Guerrilla marketing is an advertising tactic in which a company uses imaginative yet unconventional marketing tactics to promote a product, service or brand without the hefty budget. It is usually completed in public places such as city streets, shopping centres, parks or beaches to maximise its effects and attract a lot of attention from the public.

Guerrilla marketing is different to traditional marketing as it often relies on public interaction and is usually designed to create a memorable experience for the consumer. By creating this experience it will leave an impact on the consumer, hopefully urging the consumer to relay their experience to others or sharing their experience on social media.

Types of Guerrilla Marketing

There are several kinds of guerrilla marketing. Here are some examples of the most common types:

• Viral – Viral marketing is a type of guerrilla marketing that consists of strategies that encourage individuals to pass on a marketing message to others.
• Stealth – It refers to a deliberate act of entering, operating in, or exiting a market in a secretive manner. In stealth marketing, people get involved with the product without actually knowing that they are the part of an advertising campaign.
• Presence – This is about making the business name recognizable and familiar by being visible daily.
• Ambient – This tactic allows a business to create brand recognition without necessarily pushing their products.
• Experiential – Experiential marketing aims to give you an experience and lets you interact with the product and associate your immediate emotional responses with that brand.

 

Some of the lower-cost, high impact guerrilla marketing tools you can use, include:

• Stickers – Stickers are an inexpensive way to get your brand out there. You can give stickers away at events or even in the street or you can canvas specific locations with branded stickers to advertise a message or attract peoples attention.
• Flash mobs – Flash mobs are a fun, upbeat way to generate excitement and usually take people by surprise. Having your brand featured on the t-shirts of the dancers will allow the audience to connect the event with your business,
• Branded pens – Get pens with your brand and get a bunch of employees to spend a day in the city ‘accidentally’ leaving pens everywhere they go or give them out to the public in the street. People keep them and will remember your brand from seeing the pens everywhere they go.
• Treasure hunts – Consider hosting a treasure hunt that takes people through your city or town and ends up at your business, or cover the treasures with your branding.

 

Our top 5 favourite examples of Guerrilla marketing:

1. King Kong 3D Footprints Campaign

To build buzz for the new release of King Kong 3D, giant footprints were carved into the sand at popular beaches causing people to take to social media to share the images. The story made headlines and ended up all over social media.

2. UNICEF Dirty Water Campaign

A vending machine was set up on the streets advertising dirty water. Instead of different varieties of flavoured water, it was in fact different varieties of diseases found in dirty water such as Malaria, Cholera, and Typhoid.

3. McDonalds Urban Instalments

McDonald’s took advantage of common elements on the streets to showcase giant versions of their most popular products such as; french fries, chicken nuggets and coffee.

4. Frontline

Frontline utilised a full floor space in a multi-level shopping centre. From the second level, customers could lean over the floor and look down on a giant dog which looked like he was scratching his ear. Ttaglineine was, “Get them off your dog”, and from the second floor, the people walking across the floor look like fleas irritating the dog.

5. Coca-Cola Grip Campaign

To advertise its new “grip” bottle, Coca-Cola placed a static-charged ad at a bus stop, which would grip people’s clothing if they stood too near.

Need a little help to ensure your marketing efforts capture the attention of your audience? You’re in the right place, get in touch with our team today to discuss your requirements.

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