Guerrilla marketing is a marketing field that uses unconventional tactics to promote a product or brand. Brands can hold guerrilla marketing campaigns online, offline, or with a mix of both. Because of its complexity, it’s hard to define the term guerrilla marketing. However, you can recognize a guerrilla marketing campaign when you see one. All you have to do is look for certain features.
Guerrilla marketing tactics surprise your audience, make them interact with your brand, and provoke emotions, sometimes to the point of being scandalous. The question is are these strategies effective? Of Course they are. How can you recognize guerilla marketing? These are some of its features –
1. The Element Of Surprise
This type of marketing offers unusual interactions with potential customers. Often, guerrilla marketing tries to surprise or shock the audience. This makes them want to know more.
2. Cost-Effective
Most guerrilla marketing campaigns have low budgets but drive great results. This trait makes guerrilla marketing resemble growth hacking. So, without spending much money you are assured of optimal brand awareness.
3. Interactiveness
Guerrilla marketing relies on emotions and experiences and nudges the target audience to participate in a campaign. As guerrilla marketing relies on emotional interaction, campaigns are often provocative and risky.
Benefits Of Guerrilla Marketing
Here are some of the most popular benefits of guerrilla marketing –
1. Increases Brand Awareness
Guerrilla marketing is all about creating a buzz around a company. Provocative and unconventional campaigns are the perfect fuel for building brand awareness.
2. Builds Partnerships
Most guerrilla marketing campaigns are complex undertakings that require collaboration between several businesses or organizations. Hence, guerrilla marketing can be the perfect base for creating partnerships.
3. Stand Out From Competitors
Bold and memorable guerrilla marketing actions work as well as a unique value proposition does in terms of setting your business apart from competitors. It makes your brand and company distinctive and remembered by your customers and also potential customers.
4. Emotional Connect
Since guerrilla marketing is good at provoking emotions, a single campaign can create a strong connection between a brand and a customer. This connection is the be-all-and-end-all of strong long-lasting relationships with buyers.
Types Of Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing is not just of one type. The types of guerrilla marketing include –
- Outdoor Guerrilla Marketing
- Indoor Guerrilla Marketing
- Event Ambush Guerrilla Marketing
- Experiential Guerrilla Marketing
Examples Of Guerrilla Marketing
For a better understanding about how guerrilla marketing benefits your brand, let us have a look at some popular examples –
1. UNICEF – Dirty Water Vending Machine
UNICEF posed the question, “What if the bottles of water you waste money on were filled with dirty water?” It was a way of reminding the privileged masses that in too many parts of the world, entire populations have no access to clean drinking water. So instead of frivolously spending that money on bottled water, UNICEF suggested putting it toward efforts to bring clean drinking water to these areas. It did so by creating makeshift vending machines that sold bottled dirty water, with each button labelled as a disease caused by a lack of clean drinking water.
2. GOLDTOE – Giant Briefs
When the GOLDTOE brand needed a way to tease and promote the launch of its new undergarments, they casually placed their new items of clothing on statues throughout New York. We can’t be sure it’s the route GOLDTOE took, but we can say that those bull-sized briefs were made with leftover manufacturing fabric, helping to make this campaign even budget-friendlier.
3. BOUNTY – Giant Popsicle
By installing life-sized items throughout the streets of New York like a giant, knocked-over coffee cup and a gigantic melting Popsicle, Bounty found a unique way to advertise its product and the solution it provides, with minimal words. This campaign, unlike an ad, isn’t as easy to ignore. If you see a life sized popsicle on the floor, wouldn’t you give it a second look?
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Conclusion
Hopefully, you’ll be inspired by these examples. Understand your motive and keep your customers close. However, keep in mind that you don’t have to interrupt, but invite them to participate.
