If you’ve ever wondered what guerrilla marketing is and how you can use it for your business, we are here to explain! Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that focuses on low-cost unconventional marketing tactics that can bring big results. It is one of the various digital marketing tactics that you can use to bring more attention to your company. Created in 1984 by Jay Conrad Levinson, the term “guerrilla marketing” was actually inspired by guerrilla warfare.
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What are the Types of Guerrilla Marketing?
Guerrilla marketing works by repurposing your audience’s current environment.
There are so many different types of guerrilla marketing tactics, with these being the four most important: outdoor, indoor, event ambush, and experimental.
Outdoor guerrilla marketing works by adding something to pre-existing urban environments, like putting something removable on a statue, or putting temporary artwork on the street and sidewalks. Indoor guerrilla marketing takes place in indoor locations such as train stations, shops, and university buildings. Event ambush guerrilla marketing happens when you have an audience, such as a concert or a sport event. You can use this event as a way to promote your product or service in a big way. Experimental guerrilla marketing uses a combination of all of the marketing techniques that we put above.
Who Uses Guerrilla Marketing?
Many different people use guerrilla marketing. It is often most ideal for small businesses that need to reach a big audience, but it can also be used for big companies. The best part about guerrilla marketing for many companies is that it is fairly low-cost. Increasing brand awareness is one of the best ways for a company to thrive, and using guerrilla marketing will get you there!
Most people use guerrilla marketing to get media attention or make a positive connection with their target audience. There are a lot of guerrilla marketing experts that use techniques that can work for virtually any brand or organization, so long as the organization doesn’t mind taking some risks, and so long as the project is true to your company. The right concept for guerrilla marketing effort should capture your organization’s authentic voice and express what is unique about your company.
What Makes a Successful Guerrilla Marketing Strategy?
First, your strategy should be clever. A successful guerrilla marketing advertisement will leave consumers thinking about and interpreting the advertisement. Next, it should be compelling. It should capture the consumer’s attention and make them appreciate the advertisement. Third, it should be memorable. Consumers should continue thinking about it even after they’ve seen it. Lastly, a successful guerrilla marketing strategy should be interactive, whether that be with the surrounding area or consumers.
Guerrilla Marketing Examples to Use for Your Company
If you have a smaller company, guerrilla marketing can be a powerful tool to use. The best part about guerrilla marketing is that it is low-cost, so you don’t need to spend an extravagant amount of money.
1 – Open a Pop-Up Shop
Pop-up shops are temporary stores that are easy to set up and take down. With a pop-up shop, you can bring the point of sale to your customers by setting up a temporary physical store. When thinking of setting up a pop-up shop, keep in mind the location of the shop. Make sure it is in an area that gets a lot of traffic. You can have your pop-up shop in an office, street corner, fair, or inside an existing store.
2 – Give Away Free Samples
If you’ve ever been to Costco, then you know there is no better guerrilla marketing example than a free sample. Everyone loves free things! And most times, after being given something for free, people will feel obligated to give you something back. You can try it out at events or even fairs, where people will want to buy your products.
You can even make partnerships with other people to give your samples to their customers. Make sure that your samples have enough information for consumers to find you online. Use any opportunities to make sure that people are educated on your product and will reach out later.
3 – Use Stickers
Stickers are another great way to promote your product. People, especially on college campuses, love to decorate their laptops with stickers. Some people even put stickers on their phone cases, video game consoles, or other possessions. You can give stickers away along with other products at events. If the stickers are aesthetically pleasing, people will feel more inclined to put them on things. These stickers can give you free advertising for a long time to come.
4 – Be Active on Snapchat or Instagram
Geo-fencing is a popular technique that uses smartphone GPS in order to offer exclusive content or experiences if you’re in a target location. Geofilters on Snapchat are a great way to make custom filters. You can make a custom filter with your brand’s logo, and also promote any products that you may have. The cost is also pretty low, ranging from as little as $10 dollars. Instagram also uses a similar approach, through stories. You can make a custom filter on Instagram that people can use on their stories to promote your company or product.
5 – Use Art
Graffiti, posters, and other mediums of art are all great ways to advertise. You can put up posters, hire someone to make graffiti art, or create window stickers. The opportunities are truly endless when it comes to these effective guerrilla marketing examples. However, always make sure you ask for permission before you put your art up in a public place.
Other Guerrilla Marketing Examples to Try
Street Marketing
Street marketing is another name for outdoor guerrilla marketing. The main motive behind street marketing is to advertise the product or brand on the streets and in public places to grab the user’s attention. A lot of huge companies, such as McDonald’s, Dominos, Nike, and Puma have used street marketing as a way to connect to consumers. Creative displays have helped big brands create awareness with their consumers. But, you don’t need to be a big company to advertise on the street.
Ambient Marketing
The key to ambient marketing is placing your ad in a very unusual place. By placing it in an unusual place, you will surprise people who are seeing those ads and make them more memorable. This type of advertising has a lasting impact on the mind of the consumer. Marketers often tend to prepare billboards that are unusual in size like making them extra-large or small. As we all know, abnormal things grab people’s attention. Ambient advertising can be found anywhere like on the streets, on buses, billboards, bus stops, and cars.
Micro-Influencers
Influencer marketing has been a really big marketing option for businesses of all sizes. But micro-influencers serve as the perfect poster people for your business. The draw of micro-influencers is that they can be trusted, they speak directly to your audience, and their followers spend minutes not seconds listening to what they have to say. Micro-influencers naturally bring word-of-mouth to what you do. And the best part about it is that they are very cost-effective.
Make sure you have a great influencer marketing strategy so you can find the most relevant micro-influencers for your brand. Not every influencer can influence the exact same audience. To search for appropriate influencers, use marketing tools such as Buzzsumo or Impactana. You can discover micro-influencers based on the field that they work in. Once you’ve got a couple of micro-influencers on your mind, see if they can put content out that works with the image you want to project. You can reach out through social media to arrange a phone call or meeting to learn about their goals and see if it is in line with what you want to achieve with your company. Chances are, these influencers know what guerrilla marketing is and can help you out in this process.
Advantages of Guerrilla Marketing
With guerrilla marketing, you can reach a lot of people. They also require your company to get creative, which can be a big draw for consumers. Attractive and creative campaigns can end up creating a lot of buzz for your brand. Plus, guerrilla marketing helps in connecting you with your customers and other local businesses.
Disadvantages of Guerrilla Marketing
Overall, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to guerrilla marketing. One disadvantage is that there is no guarantee that the campaign will go viral or become newsworthy. If a brand fails with its campaign, it can actually end up becoming annoying to consumers.
SEO Design Chicago Can Help
If you’re reading this because you want to start using some guerrilla marketing tactics for your company, we are here to support you. Reach out to SEO design Chicago for more tips and information regarding guerrilla marketing tactics. We can also help you determine which other digital marketing tactics will be best for your business.
FAQs about Guerrilla Marketing:
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