Guerrilla marketing – how to reach those resistant to advertising?

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Do you ever find yourself ignoring the omnipresent ads? Or maybe you even ignore them on purpose: you leave the room when a long block interrupts an interesting film, or you change the radio station if it’s on? Oh, and do you have AdBlock turned on so that pop-ups don’t interrupt your internet browsing? Of course, all of these trends have been noticed by the creators of ads. So they decided to develop marketing tools that would allow them to reach the reluctant ones – both those with “banner blindness” and those who consciously eliminate ads from their environment. What have they come up with, and do they achieve their intended goals thanks to it?

Guerilla marketing – how to quickly and effectively stick in the recipient’s memory?

Having noticed the ineffectiveness of traditional communication, advertising creators focused on guerrilla marketing, or, according to the book definition: “a set of unconventional ways of achieving conventional goals. It is a proven method of achieving profits with minimal financial outlay.” (J. C. Levinson, “Guerilla Marketing”, 2013).

Contrary to traditional advertising campaigns, guerilla marketing, like guerrilla warfare, is supposed to operate from the shadows and use the element of surprise, luring the recipient into a trap and taking advantage of their unawareness of being the subject of a marketing campaign. In this way, customers who consciously reject traditional advertising unknowingly participate in such forms of advertising.

The aim of guerrilla marketing is to quickly and effectively stick in the recipient’s memory. Therefore, the advertising message often uses humorous, controversial, or even drastic elements, as well as wordplay and associations. Sometimes it’s a balancing act on the edge of good taste.

Guerilla marketing is about shocking the recipient and “bombarding” them with a message that is to be present at every step. This is how you influence the emotions of customers, who often, if not usually, make purchases based on their emotions.

Unconventional methods for conventional goals

The goal of guerrilla marketing is, of course, the effective promotion of a specific brand or product. However, to achieve this, unusual methods are used:

  • teaser release – an advertisement that conveys little information. It is intended to arouse the recipient’s interest and arouse their “appetite for more”, preferably in such a way that they start looking for additional information about the brand on their own initiative;
  • flash-mob – actions using an artificial crowd in public places, surprising passers-by and engaging them. They often involve people who do not know each other, knowing only what a given action is supposed to be about;
  • early birds – a method that provides specific benefits to customers who are the first, or at a specified time, to take advantage of a promotion or make a purchase;
  • city games – promotion of brands, products or services during a game, the map of which is a city, forest or other public space;
  • lifestyle insert – application of a product in everyday life and showing its usefulness, combined with an impact on emotions, e.g. by referring to childhood memories;
  • ambient events – advertising in unconventional places, e.g. on trees, barriers, in public transport. Ambient marketing is usually defined as a separate category, and not one of the guerrilla marketing strategies. In the former, much greater emphasis is placed on the display of the brand logo. However, there are no obstacles to guerilla marketing drawing on ambient techniques;
  • viral marketing – customers, encouraged in the right way by the company (e.g. using humorous or controversial elements), spread information about a given product or service themselves;
  • ambush marketing – its aim is to subtly trigger a chain of associations leading to the brand. It often teeters on the edge of the law or raises ethical concerns. It can use the resources (financial or local) of competitors to promote their own activities. We often deal with it during important sports events, when companies that are not among the event’s sponsors try to promote themselves “by the way”;
  • grassroots marketing – disseminating product samples publicized on social media so that Internet users themselves pass on information about it. Such activities are often carried out in cooperation with influencers. For example, a writer can send a copy of a book to influential reviewers, hoping that they will give it a positive opinion among their followers. The main recipients of grassroots marketing include so-called young adults;
  • astroturfing – using hired users or special software to control the dissemination of information about the brand.

What to do to make guerilla marketing activities effective?

First of all, you need to keep your eyes and ears wide open to what is happening around you. In guerrilla marketing, almost anything can become an advertising surface – you just need to know how to use it properly. This requires a lot of creativity, perceptiveness, and rich imagination.

Contrary to appearances, seemingly spontaneous guerrilla marketing campaigns require detailed planning and huge commitment from their creators. However, they must seem fresh and carried out as if “casually”, and the effort put into their preparation should be imperceptible. Marketers responsible for such a campaign should also have enough empathy and sensitivity not to achieve the opposite effect to the intended one – i.e. to discourage customers from the brand.

The effectiveness of the actions will be proven, in addition to, of course, the increase in sales and the increase in the company’s profits, by the presence of a given campaign in the public awareness and the degree of engagement of the recipients.

Customers will willingly spread a given message if it amuses, interests, or outrages them. In guerrilla marketing, a brand does not have to, and even should not, be clearly presented – it is enough that the motif associated with it is remembered.

Guerilla marketing budget

You can often hear the statement that guerrilla marketing is cheap. For example, campaigns in social media or in the public space do not require a large financial base, which gives companies with a limited budget the opportunity to compete with wealthier competition.

However, it often happens that implementing a sensible, unconventional campaign requires hiring a team of creative specialists, and this is already associated with significant costs.

Fortunately, in a small, underfunded company it can also happen that someone comes up with a brilliant idea and achieves promotional success. In this way, both small businesses and large corporations can fruitfully use the resources of guerrilla marketing.

Who is guerilla marketing for?

There are so many strategies available within guerilla marketing that advertisers will find a way to reach both young people, for whom identifying with a brand is a symbol of prestige and belonging to an elite group, and older customers who will appreciate, for example, loyalty programs or promotions on favorite products.

A shocking, humorous or controversial message can be successfully used by both international corporations and small, local companies. It can also be a canvas for creating political, ecological or social campaigns.

It is said that guerrilla marketing is used to deepen relationships with current customers rather than to acquire new ones. However, it is difficult to confirm this unequivocally, because guerrilla marketing works quickly, reaches different groups of recipients and it is impossible to fully assess its actual reach.

It is therefore undeniably able to effectively help promote a product or get a brand noticed. It is all in the hands (and in the minds) of creative creators!

Summary

  1. Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that focuses on cheap, unconventional marketing tactics.
  2. The goal of guerrilla marketing is to quickly and effectively imprint itself in the recipient’s memory, so the advertising message often uses humorous, controversial, or even drastic elements.
  3. The effectiveness of this strategy is demonstrated by increased sales and increased company profits, but also by the presence of a given campaign in the public consciousness and the degree of engagement of recipients.

Barakah Alim

I'm a certified SEO Expert and Copywriter. Writing is my forte – Literary, Copy, Academic, and Technical writing. I love everything in the creative space. My hobbies are reading, meeting new people, having healthy discussions, writing, and watching crime or action-themed movies.

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