What is guerrilla marketing, what it is and how it works

Guerrilla marketing is a tactic where a business uses creative ideas to promote and as a result gets a lot of reach at a low cost. In other words, it is creative and low-budget marketing.

How it works? Advertising should evoke emotions in potential consumers: to please, to laugh, to surprise. People will themselves transmit an advertising message - tell each other about it or repost it on social networks. So information about a company or product will spread to a large audience almost free of charge.

The term appeared thanks to the book by the American advertiser Jay Conrad Levinson, which was published in 1984. The book was called Guerrilla Marketing: Simple Ways to Get Big Profits at Low Cost.

Guerrilla Marketing: Tips from Levinson's Book

The book is addressed to small businesses. Levinson tells how to promote a business at the lowest cost and attract new customers when there are too many competitors. He writes about a systematic approach: how to plan marketing, create a calendar of events, calculate budgets and test ideas.

We read the book and came up with seven tips for organizing a guerrilla marketing campaign:

1. Any technique should be used only once. If you repeat it again, it will no longer be unique and is unlikely to appeal to the audience. Come up with new ways to attract customers.
2. You need to conduct a dialogue with potential customers. TV commercials are a monologue. Give the consumer the opportunity to express their opinion.

Let's say a company is running a prize draw. To participate in it, you can write a review about the company. This is already the beginning of a dialogue. So the company will hear the opinions of the participants and will be able to respond to everyone.

3. Advertising campaign needs proper positioning. The proposal must “hook” the audience – otherwise, the design and wording are not important. To correctly position the product, determine who the advertisement is aimed at. You need to know the problems of the target audience and understand how the product solves them.

Let's say the target audience for fast food ads is students. They have two problems: no time to cook food and little money. Fast food should position itself as cheap food with fast delivery.

4. Before launching an advertising campaign, even a "guerrilla" one, determine the budget and make a list of promotional activities.
5. Find marketing channels and tools that will get more attention. For example, to promote a pet store, you can buy ads in the popular Telegram channel with pictures of cats.

The world is overflowing with information, and consumers are hard to surprise. The goal of guerrilla marketing is to find a unique idea, bring it to life and spend some money in the process.

Methods and types: what is guerrilla marketing

Guerrilla marketing can be called any creative solutions that give a large reach with a small budget.

In guerrilla marketing, there are common methods that can also be called its types. We list seven frequently mentioned ones.

Viral content or viral marketing. Memes, useful tips and articles, unusual videos - users love to support and distribute content on social networks. The company needs to invest money only in the production of such content.

ambient marketing. Literally translated as "surrounding marketing". This is the direction of advertising, which uses the environment and its elements. Advertising can be in graffiti on walls, ceilings or asphalt, or in stickers on windows, handrails in public transport and on escalators. You can paint benches in corporate colors. In the dark, light images on roads or buildings attract attention.

Ambush marketing. The meaning of this tactic is to become visible at a mass event in which the company is not related. Most often it is about sports events. An example of ambush marketing is when a company distributes flags and other paraphernalia to fans at the stadium entrance.

Fusion or collaboration. This is mutual PR. It is possible when two products from different companies complement each other rather than compete. For example, Coca-Cola advertises McDonald's and vice versa.

Outrageous. Shocking behavior, provocative antics, double entenders, puns and jokes on the topic of the day always attract attention. As a result of a shocking advertising campaign, people may appear who will definitely never contact the company. But there may be those who like advertising. And the company will definitely be remembered by many.

life placement. The company conducts promotions in places visited by its target audience. But it's not just about handing out samples or tasting products. There are special people at the promotion - actors who praise the advertised product. It seems to visitors that the product is praised by real buyers.

Hiden advertisment. Covert marketing is most commonly found in TV series, movies, and YouTube blogs. It looks like this: the hero of the film uses Palmolive shampoo or the blogger cooks with Brest-Litovsk oil, but there is no direct advertising. However, the viewer remembers the product. Discussions and comments on blogs, forums and social networks can also be classified as hidden advertising.

When does hidden advertising become "guerrilla"? Advertising from bloggers, and even more so in TV shows, is expensive. Therefore, the company can come up with a creative way to get such advertising. For example, some food bloggers review cafes. A cafe employee can write to such a blogger in the comments as a simple reader and suggest an interesting place for a review. Perhaps this way the cafe will get free advertising. Another option is to order inexpensive advertising from a blogger and hope that it goes viral.

The most common channels used for guerrilla marketing are:

Deadpool on Tinder: A few examples of guerrilla marketing

Here are some examples of successful "guerrilla" advertising campaigns.

There are also bad examples. In 2005, Snapple wanted to set a world record and advertise their frozen desserts at the same time. The company was going to install an ice cream 7.5 meters long in one of the parks in New York. But it melted faster than expected and covered several streets in sticky goo. Firefighters had to be called to wash it off.

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