Quick, buy my new product or the kitten gets it!

What’s the matter – don’t respond well to threats? Most consumers don’t, but they DO respond to cute. That’s why Mozilla’s grassroots marketing campaign, Firefox Live, has garnered so much attention in recent months.

The campaign, made to promote new versions of the Firefox web browser, features a live video feed of firefoxes (also known as red pandas) at the Knoxville Zoo. After a certain number of downloads, the firefoxes get a new treat. The website also features a highlights reel, a calendar of events, a poll and a voice-over contest.

All this adds up to a brilliant marketing ploy to make a software seriously warm and fuzzy (a phrase that’s, not coincidentally, the tag line of the site.) But Mozilla’s marketing genius doesn’t end there.

While upgrading to the most recent version of Firefox last week, I stumbled across Spread Firefox, a site that calls itself “a simple Affiliate program that allows you to easily spread the word about Firefox. Refer people to download Firefox, earn points and a chance to be rewarded with some very cool stuff!”

Now, I’m not a huge fan of affiliate marketing – I find it kind of sneaky and easy to abuse – but Mozilla does it in a way that makes it feel like you’re joining a street team.

Participating is easy: just snag an HTML code to add a Firebox button to your site, or check out the community forums to see how others are helping to promote the browser. (One supporter is pledging to install Firefox on every computer in his college campus.)

Community efforts like these allow Mozilla to successfully compete against Microsoft, Apple and Google — with a fraction of their marketing budgets.

“Of course, it could be argued that Mozilla is so unique that its grassroots marketing programs can’t be replicated,” writes Garrick Schmitt in Advertising Age. “But that’s a shortsighted perspective. Grassroots marketing, it turns out, is perfectly suited for our digital, networked world.”

How can you make grassroots marketing work for your small business?

•   Encourage sharing by providing free banner ads, buttons and other attractive graphics that others can use to link back to your site. The trick is to make it easy. Firefox provides HTML codes with images of the banners, so users know exactly what they’re getting and how to install them on their site.

•  Reward your supporters. Firefox does so by highlighting them in the sidebar of its community site. You can do the same by installing the CommentLuv plugin on your blog, or profiling a customer in your newsletter.

•  Spark discussion. Firefox has several forums where people can share ideas and help each other with problems. Do the same by asking questions and responding to user feedback. If you have a blog, end each post with a question. If you have a newsletter, ask readers to reply with their feedback. By encouraging discussion, you show that you care.

What other businesses are kicking butt at grassroots marketing? Let me know in the comments section below!