One thing that I happen frequently to hear when talking with managers and entrepreneurs in food and beverage companies is that small companies cannot afford to reach big, large audiences because they cannot afford big investments that usually communication media requires. I think this is more an alibi, especially today, where the communications system has been completely revolutionized by digital tools. My suggestion and my point would be not to think in terms of communication media, but in terms of touchpoints. Touchpoints are every point of contact that a company can have with its customers. It's not only communication, but it's also a distribution point. A point of sale is a touchpoint. A product is a touchpoint. My suggestion will be to think in terms of touchpoints. If we think in terms of touchpoints, we can distinguish different touchpoints that can be combined together to reach audiences effectively. The managerial issue is how to reach the target customers I want to serve in an effective way by conveying to them, a message, product, service, and everything I want to deliver to my customers. Usually touchpoints are divided into three big categories: owned touchpoints, earned touchpoints, and paid touchpoints. The difference is that paiD touchpoints are touchpoints owned by other subjects, and so the company has to pay to get the usage of this touchpoint. The earned touchpoints are the touchpoints that the company earns because the company does something which is relevant to a system of communicators, who, in turn, communicate the message of the company to someone else. The third one is owned touchpoints. Owned touchpoints are the touchpoints owned by the company. Let's think about the website and sales force. Let's go in depth on each one of them. Paid touchpoints are touchpoints that, usually, companies have in mind: Advertising. An advertising message is a typical touchpoint, and since many communication media or mass communication media, traditional media, through which advertising messages are delivered, is very expensive, for many small companies this is considered a non-reachable point. And so, all the audiences that you could reach through this mass media cannot be reached by smaller companies. Among the paid touchpoints, there could be other touchpoints. For example, a sponsored event, so sponsorship or product placement in a movie or novel. These are typical paid touchpoints. That is to say, you have to pay the owner of the touchpoint in order to convey your message. On the opposite side, there are owned touchpoints. Think about the website of the company. Today, we can say that more or less all companies can afford a website. A website is a touchpoint you can use to get in touch with millions of consumers. Obviously, the point is you need to have a message to communicate to these target customers. But this is very cheap, and very easy to afford. Another typical owned touchpoint is your sales force. If a company has a sales force, each salesperson can be a touchpoint with the customers. Obviously some companies are too small, and they cannot afford to have a salesforce, but in this case, a salesforce can be considered a very useful and effective touchpoint. Among the earned touchpoints are the touchpoints that basically are not owned by a company but are basically influenced by the companies. Think about, for example, a review by a magazine or a review by a website. Basically it means that a company does something, an action, a communication, or an event, and this information is in turn communicated by this third party: the magazine or the website to another target audience that the company wants to reach. It is considered earned, because basically you don't pay for it, but you earn it, because you did something which is interesting or relevant for another audience. Today, is very important to consider the earned touchpoints within the touchpoints that the company can use because earned touchpoints have a difference compared to all the other ones. Since they are perceived by the consumers as not linked to directly to the company, they're considered more credible, which is exactly the opposite of owned touchpoints and paid touchpoints. A consumer knows very well that an advertising message has behind it, a company which wants him or her to buy the product or to act in some way, maybe to repeat the purchase, maybe to do something. The same is for the website of the company. So all these are considered less credible than other communication media. There are some touchpoints that, today, are particularly interesting for smaller companies, because usually they are lower budget touchpoints, they are very effective, and they are able to get earned touchpoints. That is to say, they are considered interesting by the mass media system that usually in turn, talks, speaks about it, and communicates it to the target audience. This is the area of unconventional communication or unconventional marketing: that is to say, campaigns which are very creative, low budget, and particularly impactful. There are two that I like to mention. One is the guerrilla marketing, the other one is viral marketing. Take into account that in any case a company has to spend and has to invest, because obviously, you need the production of these events, the production of these touchpoints. But investment, compared to advertising or other big paid touchpoints is much less expensive and is much less effort for the company. With guerrilla communication, or guerrilla marketing, it is meant, a number of small events that are very impactful, very creative that are able to attract the attention of people, to get this attention which in turn is translated into communication by other subjects: mass media, websites, reviewers, and so on and so forth. Viral marketing or viral communication is similar in terms of impact, so it's like similar to guerrilla marketing because it's usually is made of smaller events and smaller initiatives. Which are able to be virally communicated by the network of consumers through social networks and through social media. In this case, these touchpoints are not very expensive, or relatively speaking, the investment the company needs to activate these touchpoints is very low. Being low, it is affordable by all companies or most companies although their size is very small. The point is don't create an alibi on your size. Also, a small company can afford to communicate and to reach very broad audiences by combining touchpoints that are consistent with its size. Obviously if the company is bigger, the capacity of investment is bigger as well, so this company can afford a larger number of touchpoints. Much more sophisticated touchpoints, maybe. By definition it can reach, also, a broader audience, but the point is, in itself, this advantage is not so strong. If on the other side there are smaller companies that compete with more creative grassroots and conventional communication efforts. The real effort is, according to the size of the company, to find the right combination of touchpoints, which is consistent with the expectations of the target market, which is able to convey to these target markets, the right message, and which is able to provide consumers with information or the knowledge they need when they have to choose a product, choose a brand, or choose a company they want to buy. Let's take a look at some examples of unconventional communication campaigns.