The Perks of Side Project Marketing

Content marketing is hailed as a Messias because it makes marketing an innate part of your brand experience. But what if it’s not for you? What if you just don’t like blogging? Fret not -- and meet its lesser-known cousin, side project marketing. What’s that now? The clue is in the name: it’s a side project that brings attention to your core business. In the words of Seth Godin, “people have been blocking ads forever. By ignoring them.” Side project marketing works because it doesn’t quite feel like advertising. It embraces the golden rule of marketing by giving away something valuable to sell a related product. Without this, a side project becomes yet another marketing ploy. But, with a little time and effort, it can add value to your brand and bring the ROI of content marketing on steroids.

What can you do?

Fix a problem you have experienced.

Chances are, these fixes can also benefit your audience. Two birds, one stone.

This is what Crew did. A platform connecting those in need of a website with developers and designers, they needed photography for their website. We all know how stock images suck, so Crew got a photographer to work with them. The leftover images were put up for grabs online and just like that, Unsplash was born. Currently, more than half the traffic to Crew’s core business comes from one its side projects.

Make do with what you have and create an MVP.

You don’t always need to come up with a new idea -- your core product might already have a feature you can give away for free. Technically, a blog post or an eBook can be an MVP but don’t forget to focus on providing real value. How likely are you to read an article titled ‘You Won’t Believe These 7 Simple Ways to Grade Your Website’? Unless you absolutely love listicles and DIY, you’ll probably prefer Website Grader -- a free tool by HubSpot that actually grades your website. The same goes for your audience.

Connect with your audience.

We don’t buy things for the sake of buying something -- instead, we seek for emotions and experiences. A side project can create an overall stronger brand experience, which then helps build meaningful connections with the people that matter to your business. Odds are you’ve seen Spotify’s Year in Music project. It elicited beautiful emotions in their users, and so the response it generated wasn’t much of a surprise. People want to share things that make them feel great.

But side projects also have the ability to boost team morale.

Tobias van Schneider, Spotify’s design lead, spoke in length to First Round Review about the benefits side projects can bring to the companies that allow them. Giving people the time and resources to experiment without the fear of failure teaches us to take ownership of our work. It also makes us feel valued, and when we feel valued at work, we want to do better. Besides, a little time away from our main project can actually help us see things in a whole new light. Side project marketing is a chance to turn your problem fixes or passions into a credible part of your marketing strategy that, when done right, won’t even feel like marketing. It’s less about short-term letting of someone’s attention and more about adding value to your brand.