Audience Participation: How Far Will People Go To "Get" a Message.

I've been experimenting a lot lately with new marketing tactics.  Little things that I think can be extremely effective at little or no cost to an individual, a brand, or a company.  For example, tonight I was at Pomme Wine Bar in Clayton with a few friends.  On my way out, I placed two business cards on the table, and strategically dropped one on the floor on the way out.  I mean, truthfully, the two on the table probably got picked up by the hostess and thrown away, and the other probably got swept up into the trash, but I can't help but think about the possibilities.

Imagine the hostess being the daughter of a couple who was looking to buy or sell a house.  She'd see the card, mention it to them, and there's a sale.  Imagine the young couple sitting next to us was in the market for a condo and they saw the card on the floor as they were leaving the bar.  By the end of the night, I got 800,000 worth of sales possibilities just from dropping a few cards.  Total cost of the marketing on my end: about 10 cents.

The problem we often face in marketing is lack of participation by the audience.  We can deliver some great messages through some very effective mediums, but if the audience isn't "getting" the message and exploring it on their own, then nothing has really been accomplished.

I'm a marketing guy.  I live for it.  I dive deep into brands, interact, entertain, and engage in almost anyway way I can.  The problem lies in the fact that most people aren't as fond as I.  For example, being with a real estate company right now, I could go out to a parking lot and hit 100 cars with a flyer that said "TheBestHousesEver.com" that linked directly to our listings.  If I got this flyer, I'd go to the site, but 99% of other people probably wouldn't.

I think what I'm getting at is the idea of guerilla marketing.  Giving people the chance to receive a message, but relying on them to put in some work.  Is this type of messaging effective?  Would you pick up my business card?  Would you go to the website?  I'm interested in how far people will go into the unknowns of advertising.  I know the road I travel, but I think most audiences take a slightly different path.