What It Is and How It’s Used

What Is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing is a product promotion campaign in which a company uses unconventional methods, often involving one-on-one interactions, to create a buzz for a new product or service.

Guerrilla marketing typically relies on a small team of individuals devoted to spreading the word about a product through one-on-one interactions and social media sharing. Social media influencers often are recruited to recommend the product or service.

Types of Guerrilla Marketing

Companies using guerrilla marketing rely on in-your-face promotions to be spread through viral marketing or word of mouth, thus reaching a broad audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional national advertising.

It is often used for “edgy” products and targets younger consumers who may be more likely to respond positively.

Some guerilla marketing strategies include:

• Buzz Marketing: Focuses on word-of-mouth distribution. Often deployed in social media, this strategy relies on users to share promotional content with their social networks, friends, or family.
• Stealth Marketing: Places products in the background of TV shows and videos to subtly introduce them to viewers.
• Ambient Marketing: Displays the product logo where it will be casually noted, such as an advertisement on a bus bench.
• Ambush Marketing: Coattail marketing without the investment in an official sponsorship. This is commonly seen at major sports events and concerts.
• Grassroots Marketing: A simple, old-fashioned campaign such as distributing paper flyers.

History

Guerrilla marketing emerged as an alternative to traditional print, radio, and television marketing. The term was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing.

The goal is to create buzz about a product or brand to increase the likelihood that a consumer will purchase the product or service, or talk about it with other potential buyers.

Guerrilla marketing can be very cost-effective for small businesses and startups intent on creating a viral marketing phenomenon. This technique can be centered around the business’s core mission, such as education, giving, growth, technology, climate, or productivity. The company can design initiatives that promote those values in their campaigns and raise awareness.

UNICEF launched a campaign featuring vending machines that dispensed contaminated water, a reminder that people in much of the world lack safe drinking water.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Guerrilla marketing is a budget-friendly option. Startups, local businesses, and companies with few corporate restrictions often deploy guerrilla marketing techniques.

Guerrilla marketing relies on informal means of marketing information. Marketing professionals can be creative and may find guerrilla marketing campaigns more desirable and fun to deploy.

Guerrilla marketing strategies can fall flat. They depend on the creative skills of the team involved.

Marketing professionals may find it difficult to measure the success of a campaign.

Examples of Guerilla Marketing

Leading up to the release of the movie “Deadpool,” the Marvel character was issued a Tinder profile. As a data app is not a typical avenue for promoting a movie, this absurd approach to advertising the film and character is a strong example of guerrilla marketing.

In another guerilla marketing campaign, college students in Queens, New York, received unsolicited “doses of happiness” from Coca-Cola. A vending machine armed with human helpers, dubbed the Happiness Machine, also offered pizzas, flowers, and a six-foot-long sandwich. This guerrilla marketing campaign went on to win awards.

Red Bull used empty cans for its guerrilla campaign. By filling bins in clubs with empty Red Bull cans, the company created the impression that the drink was highly popular with the patrons of the club.

The Bottom Line

Guerrilla marketing embraces unusual and, hopefully, entertaining or intriguing strategies to spread the word about a new product. It can work if it’s done with finesse.