Guerrilla Marketing was originally introduced by Jay Conrad Levinson through his book 'Guerrilla Marketing' that was published in 1984. This unconventional and highly creative form of marketing spread like wild fire and his book became one of the best business books ever written.
Guerrilla Marketing is very much like guerrilla warfare, one doesn't simply march forward loaded with all kinds of marketing strategies and gimmicks. It is carefully and cleverly planned so as to make the maximum impact with minimum resources. The target is completely unaware and is hit unexpectedly. Also known an extreme marketing or stealth marketing, this practice aims to generate curiosity and leave a long lasting impression.
If you are a small business owner, then you must consider marketing strategies beyond social networking, email marketing, SEO or banner ads. There is so much that you can do through Guerrilla marketing, provided you have active imagination, creativity with a hint of humor and wit. A very simple yet clever example is in the image below; all 'Vijay Sales' needed was paint and a spatula to put his point across...and people are bound to talk about it, thereby solving Vijay's purpose.
How does it benefit small businesses?
Guerrilla marketing is considered to be one of the most apt marketing method for small business owners, since it doesn't require a huge marketing budget...all one needs is a whole lot of creativity. Initially this form of marketing was practiced by small & medium enterprises only, but with time big brands realized and understood that lasting impact that it manages to leave on the customers and now one can see more of big brands reaching us through unexpected channels and surprising us.
As a small business owner, you can benefit in following ways:
- Guerrilla marketing triggers word-of-mouth marketing and fuels it as well. People talk about it, they hope that they see it and when they do...they never forget it.
- As mentioned earlier, you hardly need any budget for this type of marketing campaign.
- Guerrilla marketing is not confined to the real world, you can very well pull it off in the virtual world as well. For example, developing a fun web-based game for free can get pretty viral.
- It is a very effective method to increase brand awareness.
- It also leads to direct interaction with your customers, since it also requires you to hit the streets and get out in the open.
Tips & Techniques
- Interactive Flyers
- Installations
- Characters in Costume
- Free Public Talks
- Reverse Graffiti: A concept that is a complete opposite of conventional graffiti, rather than spraying on streets, walls or pavements it involves cleaning streets, walls or pavements. Also known as clean advertising or clean graffiti.
- Undercover marketing, by placing product, product image or information subtly and creatively.
- Distributing merchandise like t-shirts, caps, pens, mugs, mouse pads etc for free or at very substantial rates.
- Writing an eBook and giving it away for free.
- Getting creative business cards made and leaving them at unlikely places.
- Using the virtual world to giveaway free templates, designs, articles, web-based games, tutorial videos, gift coupons or anything and everything else you can think of that relates to your business.
There are no set parameters when it comes to guerrilla marketing, these are just some of the many techniques used that will give you an idea of how you can consider planning your marketing campaign. Just let those creative juices flow and come up with something that puts your message across in the most ingenious and unconventional manner. Check out the video below with some of the most creative examples of Guerrilla Marketing:
For more examples, check out this article: Guerrilla Marketing Defined, With 25 Great Examples.
If you have come across some interesting example of Guerrilla marketing or have conducted one yourself, then do share them with us and our readers in the comment section below.
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