Guerrilla Marketing 101 – 5 Tips for Beginners

In a world where all brands need to stand out to survive, many are now turning to guerrilla marketing to achieve this goal. But what is it? And how do you get started? 

What’s Guerrilla Marketing?

The best way to describe guerrilla marketing is to say that it focuses on the element of surprise. As an unconventional strategy, the idea is to spend little and get lots in return. By surprising consumers, you make an impression, get people talking, and (hopefully) generate strong results. Nobody does this better than Sabri Suby of King Kong! However, go too far with guerrilla marketing and you’ll harm the reputation of the business, sometimes beyond repair. 

5 Tips for Beginners

Pay Attention to the Audience

Just because you’re moving away from the traditional forms of advertising, this doesn’t mean that you can suddenly forget the audience. Too often, we see companies putting their interests first. They release an advertising campaign, it doesn’t resonate with the audience, and all the resources that went into the material are wasted. 

Where is your audience present online? What message will resonate? What is important to them and their lives?

Go Small

Considering that we’ve spent decades trying to reach out to as many people as possible, it seems counter-intuitive to focus on smaller groups, but this is exactly what you’re going to do with guerrilla marketing. Since you want to encourage a close relationship with the audience, you need a tailored message, and this is easier when you’re focusing on a small group. 

Surprise

It might sound obvious, but guerrilla marketing is all about the element of surprise. Remember when flash mobs were popping up in shopping centers around the country? This was an example of guerrilla marketing, and it caught shoppers by surprise. The last thing people expect to see when shopping for new clothes is an organized dance. You might also surprise your audience with creative billboards and various other creative designs around a physical store.

Forget About Viral

If you want to enter guerrilla marketing with the wrong intentions, create your content to go viral. At no stage during the planning, development, or implementation process should you aim to go viral. Even when something goes viral, it doesn’t guarantee success. Instead, focus on your audience and adding value to their lives. It’s better to convert in a small audience than not convert in a huge audience. 

Have Some Fun

Finally, don’t be afraid to have some fun with guerrilla marketing. If you have fun, the audience is sure to have fun too. Play on real-world circumstances, keep people smiling, and positively surprise people. Think about flash mobs – the aim was to advertise a brand, of course. However, the goal was also to put smiles on the faces of other shoppers. Somebody walking through the shopping center could have had the worst day of their lives yet had a smile put on their face by the flash mob. 

If you make somebody smile, they’re likely to remember your name while also telling others about the experience. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars training dancers and hiring a shopping center space, you can create a guerrilla marketing campaign online too. 

Summary

The beauty of guerrilla marketing is in its unconventional, inexpensive, and unique nature. While everybody steps on each other’s toes with traditional marketing, this provides an opportunity to stand out and make a name for yourself. Remember, don’t go too far, or take too many risks. Meanwhile, always keep your audience in mind and have fun!