Guerrilla marketing is a marketing strategy that uses unorthodox methods to grab the attention of the public in order to boost its sales and brand image in the market.
Imagine you’re a student and everyone in your school is wearing a school dress code and you’re wearing a funky t-shirt, having tattoos on your neck and coloured hair. What will be the varied sense of emotion around you? Everyone would start staring at you (though there are chances that you may be thrown out of the class until it’s your birthday or any other occasion). That’s where guerrilla marketing comes into the picture. You are presenting yourself in a manner that’s different from others.
Similarly, many mid-cap, small-cap, and blue-chip companies are trying out this guerilla marketing technique to outshine their competitors. There is a window of opportunity for growth, meaning people will talk about it – be it in the newspaper, social media, or any other platform.
Every business makes an investment for a financial return that does not always mean selling a product or service. It could also mean building a brand and getting out your name there.
So, if you’re some business owner and looking for ways to promote your business, then you can think of something outside the box in order to attract your customers. Don’t be average when it comes to creativity. Here are some of the best guerilla marketing tactics and examples for startups and small businesses.
Guerrilla Marketing Ideas
Tips & Tricks for Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla Marketing Examples
Guerrilla Marketing Ideas
1. Create Graffiti and Chalk Arts on Walls or Side Walks
Graffiti means writing or drawing something on walls in a creative way in order to draw people’s attention. This can be implemented in areas that are frequently visited by people. People tend to see and appreciate such kinds of graffiti and wall art. Nowadays, people are used to taking selfies. Moreover, this could become their selfie point. You can use this idea for your benefit.
Create graffiti and chalk arts that describe your business or the products/services you offer in a creative way. This can be a wonderful guerrilla marketing idea for your startup to advertise your brand. If you are creative enough, you can do it yourself, or else you can hire someone. This idea will help you to grow your business as well as your customer base.
2. Use Stickers and Posters to Advertise
You must have seen posters and stickers pasted everywhere for maximum reach and engagement. This is another guerilla marketing strategy to promote your small business. Since it does not cost much, many small-cap and mid-cap companies tend to adopt this marketing tactic.
3. Billboard Advertising
Guerrilla marketing strategies are considered to be better than traditional marketing techniques. These strategies help to increase the brand recall value. When people come across this unique billboard advertising, it helps them to recall the brand easily. This leads to word-of-mouth marketing as people talk about it with their friends, family, or colleagues.
4. Use Vending Machines and Food Trucks
If you have a food and beverages business, you can put vending machines in popular areas or have food trucks. It could be a wonderful approach to advertise your products and to reach out to more and more people. It might be a little expensive but is highly profitable. This technique can help you to bring more customers to your business.
Tips & Tricks for Guerrilla Marketing
Here are some tips and tricks for startups to make guerrilla marketing work for you.
1. Be Unique and Creative
This is the most important tip every business owner should keep in mind. Never try to copy any advertisement or strategies from other companies, especially from your competitors. People like advertisements that are unique, something they have never seen before and is creative enough to draw their attention.
2. Choose Your Location Strategically
It is very important to choose a location for your guerilla marketing campaign that brings maximum reach and engagement. Locations are chosen wisely. It could be a place where people visit frequently and are easily noticeable. Another important factor while considering a location is to select a location where you can find your target audience.
3. Use Your Wit To Outsmart Your Competitor
Use your competitor’s advertisements for your own good. Point out small mistakes in their advertisements and show how you are better than them in your advertisement. Use witty comments so that people get attracted to your advertisements.
Guerrilla Marketing Examples
When there is no guerrilla marketing, business becomes quite boring. So, here I’m going to show a few of the creative marketing campaigns brought up by some of the businesses.
Coca-Cola Guerilla Marketing
Coca-Cola encourages people to share their coke through its unique marketing campaign.
Faber Castell Guerilla Marketing
This eye-catching billboard of Faber Castell demonstrates that even children can draw something as beautiful as the sky.
Kit Kat Guerilla Marketing
Kit Kat asks people to have a seat, have a break, have a Kit Kat through its creative guerilla marketing tactic.
Save Tress By Sarova Guerilla Markeiting
This is a brilliant marketing campaign implemented by Sarova, an environmental organization. They placed this fake animal doll on a street lamp, which would attract people’s attention, and then people will notice the poster they attached below it which gives their slogan, “SAVE THE TREES”.
Mr Clean’s Brilliant Idea Guerilla Marketing
Another example of a creative Guerrilla advertisement is displayed by Mr Clean, which provides cleaning products to its customers. They placed their advertisement on one of the crosswalks proving that its products clean better than other products.
IT Movie Promotion Guerilla Marketing
Now, you will get this one only if you have seen the IT movie. They have creatively used the balloon in the sewer to promote their film with a line written underneath that reads. “IT IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. #ITMOVIE IN CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 7”.
Conclusion
Guerrilla marketing can be a replacement for traditional marketing. In a nutshell, guerrilla marketing uses creative thinking to arouse the public’s curiosity about the brand via display ads that are temporary unauthorized banners, put at high traffic areas.
It’s actually a very unconventional form of inbound marketing which raises brand awareness among large audiences, without interrupting them and conveys the message smoothly without much effort.
As it is unconventional, it’s not easy to explain the concept. Often it is best understood when it’s observed. One needs to have good observation skills in order to understand the message.
Niku Mandal
FAQ
What is guerrilla marketing?
Guerrilla marketing is a marketing strategy that uses unorthodox methods to grab the attention of the public in order to boost its sales and brand image in the market.
Is guerrilla marketing expensive?
The average spending on guerilla marketing by small businesses is $400 per month. But, not all marketing campaigns need to be expensive or complicated to be successful. Guerrilla marketing uses low-cost, unconventional methods to draw attention to a brand, idea, product, or service.
What are some of the guerrilla marketing examples in India?
Small World Machines – Coca-Cola, Chai carts – Amazon, Strong Child – Anando Milk, Yahan se Kharido – Snapdeal are some of the guerrilla marketing examples in India.
Which are some of the top guerrilla marketing companies?
The Pixelate, Brand Mommy.com, The Marcom Avenue, Social Pulsar, Khairnar Technologies, Harsh Mann Luxury Consultancy, Fulcrum Resources, and Maverick India are some of the best guerilla marketing agencies.
What are guerrilla marketing ideas for startups?
Creating graffiti and chalk arts on walls or Sidewalks, Using stickers and posters to advertise, Billboard advertising, and Using vending machines and Food Trucks are some of the best guerrilla marketing ideas for startups.
Is guerrilla marketing illegal?
Guerrilla marketing is considered illegal when a brand tries to capitalize on intellectual property that they have not paid to be a part of. That’s what makes guerrilla marketing illegal.
