industry journals, blogs, and the mass media. And skyrocketing sales for the new chicken sandwich BK was hawking.

What can a small business learn? Look for opportunity where none existed before and try to learn from that which is around you every day. If you are part of a trend, or can spot a trend, think hard about how your audience might be influenced. Most important lesson: hire a 6-foot tall chicken to promote your brand.

2. OK Go, or how to use exercise equipment for visibility and profit.

OK Go is an indy rock band formed in 2002, with three albums released since their inception. In 2005 the band released their 2nd album of songs, “Oh No,” which included the single “Here It Goes Again.” Prior to the release of this song, the band had achieved limited success, never breaking the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and had realized little awareness of their existence outside of their existing fan base. With the release of the video for “Here It Goes Again” that all changed virtually overnight. The video’s mix of a catchy song, with simple direction, and incredibly imaginative choreography captured the collective imagination of the internets and within a week had recorded well over 1 million views. Within 3 years it had been downloaded over 9 million times and the video has now been viewed by more than 52 million visitors!

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