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Newsletter #924: The “Lessons from Help Remedies” Issue

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Help Remedies spends almost nothing on traditional advertising. Instead, they rely on word of mouth from their no-nonsense message, their weird stunts, and their sharable website content. They prove that you don’t have to spend big bucks to be remarkable.

Here are some lessons to borrow from them:

1. Don’t waste a great opportunity
2. Make a scene
3. Give them something to share (even if it’s weird)
4. Check it out: Fairy Tales for Twenty-Somethings

1. Don’t waste a great opportunity

Each box of bandages from Help Remedies also includes a kit that collects the tiny blood sample they need to put you on the marrow donor registry for the Delete Blood Cancer DKMS program. They figure that if you’re bleeding already you might as well try to save a life — that’s why the packaging simply says, “Help I’ve cut myself and I want to save a life.” It might have little to do with their bandages, but it’s an opportunistic way to help a cause — and a great reason for their fans to talk about them.

The lesson: Look for ways to add more meaning to the things you make — even if it’s not about your product.

Learn more: Ad Age

2. Make a scene

Word of mouth stunts don’t have to be dramatic to get people talking. Help Remedies sets up scenes with people sleeping in the store, models walking in heels on a treadmill, and kissing booths for problems like: “help I can’t sleep”, “help I have a blister”, and “help I’ve never been kissed.” It’s just simple enough that people get it, and it’s just strange enough that it gets everyone’s attention.

The lesson: You don’t need a huge budget or a crazy stunt to get people to notice you.

3. Give them something to share (even if it’s weird)

People will share content that makes them laugh, that they can personally relate to, and that their friends will enjoy. For example, Help Remedies posts a lot of absurd interactive content on their home page that fans can share on Facebook and Twitter. One box says, “Help, I’m shy.” When you click, it tells you to make eye contact with different animals. It may not have much to do with their medicine, but it’s the kind of random humor that people pass around.

The lesson: The content that your fans love to share isn’t about you, it’s about them.

Learn more: Help

4. Check it out: Fairy Tales for Twenty-Somethings

If the fairy tales Gen Y were told grew up along with them, this is what it might look like.

Check it out: Fairy Tales for Twenty-Somethings

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