5 Content Amplification Techniques (That You Probably Haven't Tried Yet!)

Oct 20th 2015

5 Content Amplification Techniques (That You Probably Haven't Tried Yet!)

5 Lesser-Known Content Marketing Methods With Proven ROI

If you landed on this page, it’s likely that I can tell three things about you:

1) You found the title interesting enough to click (Thanks!)

2) You’ve probably  tried all the traditional tactics – You’ve exhausted social media opportunities, you’ve hit up every influencer, you’ve emailed everyone in your email list not just once or twice but a minimum of 5 times.

3) You know there are unusual amplification tactics that you haven’t tried yet.

So, how’d I do? If this describes you, you’re in luck! There are plenty of non-traditional amplification techniques that you can use; what you’re about to read is the most innovative list of content amplification techniques that can take your tired and exhausted content and breathe rejuvenating life into it.

**These techniques are designed for AFTER you have completed all the traditional methods.**


Carrier Pigeons

Carrier Pigeons have been used for nearly 1000 years to convey messages, and if  you think their efficacy is outdated, think again! Even now, the Chinese army is training 10,000 new messenger pigeons to carry valuable messages around the world.

But there are a wide variety of benefits you can get with carrier pigeons. First of all they are completely personalized, the content of your ad can be very specifically targeted to the recipient. Not only is it personalized, you can send physical samples! In an obviously misguided example of this benefit, guards found carrier pigeons flying drugs into their prison. Needless to say the ability to carry physical products would be far more effective than a silly high definition image on a screen.

You may think that this process is antiquated and slow – and you’d be right about one of those. Carrier pigeons have a long and decorated history but they definitely isn’t slow*! A study that compared download rates in rural England to sending a package via USB tied to a carrier pigeon found the speed of the pigeon far outweighed that of downloading high definition images.

*depending on where you are


 

Telegrams

Similar to carrier pigeons, this supposedly outdated technology can actually be pretty powerful in targeted messaging. This convenient form of communication was the vehicle for over 230 million messages in 1945 but has been considered obsolete since the advent of the internet and email.

I pose that it is the modern equivalent of the handwritten letter! A personalized letter, delivered to you by hand has more meaning because of the thought behind it. And, believe it or not, it’s even faster than text messaging as Jay Leno found out during this contest between Morse code enthusiasts and text messaging teen agers.

And similar to the carrier pigeon, you can reach nearly anyone, anywhere in the world as telegrams can be sent to over 220 different countries. So if you have an international audience and highly targeted messages, you might consider telegrams as an amplification technique.


 

Megaphones

People often refer to megaphones metaphorically to describe the amplification of a message – There’s a reason for that! Megaphones are ideally suited for sharing a message with a wide number of people in a short amount of time. Let’s consider the math of a potential megaphone campaign.

Take Portland Oregon for instance. According to the census bureau, Portland is 133.43 square miles with a population of 619,360. Let’s also say you’re going 30 miles an hour, slow enough that a 5-10 second message could be heard start to finish.

A reasonable megaphone appears to have a 1000 yard range and we assume this goes out to the sides as well. Every square mile is 1760 yards so, if we generously round down, you can assume that for every mile driven, you are covering the whole square.

Therefore, if plotted out carefully, one could share their message with the entire city in just over four hours. And think how unforgettable of a platform this would be! It’s hard to argue with the sheer amount of impressions this could earn you for a mere $69.09 and some time on the road.


 

Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity endorsements are powerful  – proven in this substantive study to improve both brand sales as well as stock returns. You might have thought to yourself “but I’m just a small business, no celebrity will work with me” and skipped over this point but if you’re still with me pat yourself on the back and enjoy the fruits of this strategy.

You’re probably right, celebrity’s most likely won’t work with small businesses as they can get paid so much more to work with larger businesses. But what if you had someone who sounded just like a celebrity? On fiverr, you can hire people such as this person or this person to voice over videos as Morgan Freeman, Bill Clinton, or even Ian Mckellan as Gandalf. All of this for nothing more than $5!

Of course, if your legal team has a problem with it, you may have to put a small disclaimer somewhere in the video about how they’re not actual celebrity endorsements but only impressions. Regardless, this could be an effective way to get celebrity impressions with having to pay the millions that fortune 500 companies do.


 

Sky Writing

As marketers we are constantly in pursuit of the ultimate medium that will allow us to reach our entire audience for the lowest price possible. Sometimes we forget to look around at the things we take for granted as potential marketing opportunities but the perfect medium has been there all along: the sky.

Similar to megaphones, you can market to an entire city to make sure you reached every potential customer that might be hidden among the populace. There are some additional benefits though, as you can amplify your message in far less time with much less effort. Of course, this does cost slightly more (a typical message costs $3,000 to $5,000) so this is only an option for companies with a budget.

If you’re a detail oriented, sharp witted thinker you’ve probably noticed the obvious flaw in this tactic. The message dissipates in approximately 10 minutes and how can you guarantee that everyone in the city looks to the sky to see your message?

With fireworks, that’s how! With a slight additional investment, purchase the loudest, flashiest fireworks available to make sure hordes of people come running out of their offices to gawk directly at your message!


 

Conclusion

These are only some of the tactics you could employ to help spread the message of your brand. As marketers, it’s our civic duty to ensure we never stop experimenting with new and innovative methods that allow us to find opportunities where potential customers could be exposed to our messages and exploit them to their fullest. After all, we are only trying to help people solve problems they didn’t know they had and there is nothing more honorable or noble than that.

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