Guerilla Marketing: Here’s why you need it
What is Guerrilla marketing?
The word “guerrilla” seems intense and intimidating by itself and that’s fair given that it refers to someone who engages in irregular or unconventional warfare but put it next to the word “marketing” and you’ve stumbled upon this tactic that could change your entire approach to marketing.
As the name suggests it’s a form of unconventional marketing which increases brand awareness and leaves a long lasting impression on the consumer. It heavily relies on creativity and taking the consumer by surprise or even just creating curiosity amongst the masses.
The concept of guerrilla marketing has been changing during the last five decades. In the 1960s, many small and medium sized enterprises in the US were urged to find innovative ways of effective advertising with little marketing budgets. They attempted to equalize their size-related disadvantages compared to large companies by means of unconventional ways of advertising which they adjusted fast and flexibly to changing market conditions. At that time, these guerrilla instruments were considered revolutionary because they were substantially different to classical advertising. As consumers did not inevitably recognize guerrilla activities as advertisement, they belong to the so called “below the line”-measures.
Why Guerrilla Marketing?
Even though the term was coined in the early 1980’s by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book “Guerrilla Advertising” it is becoming more and more effective as time passes as we as consumers are learning how to tune the traditional marketing such as television and pop up ad’s. This is where guerrilla marketing comes out on top, since it relies on the element of surprise and creativity it almost always gets the consumers attention.
Elements to a successful marketing strategy:
- The element of surprise : This type of marketing offers unusual interactions with potential customers. Often, guerrilla marketing tries to surprise or shock the audience.
- Clever : An effective guerilla marketing campaign should include clever advertising that leaves the viewers thinking about the advertisement.
- Captivating : It should capture the consumers’ attention and make them appreciate the advertisement.
- Memorable : The consumer should think about the advertisement even when they aren’t being advertised to.
- Cost-effectiveness. Most guerrilla marketing campaigns have low budgets but drive great results. The real investment in guerrilla marketing is creativity , imagination is more important than budget
Benefits of Guerrilla Marketing :
- Brand Awareness : Since guerrilla marketing is all about creating a buzz amongst consumer it acts like kerosene on the fire brand awareness is.
- Standing out : Guerrilla marketing makes you stand out from your competitors as it requires new innovative ideas that need to catch the consumers attention.
- Partnerships : A lot of guerrilla marketing tactics require collaborating with other brands which helps create strong partnerships.
Guerrilla marketing can boost your product/brand in no time with a very small budget.
Some Examples of Guerrilla Marketing:
- Redbull’s London Trashing: In the 1980s, Redbull was struggling to make its mark as an energy drink. So they went around London putting empty Redbulls into several trash cans and around nightclubs. They built an illusion of popularity to make an impression on customers.
Customers soon started wondering why there was a surge of Redbulls and soon enough their strategy worked.
- Deadpool’s Tinder Profile : Just like the movie , Deadpool broke the fourth wall by creating a tinder profile before the movie’s release. Some users were surprised to see a cheeky and witty Deadpool profile show up on their tinder and if they swiped right it would take them to a link to buy tickets to the movie.
- Small World Coca-Cola Machines : Coca Cola used vending machines to bring people of India and Pakistan closer. This was executed by installing two vending machines in Lahore and New Delhi. These machines used the first-of-its-kind 3D technology to live video stream on the touchscreen, thereby facilitating an exchange of emotions between the people in Pakistan and India.
- Jeep Parking Spots : To show that a Jeep could be parked and driven in any terrain , their Copenhagen team had the amazing idea to paint unusual spots with a parking space
The purest form of public relations is human relations. — Jay Conrad Levinson
Currently Guerilla marketing is becoming the “meta”, every company wants to stand out and when one does all follow the latest trend. Every company now uses clever push notifications to market themselves but a few years back this was not very conventional , this shows that guerilla marketing makes you stand out for a short period till the rest of the world catches up but for that short period it is your company that everybody talks about and that is guerilla marketing , a way to make every consumer think about your product.
Marketing has become an important tool for any product’s success, it is one of success’ key features. Marketing can be the make or break factor for a lot of products and if not done correctly a lot of products become a “what could have been”.
Today’s consumers does not want to see the same old script , today’s consumer wants to see that your company is smarter than the others and guerilla marketing is the perfect way to showcase that.
