What Is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing is a term that you’ve heard but might not fully understand. The term was coined in the 1984 book of the same name which was written by Jay Conrad Levison. It’s a style of marketing often used by smaller businesses because of its high impact and low costs.

It’s an unconventional style of marketing that aims to take the viewer by surprise and leave a lasting impression.

What Is Guerrilla Marketing?

It is a strategy used by many different businesses that utilize the art of surprise. The term comes from guerrilla warfare which has the same general idea. These soldiers would use the element of surprise for attacks of their enemies. Ambushes and things like that. Guerilla marketing aims at doing the same thing in terms of advertising.

Guerrilla marketing aims at leaving a lasting impression without having to spend a fortune. The idea is to generate enough buzz around your creative ad that people talk about it. When people talk about it, they tend to like it on social media, share it, and talk about it.

Generating buzz the ultimate outcome of the practise. It can be a far more effective way of advertising than other conventional methods if you’re creative enough. Most of the time the ads aim at something personal and emotional, making the viewer feel strongly about it.

Why Should You Try Guerrilla Marketing?

There are many benefits to guerrilla marketing. Small businesses love to use this form of marketing because it allows them to be as creative as they want, while not burning holes in their pockets. Guerrilla marketing aims at packing a big punch while being budget-friendly.

The creative aspect makes it enjoyable for many people who are in marketing. Instead of pumping out boring traditional ads, guerilla marketing allows them to spread their creative wings and truly work on a marketing strategy that will make an impact.

If all of this goes well, it creates a lot of engagement. For any business, this is the key to their success. You want people talking about your business, and liking it on social media. You want comments and interest. If you get all of this, you’ll know that your strategy was successful.

What Are Examples?

A great example is Bounty Paper Towels. They created a bunch of large messy situations all over New York, and members of the Bounty team cleaned up all of these messes using their signature paper towels.

By doing this they stopped pedestrians in their tracks. They took pictures, and videos, and posted them all over social media. It was an unconventional form of advertising that yielded big results for the company.

Another classic example is from the film “The Blair Witch Project” which was filmed by five college students who had spread a rumor about a fictitious witch who resided in the woods. The end result was one of the most profitable films of all time.

Guerilla marketing needs to be out of the box thinking with strong execution. It needs to make people think and act. That’s the way to a successful guerilla marketing campaign.