Undercover marketing, also known as buzz or stealth marketing, is a marketing technique that focuses on “hidden” marketing activities. With undercover marketing, a representative of the company uses or talks about a certain product or service in places where target consumers congregate, as if a spontaneous activity and not a planned marketing effort.

The target audience does not realize they are being marketed to and the hope is that the efforts will generate a buzz and get people talking excitedly about the product or service.

It can be difficult to execute a successful undercover marketing campaign, but if you’re able to pull it off, here are some of the positive results you can hope for:

* Reaching potential customers who are typically cynical of advertising

* Generating a grassroots buzz that has the potential to go viral

* Giving customers the feeling that they “discovered” a valuable product or service