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"Dominic Smith is a senior writer and content strategist for Rackspace Digital, the digital marketing infrastructure specialists.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDigital marketing, like the \u201Canalog\u201D marketing that came before it, relies on word of mouth. Clicks, shares, pins and retweets are all part of the conversation.\r\n\r\nEven in the age of BuzzFeed and go-viral formulas (online quizzes involving yesteryear celebrities apparently back in style), many brands still engage traditional ad agencies and marketing consultants to craft their message. But a handful of companies go it alone, even after they achieve considerable success.\r\nTwo companies that have broken away from the pack for their unconventional use of digital marketing channels are GoPro Camera and Tesla, the electric car manufacturer. While GoPro has virtually hijacked YouTube, generating over 400 million views of intrepid souls tearing down ski slopes, Tesla runs its own website with a marketing team of seven.\r\nIts secret sauce? A beautifully designed car that can be custom-ordered for delivery, direct from the Tesla online design studio.\u00A0\r\n\r\nGoPro camera: A window onto the world\r\nAt its most basic level, a camera is a lens, a window onto the world. It\u2019s not the camera you\u2019re looking at when you watch the video of someone snowboarding, surfing or base jumping\u2014it\u2019s the spinning, whirring site of the ocean, mountain or sky.\r\n\r\n\r\nEven though it\u2019s mostly invisible in this video, it\u2019s the camera and the GoPro brand that get most of the credit. The brand becomes a delivery mechanism for adventure, for the idea of checking things off our collective bucket list.\r\nIt also gets credit for compassion and humanism thanks to slower, viral hits like \u201CFireman Saves Kitten.\u201D\r\nThe GoPro channel has a little under two million subscribers, comprised of sports fans, thrill seekers, photography buffs and just about anyone with a social media account. Sharing is everything for this kind of content. The video above has received over 30 million views and generated more than 27,000 comments.\u00A0\r\nThose numbers are important for the success of GoPro\u2019s digital marketing strategy. By posting engaging content on a regular basis, the company is able to demonstrate value in becoming a subscriber.\r\nOn top of that, GoPro systematically goes through the viewer comments on YouTube and answers any product questions that come up. \u00A0In other words, GoPro is using YouTube as an active system of customer and prospect engagement, not merely a repository for pushing out content.\r\nAnd because they\u2019re so confident you\u2019ll watch their posted videos all the way to the end, they present you with a single \u201CSubscribe\u201D button at the conclusion of all that emotion-driven fun.\r\n\r\nTesla: A carmaker without a dealer network\r\nThe US auto market has lots of barriers to entry\u2014capital investments in factories, the need for high-end TV spots, and incentives for dealers chief among them. The conventional wisdom is that no car could compete without winning over the showroom floor.\r\nBut Tesla, the company started by tech billionaire Elon Musk\u2014who sidelines as the SpaceX pioneer\u2014has disrupted that paradigm.\u00A0\r\nUnlike other electric cars like the Chevy Volt, Tesla has no dealer network and doesn\u2019t engage in any traditional advertising. The company has no CMO and only a small marketing team.\r\nDespite the fact that a handful of states, including Texas and Virginia, have recently banned Tesla sales via traditional channels, the sleek electric cars are popping up on roadways all over the country. The music-cum-boomtown of Austin, Texas sees hundreds of Teslas on its streets, despite the statewide ban on their sale.\r\nThirty-five high-tech storefronts across the US, Asia and Europe, do some of Tesla\u2019s advertising for them. They\u2019re set up like Apple Stores, in upscale shopping malls and on strategic urban thoroughfares. Curious passersby slow down to take pictures on their smartphones and post them on social media.\u00A0\r\nThe rest of Tesla\u2019s \u201Cadvertising\u201D is done by curious journalists and online commerce. With less than 10,000 cars sold worldwide, the Tesla name\u2014and its stock price\u2014carries more buzz than revenue (the company only recently posted its first quarterly profit).\r\nBut journalists love to cover the story of the technology and the bullish entrepreneur behind it. In fact, because it\u2019s relatively difficult to buy a Tesla (its $70,000 entry-level price tag notwithstanding), there\u2019s a certain appeal of going rogue.\r\nSince state governments aren\u2019t able to effectively ban online sales, Tesla enthusiasts can customize their rides, pay their deposits and wait 90 days for a delivery.\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=&amp;quot;attachment_759679&amp;quot; align=&amp;quot;aligncenter&amp;quot; width=&amp;quot;684&amp;quot;] Scottsdale, AZ Tesla storefront at Fashion Square, via the Tesla website.[/caption]\r\nThe power of \u201Cfree\u201D advertising\r\nWhile it\u2019s true that Tesla and GoPro are at opposite ends of the pricing universe\u2014$70,000 versus $400\u2014the two brands have a lot in common. They\u2019ve both built exceptional products that strike a nerve with the buying public. They\u2019ve both found ways to put that product front and center, while avoiding the high costs of traditional advertising.\r\nEach brand tells a compelling story, one that involves defying convention for something more urgent and exciting.\u00A0\r\nYour neighbors might buy a GoPro Camera for their upcoming whitewater rafting trip, but they\u2019re less likely to start commuting in a Tesla any time soon. That\u2019s okay with Tesla. They just want your neighbors to post pictures on Facebook or Instagram when that first sleek Tesla drives by.\r\nDon't miss:\u00A0How\u00A0to create successful social video content"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/07/gopro-tesla-hacked-digital-marketing/>