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Marketing Hack #8: Do something unexpected 

 June 15, 2015

By  Pascal Depuhl

I did not expect that …

Initial tweet Surprising start It started with a simple tweet. AdAge had just published their “Women to watch” list in their June issue. I love finding the people mentioned on those lists and send them a little congratulations tweet. It’s a fun way yo say hi.

I run the tweets through Buffer for the day, instead of blasting them all out at once. Usually I get a few followers, a few favorites and retweets and a few “Thank you” tweets back, but this time I got an unexpected opportunity to deploy a MarketingHack:

amazing!! Where did you get a hard copy?” reads the comment  writes (which gives me an idea) – to be honest I subscribe to AdAge and I’ve read the issue, it’s …[nextpage title=”next”]

gonna end up in a stack for a while and in a couple months I’ll recycle the magazine, but for the 20 ladies honored by being placed on the “Women to Watch” list, it has a lot more significance than to me.

Do the unexpected

the package sending it So I figure, why not mail Liz my copy – she’s not gonna expect it, I mean what’s it gonna cost me a couple of bucks ($6.40 to be exact), an envelope and a trip to the post office.

I jot down a little note, attach my business card and after a few minutes in line it’s on it’s way to New York. Then all I do is wait.

Surprise your target audience

The response “Just received the nicest surprise from ! Thank you thank you thank you for sending this to me!” reads the tweet from Liz I see two days later.

This Marketing Hack is valuable, because …

I made Liz’s day. And it cost me $6.40. I got a chance to introduce myself to the executive director of one of the top agencies in the country (according to AdAdge), but anytime you can connect with a person on a one-on-one level and surprise them by doing the unexpected, you’ve succeeded in marketing.

The result: 

OK. So my phone did not ring off the hook with work and I did not get any invitations to fly up to New York to meet, but this MarketingHack is about opening a door, starting a conversation. All I want to show you, is that marketing does not have to be expensive – sometimes all it has to be is unexpected, like sending a copy of a magazine you’ve read to the right person is a great way to surprise someone.

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Pascal Depuhl


Miami product photographer, video producer, cinematographer and chief mindchanger at Photography by Depuhl

I love to share the knowledge I've gained over the past two decades. Catching light in motion.

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