So we all know the traditional ways of marketing. Advertising, telemarketing, direct mail, social media and the list goes on and on. I bet you have tried one or more of these and it hasn’t worked. Or more accurately two things have happened: You perceive it hasn’t worked so you stop it, or it has worked so well you now no longer have time to do it so you stop.
The trouble is, you are doing what most other people are doing. That won’t get you noticed. Think about this: If you are not standing out from the crowd, are you even marketing?
I also get that you need to produce results quickly, and you have to do it on little or no marketing budget. Luckily, there is an answer: Guerrilla Marketing.
When you her the term Guerrilla Marketing, its hard not to think of Guerrilla Warfare. And that’s exactly where this style of marketing got its name. Think about what Guerrilla Warfare is: ambush, sabotage, surprise. How do we apply that to marketing? Well, Guerrilla Marketing plays directly to that element of surprise. It sets out to directly disrupt people in their normal day to day routines. In order to interrupt, you need to delight. Otherwise, you’re just getting in everybody’s way.
Guerrilla Marketing makes you think outside the box. It’s cheap, effective, stands out and gets you results. The real investment comes in imagination and creativity. If you need some inspiration on this look t what dating app Thursday are doing. One of the founders happens to be a veteran like me and they’ve gone through several rounds of funding to get up and running. They are competing against all the big boys in the market and have next to no budget. So, they’ve done exactly what you should be doing – they’ve got very creative and as a result they re disrupting the industry in a big way. Go and take a look at what they are doing.
They stand out in a big way. Are there laws against this type of thing? Probably. But while it works, I think it’s worth it. They key here is its fun, its shareable. Its not intended to upset anyone. More importantly, it gets eyes on the brand.
So, how do you do this? Well, here re some steps to follow:
1. Make it targeted. Understand who exactly you are trying to reach, where they are and what makes them laugh. If you don’t know this, you don’t know your target audience enough and pretty much no marketing will work, let alone guerrilla marketing.
2. Make it clever. You are trying to disrupt someone’s day, which means you are competing with social media, headphones and a whole lot more. If it’s clever, it will aid memory retention in the sight of the buyer.
3. It needs to be dynamic and engaging. You want people to be part of the campaign, and you need to enlist them. Which means you need them to interact with whatever it is you are doing.
4. Make people think and make people smile. If you want people to share it both online and offline, you need to make them think and laugh. That way you’ll make people talk about you.
5. Make it memorable. By incorporating everyday items such as door handles or zebra crossings into your campaign, you start to plan your brand into the everyday psychology of your ideal client.
So, I’m curious to know, what’s the best guerrilla marketing tactic you’ve ever seen and what could you do on your next guerrilla marketing campaign? Send me a message, I love seeing examples!
