Did you ever think that marketing and guerrilla warfare would have something in common? Guerrilla marketing shows you that they do have it, but don’t worry, we’re not here to harm anyone, here your best weapon is ingenuity. Keep reading and discover what it is and how you can apply it to your marketing strategy.
The truth is that those of us who are dedicated to marketing know that ours is a constant struggle to capture the attention of our customers. This is not new, in fact the term “guerrilla marketing” has been used since the 80s, when the writer Jay Conrad Levinson gave life to this term, inspired by guerrilla tactics; military (or rather paramilitary) organizations outside the state forces, which fight against the government to achieve specific objectives. ( Why is Bulk Email Marketing Best For Your Business? )
Today’s reality is an environment oversaturated with advertising, where it is increasingly difficult for a person to spend a few seconds looking at your advertisement. It seems that the fact that there are so many channels through which to communicate makes it a daunting task to differentiate. That without counting the issue of the budget, the investment in advertising is increasingly looked at (although the latter has always been the case).
What is Guerrilla Marketing?
Having few resources, a lot of creativity and achieving great impact is the mantra of Guerrilla Marketing.
Guerrilla Marketing is an advertising strategy that is based on the use of innovative advertising techniques and relatively little investment, to cause the maximum possible effect and maximum media coverage in different media.
Guerrilla Marketing is a less conventional method, which seeks actions that surprise whoever reaches it. What we seek with this is to stay in the mind of the consumer. Let’s say that he is the father of viral videos on Instagram and TikTok, although in reality this type of advertising is promoted and multiplied with these networks.
This strategy works for all types of companies and of any size, although it is ideal for small companies, since it requires little budget but a lot of ingenuity. It is very useful as a “brand awareness” campaign where you seek to publicize your company’s products and services. Although, it is even a perfect strategy for the post-purchase phase where it seeks to continue attracting attention and customer loyalty.
The success is such in this type of campaign that even large companies have become participants. No one can resist surprising results and a low budget. (If you dedicate yourself to Marketing, you know that regardless of the company, we are always tight on budget).
Difference Between Guerrilla Marketing and Street Marketing
There is no consensus among professionals about the difference between Guerrilla Marketing and Street Marketing.
Street Marketing is a set of creative marketing actions carried out on the streets or in public places, and mainly seeks interaction with people.
For many, Street Marketing is one more action within the Guerrilla Marketing strategy. As you can see, they share many elements in their own definition. If we want to detect any difference, it would be in the place where the event occurs.
Street marketing is carried out in the streets or public spaces, as its name clearly indicates, we see it in examples like these. On the other hand, guerrilla marketing can be done from any trench, and never better said. It can be carried out in public spaces, on the web, on social networks, or in all places at once.
( Also Read About – 7 Reasons Why Digital Marketing Will Be Crucial In 2022 )
Types of Guerrilla Marketing
There is no single way to do guerrilla marketing. In fact, there are hundreds of techniques to cause that surprise and impact on consumers, since your application is omnichannel or I would even say phy digital. I will tell you about the best known, but surely the list is much longer.
environment marketing
It consists of carrying out your marketing action in a public space, exterior or interior, and transforming it by applying the brand. It is not about planting your ad and that’s it, but about doing it in a way that people stop and turn to look.
experiential marketing
This technique seeks a greater interaction of the public, that the person participates directly with the campaign. In this way, we get an immediate response from our target audience.
Flash Mobs or Performance Marketing
In this technique we seek to make a meeting that seems spontaneous of numerous people (actors) carrying out a specific action. The scene is usually dance choreography.
Surreptitious advertising
We call it surreptitious advertising although the truth has less and less of that. It is about showing your brand in scenarios in which, at first, it could be believed that this advertising has not been paid for. The most common is in a movie, where the main actor appears drinking from a specific brand of soft drink or using a car or mobile from a brand that appears in the foreground. More recently, we see it in influencers or youtubers who make videos consuming a brand and talking about the benefits as if it were something totally spontaneous.
Viral Marketing
This surely sounds more familiar to us and we see it more regularly. It consists of creating audiovisual content so surprising and striking that it generates such virality that it transcends different channels, for example, that it is reposted or played on different channels at the same time such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, even WhatsApp.
This technique is usually 100% digital, and of great impact. We see examples of this in the famous #challenges that we have seen over the years, such as the Ice Bucket Challenge (where a bucket of frozen water was poured to make the ALS disease visible), or the Mannequin Challenge, among many others. .
How to make the Guerrilla Marketing Plan
Once you are clear that you want to venture out with a different, carefree and daring action. What remains is to mark the best marketing plan to be able to measure the objectives. So designing a plan is a lot like any other marketing plan, follow these 5 phases and succeed:
- Identify your buyer persona: you may already have it clear from other campaigns. But if not, recreate with your team (including the Product and Sales teams) an ideal representation of the customer archetype. Here you must define who that person is, how old they are, what socioeconomic context they enjoy, what their needs are, their tastes, and what solution your product or service gives them. Your buyer persona will determine how daring the campaign you plan will be and also the place where you will carry it out.
- Define the place or touch points of communication: once you identify the buyer persona, consider what the contact points are for communication. Here you should ask yourself which channels you are most likely to find him on, it could be on a canopy on a specific street, it is a subway station, on a social network, etc.
- Measure everything with SMART objectives: in reality, SMART objectives should be transversal to your entire Marketing strategy. When we talk about SMART we refer to these objectives being:
specific
measurable
achievable
relevant
on a time horizon
- Be creative, without limits: try to be as shocking and surprising as possible. Remember that we want to go viral, spread the word and even rumors.
- Measure and monitor: Like any other campaign, metrics must be established to verify that these SMART objectives are being achieved. If possible, create an Excel or a dashboard where you record the performance of the campaign, depending on the objectives, it will be X subscriptions to your channel, X sales on the web, X visits to your blog post, etc.
Advantages of Guerrilla Marketing
In general, the advantage of guerrilla marketing over other marketing strategies or actions is that it encourages the imagination of the team that creates it, but also of the target audience that enjoys it.
Let’s see some of the benefits when we bet on this method:
- It requires little investment as a brand positioning strategy, with great results.
- It allows a high impact in a very short time, but also in the medium term.
- It invites you to find new innovative and authentic ways to get the attention of your target audience.
- Generate a positive effect on people, even on people who a priori would not say they are your target.
- It allows word of mouth and virality. Being such entertaining actions, it makes it easier for people to comment and share it, especially on social networks.
- The most important thing: by needing a little budget, you can diversify your Marketing strategy and invest in other actions.
Read More – Go For An Professional Seo Company In India To Make Business High
