What is Guerrilla Marketing? Types, Advantages, and Disadvantages
Have you ever walked by an enormous sign on the road, or noticed a group of dancers with the same shirt who jumped up and started dancing? Or maybe you’ve spotted the wall of a unique artwork or designs that caught your attention? If so, you’ve probably encountered the concept of guerrilla marketing.
What exactly is guerrilla advertising? In this article, we’ll discuss the fundamental concept behind marketing through guerrilla tactics using examples from some of the most famous brands. We will also give you some tips on how to start your journey.
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What is Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing is an affordable and effective marketing technique that employs unconventional techniques to grab the attention of customers. All you need to do is be imaginative and think outside the box. “Guerrilla” is the Spanish word meaning “war. It’s a reference to the tactics employed by fighters of the guerrilla who rely on secret, surprise, and a sense of humor to defeat their foes.
It is designed to trigger emotions from the viewer, which could include curiosity, amusement, surprise, or even admiration, and also to create the power of word-of-mouth and viral public relations for the company. Brands employ it for a variety of motives, like creating awareness or launching new products, growing sales, or gaining loyalty.
History of Guerrilla Marketing
The idea of guerrilla marketing was first presented in the early 1990s by Jay Conrad Levinson, an American marketer and writer. He drew inspiration from techniques used in guerrilla warfare in the Vietnam War and thought, “Why not apply this mindset to marketing?” In his book Guerrilla Marketing Secrets, he spoke about how unusual and low-cost strategies can create an atmosphere of marketing that could compete with the most sophisticated ads.
Then, fast-forward to the present, and guerrilla advertising has transformed into something more exciting. For instance, take Ikea as an example. At the busy Paris stations, they’ve set up the “guerrilla sleepover.” Yep, sofas and beds are there for commuters! Why? To prove that Ikea’s furniture is as cozy and comfortable as your home, even in the midst of a crowded train station.
Then there’s Red Bull, which sponsored Felix Baumgartner’s amazing skydive from the edge of space, achieving speeds of more than 1,300 km/h! They live-streamed the entire thing on YouTube, which attracted more than 8 million views. They wanted to display Red Bull’s ferocity and to make people think of their brand with incredible feats of athleticism and breathtaking spectacles.
Types of Guerrilla Marketing
There are many different kinds of guerrilla marketing based on the type of campaign, the location, the audience, and the message. The most popular kinds are:
Ambient marketing
This is about getting imaginative with your surroundings and spaces to produce an eye-catching and surprising element, like, for instance, coming across a massive toothbrush painting on the wall of the dentist’s office, as well as a manhole cover made to appear in the shape of coffee.
Stealth marketing
This is a method of subtly promoting services or products and not putting ads directly in front of you. Think of your favorite television show, where the character utilizes a certain brand of mobile phone. Clever, isn’t it?
Marketing through grassroots
In this case, it’s everything about communities and word-of-mouth to help spread an idea. For instance, an organization that makes use of posters, stickers, or flyers to promote awareness, or a product that offers free samples, testimonials, or referrals to draw attention.
Marketing via viral
This article is all about social media. Have you ever seen a hilarious video, a funny meme, or an e-commerce trending hashtag? This is the kind of marketing that is viral at its finest. It’s about making something so amazing that people can’t resist sharing it, and it then spreads on the internet.
Guerrilla marketing goes beyond advertisements. It’s about being smart and imaginative and making people talk.
Best 3 Guerrilla Marketing Examples
To better understand the idea and the practice of guerrilla marketing, here are a few of the top examples of guerrilla marketing brands have used:
Deadpool’s Tinder profile
Through social networks, you may have seen companies promoting their products, superheroes, or films. Marvel, however, employs an unusual marketing approach and relies on its creativity. The marketing team capitalized on an opportunity to launch an entertaining guerrilla marketing campaign. They designed the Tinder Profile for Deadpool that was complete with funny captions and pictures.
Why Tinder? Deadpool isn’t a typical children’s film. This made the platform the perfect opportunity to appeal to the audience of older people in Marvel. With Deadpool’s distinctive ‘charm’, the team created an effective, budget-friendly campaign. Did it succeed? Absolutely! This innovative idea resulted in an astounding $785 million in global gross sales.
Zomato’s innovative Twitter strategy
“Guys, kabhi kabhi ghar ka bhi khana kha lena chahiye.” Coming via a delivery service could sound a bit odd, especially in Zomato’s India. However, it proved to be Zomato’s unique way of doing things. The tweet quickly became viral, prompting discussion and acclaim. The founder of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal, was even a part of the conversation, thanking the tweet. This was the case during the ICC World Cup 2019 when everyone was on their televisions eating food, and not cooking. Zomato cleverly took advantage of this trend, providing huge offers to its customers.
Netflix
It created an “Netflix is a joke” campaign featuring billboards and posters that read “Netflix is a joke” or “Netflix is a waste of time”. The campaign served as an advertisement for a new series of comedy specials featuring celebrities from the comedy world, including Dave Chappelle, Ellen DeGeneres as well and Chris Rock. The campaign sparked curiosity and excitement in the audience.
Pros & Cons of Guerrilla Marketing
As with any other strategy for marketing, Guerrilla marketing comes with its benefits and drawbacks. Both depend on the situation, the execution, and the outcome of the marketing campaign. A few of the advantages and disadvantages of guerrilla marketing include:
| Pros | Cons |
| Effective and cost-effective | Uncertain, risky and uncertain |
| Creative | Could spark controversy |
| Appeal to the emotions of the customer | The process of measuring results can be difficult. |
| Memorable | Sometimes, it is not important. |
Tips for starting Guerrilla Marketing
If you are looking to begin the process of guerrilla marketing to promote your brand, then you should look for a reputable digital marketing company within your city. However, before you do that, keep these guidelines in mind:
Set your sights and goals
Before you get started, it is important to understand what your business and marketing objectives are, what you’d like to accomplish, and the way you’ll measure your progress. This will allow you to connect effectively with the digital marketing firm that you may be working with.
Know your audience
Make sure you know the people you want to reach, who they are, what they would like, as well as where and how they can be them. This will enable you to customize your message and media to your target audience and make a campaign that can be appealing to their interests, emotions, and beliefs.
Look at your budget
Check out the amount of resources you have, and how you plan to allocate and manage the resources. It is important to be able to balance your budget with imagination and design a campaign that is efficient and cost-effective.
Be aware of the name of your agency.
Review the agency’s previous clients’ review, their work, and their reviews before working with them.
In the end
Guerrilla marketing is an effective instrument that helps companies of any size reach their intended customers and generate buzz. Following the suggestions given above, you can design an effective guerrilla marketing strategy that can help you reach your business goals.
