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What is 'Covert' Marketing?

Covert Marketing is a new method of marketing, which uses various tactics to secretly market your product or service to your prospective customer.

There are two types of Covert Marketing: In the first approach, the customer does not know who is actually selling them the product. In the newest approach, they do not realize they are being ‘sold’ anything.

The advantage of Covert Marketing is that you expose your product to otherwise ‘hard to reach’ prospects who then become customers.

A classic example of Covert Marketing is the Saturn car from General Motors. It was sold as if it was from a hip new car company, not from GM, which many consumers viewed as too traditional for them.

Other types of Covert Marketing: You walk into a bar and see a group of attractive twenty-five year olds having a great time: laughing, talking and drinking Vodka coolers. They invite you to join them and tell you how good their coolers are. You decide to have the same drink. They take a picture of you with them, drink in hand. You have just been successfully marketed to, covertly.

The campaign can be a blitz (many people on one day) or ongoing for months or years. A trade show requires a blitz, while building a new beer brand might benefit more from the trendy local pub approach, for example.

Other examples of Covert Marketing include:
Leaving a pallet of a new candy product in a poor but trendy neighborhood so the kids grab them and talk about it.

Wesley Media provides the ideas for Covert Marketing of your specific product and we handle the implementation, whatever that entails. Contact us today to help you succeed with Covert Marketing in your next Marketing Plan.

When do you need Covert Marketing?
  • You have a mature brand that needs revitalization.
  • You have a new brand that you want to separate from the existing brand either because of price or demographics.
How can Wesley Media help you?
  1. Assess whether your product/service is a candidate for Covert Marketing.
  2. Create the Covert Marketing campaign strategy.
  3. Create the tactics required for Covert Marketing to succeed.
  4. Implement the Covert Marketing strategy and tactics as required, with your staff and other third parties.
Cost and Payback:

Each project is different depending on the requirements of the strategy. It is an extremely effective tool for reaching 'hard to reach' consumers who ignore traditional advertising.

Is your product or service a candidate for Covert Marketing?
Click below to get a free assessment: