You must be aware of the several marketing methods such as email marketing, broadcasting, billboards, print ads, Google Ads., content marketing, social media marketing, and so on.
Let’s call all of these as normal marketing methods.
However, there are examples of advertisements that are not normal or usual. Such unusual marketing are termed as Guerrilla marketing. The Guerrilla marketing include surprise elements in them that connect with the audience in an emotional and creative method. About 27% of industry leaders in Germany use unconventional methods of marketing to promote their brands.
Since, you must be eager to learn more about Guerrilla marketing, let us straight away take you to the world of Guerilla marketing.
What is Guerrilla Marketing?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, Guerrilla marketing is defined as; any form of marketing that is original, unusual, and not expensive.
In other words, Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional or you may say non-traditional way of advertising to sell and promote goods and services. This type of inbound marketing includes a surprise element in its strategy to delight and attract customers.
The main objective of Guerilla marketing is to boost the awareness of brands or products. It engages the audience through the development of a memorable image in the minds of customers.
Most people are great at absorbing information. Guerrilla marketing is needed because it gives small businesses a delightfully unfair advantage: certainty in an uncertain world, an economy in a high-priced world, simplicity in a complicated world, and marketing awareness in a clueless world.
-by Jay Conrad Levinson
The most practical examples of Guerrilla marketing include painting up the logo of McDonald’s on the road, Coca-Cola’s happiness machine campaign, Volkswagen’s Piano Staircase, KitKat’s Take a Break challenge, Wooden sticks in the form of a brush used in the ice creams by Colgate, and so on.
According to SendPulse,
“Guerrilla marketers spend 90% less on advertising because of using unconventional approaches.”
Campaigns of Guerrilla marketing can be done in several ways- online, offline, or a combination of both. There is complete freedom of choice. You can choose the best suitable method for your business.
Origin & Evolution of Guerrilla Marketing
The word Guerrilla marketing is inspired by the term “Guerrilla warfare strategy” whereby small independent armies defeat the big armies.
In the case of Guerrilla marketing, there is no war-like situation. However, war can be compared with the ongoing competition between different companies to establish their supremacy in the market domain.
Guerrilla Warfare used by Vietcong in the battle with American army.
Maharana Pratap, the ruler of Mewar, introduced the concept of Guerrilla warfare in India. He used the strategy of attacking his enemies when they were unaware. This helped in the victory of even small armies against the larger ones.
The word “Guerrilla marketing” was first coined in 1984 by Jay Conrad Levinson, a writer, in his book titled “Guerrilla marketing”.
Since then it has been used by marketers as a strategy to surprise its targeted audience and create a connection with it. The method is used in such a way that it compels the audience to buzz about it. They start discussing it with their family and friends.
For those who want to gain more influence over customers with fewer resources and limited money, Guerilla marketing is a superb way of advertising.
Classification of Guerrilla Marketing
A variety of Guerrilla marketing strategies have come up over some time based on how your surprise your audience. The most popular ones are discussed below to provide you with a clear picture of what they are all about.
1. Ambient Marketing
Meaning of Ambient: Relating to the immediate surroundings of something
The medium or the way of marketing in this type is the environment of the product, brand, service, or company. As marketing is done in unusual places, it tends to leave a powerful impression on people’s minds.
Examples of this marketing are Rimmel’s Nail Polish, the Copenhagen zoo bus campaign, and Oldtimer in front of a tunnel.
2. Ambush Marketing
Meaning of Ambush: Make a surprise attack on (someone) from a concealed position
This type of marketing utilizes the influencers and promotion places of its competitors or other sponsors. It mainly takes up advantage of the marketing of its competitors without having any sponsorship rights. As a result, it is also considered a negative form of marketing. BMW and Audi, Samsung, and Apple are examples of it.
3. Grassroot Marketing
Meaning of Grassroot: The most basic level of an activity or organization
One by one small group is targeted in this type of marketing rather than focusing on a large crowd. The main idea behind it is to make people advocate the products and services to a large group of people. Norma Sports drinks and ALS Ice bucket challenge are examples of this type of marketing.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was held in 2014 in which Americans participated and supported it in a great way. The entire donation collected from the challenge was spent on the research of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) disease.
4. Stealth Marketing
Meaning of Stealth: Cautious and surreptitious action or movement.
People unconsciously become part of this type of marketing. They are unaware that they are participating in the marketing of products or services. Mini Cooper in the film “The Italian Job” and Wooden sticks in the form of a brush used in the ice creams by Colgate are examples of Stealth marketing.
5. Buzz or Viral Marketing
Spreading the “Word of mouth” online mainly through social media networks is the main strategy of this type of marketing. Its examples are Apple: Shot on iPhone, Zoom Virtual Background Challenge, and Uber’s Launch Campaign.
To highlight the exclusive camera of the iPhone 6, a campaign was launched by Apple in 2015 to spread the word to millions of people. The campaign asked people to click their best photos on iPhones and submit them so that they can be displayed across various places.
6. Experiential Marketing
It involves face-to-face interaction with the target audience and sharing of experiences of the people as its strategy. Mainly emotions are being targeted in this type of marketing.
The “Flash Mob” craze, Facebook: Facebook IQ Live, and Red Bull: Stratos are some of the examples.
The campaign “Smile with Lays” was organized by Lays for spreading smiles among people. It portrayed how different flavors of Lays displayed different smiles and moods of the people.
7. Street Marketing
In Street marketing, products and services are directly brought up to the audience in the public area. This marketing is confined to the street and public areas only.
Its examples are Hijacking street furniture with Happn in 2017 and Scooter kidnapping in Paris for the promotion of “Le Drugstore Parisien ”.
The McDonald’s french fries Pedestrian crossing campaign was launched to market the french fries. The moment people came across the McDonald’s french fries displayed on the streets they feel like having a happy meal from Mcdonald’s.
Strategies to Build Guerrilla Marketing for Your Business
Can you develop creative and unique content with surprise element in it?
The use of creative and unique content is one of the first steps in creating an effective Guerrilla marketing strategy. If your content is both unique and creative, it will reach a larger audience. In addition, effective video can also play a great role.
Moreover, you can involve the audience in your strategy by building a user-centric strategy. People love getting involved.
Hangouts and events can add fuel to the fire. It can make your strategy more appealing and interesting.
Who doesn’t like free things? Gifts or samples can be distributed amongst the general public.
Productive Guerrilla Marketing Campaign Ideas
What can be better than the use of posters and stickers?
It is one of the most commonly used ideas for a Guerrilla marketing campaign. It is cost-effective and can be implemented in almost all places.
The location for the campaign must be chosen appropriately. You should keep the target audience in mind and choose the place where the maximum number of people can engage with the advertisement.
Don’t agree with the campaign idea of a company?
You can manipulate it and use it in your own campaign in a more fulfilling way. By pointing out the mistakes of a competitor’s advertisement, you can get the upper hand by placing your own advertising banners next to that advertisement.
Originality is the key. Original ideas should form the basis of the campaign. Copied ideas will affect the image of the brand. Therefore, proper research needs to be done and unique ideas should be executed.
Captivating Graffiti and chalk art can be created on walls or streets for advertisement. They will surely add vitality to your campaign.
Also read: How to boost creativity to levels beyond the limit?
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Pros of Guerrilla Marketing
1. May Go Viral
If the campaign gets exposure through social media then a lot of chances are there that it can go viral. It will be able to gather more engagement and attention from the audience.
2. Able to Build Partnerships
Development of mutually beneficial partnerships with a brand, sponsors, etc. can also be possible.
3. Fun Factor
Since these campaigns are unique and creative, they are fun to create and implement.
4. Creates a Memorable Impact
Guerrilla marketing creates a memorable impact on the minds of the audience and leaves an impression behind.
5. Low-budget Marketing
Initially, marketing was done by large firms with high budgets but now with the advent of Guerrilla marketing, marketing can be done with a very low budget as compared to traditional methods of marketing.
6. Greater Reach
Guerrilla marketing can influence and engage large numbers of people in a short period with a low budget.
7. High Return on Investment
Guerrilla marketing gives a high return on investment(ROI). With a low budget, you can get more value and sales.
8. Building up an Emotional Connection
Since Guerrilla marketing is mainly concerned with provoking the emotions of the people be it sadness, love, etc., it can leave strong impressions in the minds of the audience. A strong connection gets built up between the audience and the product or service which is good for publicity.
Cons of Guerrilla Marketing
1. Less Assured of Success
Guerrilla marketing has fewer chances of being successful. It is more of a risky strategy rather than a secure one. Sometimes, it helps in increasing the sales of the company within a short period and at other times it can do the opposite.
2. Message Can be Misunderstood
The meaningful message conveyed by Guerrilla marketing can be misunderstood by the audience. As a result, strategy can backfire and result in damaging the reputation of the firm or brand involved.
3. Can Benefit Some Other Brand
At times, it can also happen that Guerrilla marketing is being done for a particular brand but some other brand takes the advantage of that marketing.
4. Unable to Get Approved
Executives may not approve of a particular marketing strategy if that strategy is either too unconventional or risky.
5. Can be Embarrassing or Frightening
Some campaigns can be embarrassing or frightening which leads to a lack of association of people with the marketing campaign.
6. The Associated Risk of Failure
There is a lot of risk of failure associated with Guerrilla marketing. Failure can be due to many reasons including bad weather and political tensions.
7. Controversial
With the sudden emergence of political conflicts or unforeseen circumstances, it can seem to be controversial in nature.
Is Guerrilla Marketing a Good Fit for You?
Guerrilla marketing needs a lot of creative dedication, time, and hard work. If you are not ready to give all the above-mentioned points their essential place, then of course Guerrilla marketing is not a good fit for you.
Small businesses that are trying to establish themselves with little or no exposure can employ the tactics of Guerrilla marketing. If successful, they can get huge exposure with the use of the tactics and can enjoy the publicity.
This however doesn’t mean that large firms cannot use it. Guerrilla marketing is for all. But, it should be used with caution.
A little bit of misunderstanding of the Guerrilla campaign can lead to wrong conclusions by the customers. Instead of getting publicity and attention, firms can even lose their already established name and fame.
Therefore, the tactics used should convey clear meaning and understanding to the customers which can create long-lasting impressions in their subconscious minds.
The Future of Guerrilla Marketing
Wondering about the vitality of Guerrilla marketing?
Though Guerrilla marketing has established itself as the most unique tactic utilized by marketers, still many marketing specialists argue about the vitality of Guerrilla marketing in today’s world.
You must have heard about the efforts of Golden Palace Casino. Most of the efforts were harmless, amusing, and beneficial but some were completely outrageous.
All this indicates that Guerrilla marketing is not always seen as a useful strategy. Sometimes, it backfires as well. The risk associated with it is huge.
Moreover, in today’s world of Internet marketing, there seems to be less place for Guerrilla marketing as nothing can be done without the use of the internet. Blogs, social media, and so on everything is dependent on the internet.
You can have brilliant ideas in your mind but what about their promotion? Only a few people will be able to engage with your idea if the utilization of the internet is not done.
Do you think you can promote and express your idea of Guerrilla marketing well without the use of the internet? Then you can try but it will be like breathing without oxygen.
At last, it can be concluded that almost all the credit goes to the internet these days and without it, no Guerrilla marketing can thrive.
Click to explore more: Future of content marketing: Where is it going?
Very informative
I am glad you like it. Thank you
Thank YOU INDEED, dear Aditi, for sharing such an insightfully GRAND piece with us! I had not heard before how the type of marketing I have mostly used as a freelancer for the last three decades would perfectly fit into Guerrilla Marketing.
Very Well Written Aditi..Thanks a lot
Thank you so much