What is Guerrilla Marketing?
Guerrilla marketing is all about using creativity and bold surprises to connect with audiences. It is about being bold and inventing ways to engage with your audience on a personal level. Jay Conrad Levinson is the godfather of Guerrilla Marketing. If you haven’t read his book, we highly recommend it. And no, we don’t earn any affiliate ad revenue by promoting his book. We’re just fans. 🙂
In today’s digital world, the average person sees around 10,000 ads every day. Most of those ads are ignored. Guerrilla marketing tries to be different by using unconventional and creative tactics to grab your attention in the middle of all that advertising noise.
Connecting with customers on an emotional level is key. For small businesses, it’s all about making sure their marketing campaigns reflect their values and connect with people on a personal level. By being a bit more casual and creative, they can become a natural part of people’s daily lives. Creating something that audiences want to share can make it go viral, allowing your fans to promote your brand through user-generated content.
Paramount’s campaign for the horror film “Smile” showcases an innovative approach at an MLB game. Rather than using a traditional billboard, actors wearing eerie smiles and neon shirts with “SMILE” sat behind home plate where most of the game attendees and fans could see what they were doing. This stunt led to almost instant virality and widespread searches on social platforms like TikTok.
Guerrilla marketing, though creative and attention-grabbing, carries risks. One major concern is the potential for backlash or controversy if the campaign isn’t well-received or is misunderstood. Guerrilla marketing is influenced by disruptive design languages, so there’s a fine line between sparking interest and provoking displeasure.
There is risk involved with any marketing plan or campaign, whether it’s guerrilla marketing, performance-based, or conventional. It just depends on how calculated you can get.
Small businesses with a comprehensive brand strategy can mitigate most risks and define when, where, and how bold creative choices play a role in guerrilla marketing campaigns. It is important to develop a brand strategy that carefully supports and aligns with your goals. Any negative feedback from your traditional marketing campaigns can directly affect a brand’s reputation. There is risk involved with any marketing plan or campaign, whether it’s guerrilla marketing, performance-based, or conventional. It just depends on how calculated you can get.
Guerrilla Marketing is Small Business Marketing
Guerrilla marketing strategies appeal to small businesses because they harness creativity over cash. Who wouldn’t want to get results without spending a small fortune? By being bold and thinking creatively, small businesses can create marketing ideas that resonate deeply with their audience through unconventional stunts, interactive experiences, or targeted local initiatives.
Some of these tactics require a deep understanding of the community and a keen insight into the target audience. These advantages, which many large corporations may lack, give small businesses a competitive edge. By leveraging this intimate knowledge, small businesses can tailor their marketing efforts to effectively engage and connect with their target market and local customer base.
Small business marketing strategies have the potential to be highly impactful. They can generate significant buzz within the community and extend their reach far beyond geographical boundaries. This viral effect increases brand visibility. Viral opportunities foster organic word-of-mouth chatter, which is invaluable for small businesses. Buzz, viral hits, and organic lift help to grow the customer base and solidify a brand’s presence with potential customers.
A great example of small business marketing is a dentist’s office that incorporates a telephone pole into its design. While not overly complex, this type of ad stands out and creates a sense of whimsy that sparks interest.
Know Your Audience
When implementing guerrilla marketing strategies for a product or service, it’s important to understand your audience and consider specific questions.
- Where do they hang out?
- What do they like and dislike?
- What do they care about?
- How do they communicate?
- What does their routine look like?
- What can cause surprise?
- How do they spend their leisure time?
Types of Guerrilla Marketing
Buzz Marketing
A buzz marketing strategy revolves around word-of-mouth distribution, which is commonly utilized on social media. This method relies on customers to amplify awareness of a product or company by creating a shareable or interactive campaign.
Ex. Clever and funny sandwich board signs that give streetwalkers a laugh, initiating them to snap a photo and share it
Stealth Marketing
Stealth marketing involves marketing to consumers in a way they don’t realize they are being marketed to. Product placement is a common practice for this type of marketing
Ex. A small candle business sends its new candle line to an influencer or public figure in exchange for them incorporating it into their content.
Ambient Marketing
Blending into a natural environment in subtle yet unorthodox ways that make a person take a second look is a much safer tactic because it does not alienate the audience.
Ex. A local bookstore commissioned a local artist to paint book-themed murals along the sidewalk leading to the store.
Ambush Marketing
Coatailing off an event by drawing attention to your messaging in a way that gets people to start asking questions and googling
Ex: Fiji Water hired a model to hold a tray of Fiji water on the red carpet. She photobombed many celebrities, creating humorous attention to the brand. This quirky publicity stunt influenced people which created a lot of online chatter and even started the trending hashtag #fijigirl online.
Projection Marketing
Displaying large eye-catching advertisements, typically on buildings or plain walls, usually through projections or methods that are less permanent, flexible, and require less initial funding
Ex. An Art Gallery creating buzz around a new exhibit by projecting elements of the exhibits on the side of the building that intrigues passersby.
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