Guerrilla Marketing

What is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing refers to an advertising strategy that focuses on using low-cost marketing techniques to generate maximum exposure for a product or service. The term “guerrilla marketing” was used in the 1984 book, “Guerrilla Advertising”, by American business writer Jay Conrad Levinson. Due to the emergence of the internet, guerrilla marketing has been gaining significant traction among marketers.

Rationale Behind Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing relies heavily on creativity. Similar to guerrilla warfare, which uses tactics such as raids, ambushes, and elements of surprise, guerrilla marketing employs the same form of tactics (but from a marketing perspective!). The idea behind such a strategy is to take the consumer by surprise, leaving a lasting impression, and creating a large amount of social media buzz. Compared to traditional forms of marketing and advertising, the aim is to create a memorable and lasting impression on consumers.

Nowadays, consumers are starting to tune themselves out of traditional methods of advertising such as television and radio ads, and pop-ups. For example, consumers typically skip advertisements shown before a YouTube video. This is where guerrilla marketing stands out – it does not follow conventional marketing strategies and, instead, incorporates the element of surprise to capture consumer attention.

Elements Behind a Successful Marketing Strategy

Successful guerrilla advertising strategies incorporate the following elements:

1. Clever: A successful guerrilla marketing advertisement should be clever so that it leaves consumers thinking about and interpreting the advertisement.
2. Compelling: It should capture the consumers’ attention and make them appreciate the advertisement.
3. Memorable: It should elicit an intended emotional response from consumers.
4. Interactive: It should be interactive, whether that be with the surrounding area or with consumers.

Benefits

#1 Low budget

Guerrilla campaigns are typically low budget and rely heavily on unconventional methods to reach the consumer. Therefore, the strategy is a cost-effective way to build brand awareness. With such a marketing strategy, imagination is more important than budget.

#2 Opportunity to go viral

In today’s society, with the huge amount of technology and the increasing number of people gaining access to the internet, a memorable impression can be captured by consumers and spread around the world. Marketing campaigns can easily go viral and gain exposure to millions of people.

#3 Memorable

Guerrilla marketing campaigns are memorable and unconventional by nature and show the ability to leave a lasting impression on consumers. With a successful campaign, buyers are left amazed, impressed, and wanting to learn more about the product and/or service. This marketing strategy helps with brand recall.

Additional Resources

CFI offers the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)™ certification program for those looking to take their careers to the next level. To keep learning and advancing your career, the following CFI resources will be helpful:

• Beachhead Strategy
• Demographics
• Market Positioning
• Walmart Marketing Mix
• See all management & strategy resources