Guerrilla marketing is a way of garnering attention or exposure for your brand or cause by doing something unusual or surprising. Some of the tactics involve surprise performance (flash mobs or impromptu concerts, for example), altering public spaces (graffiti, messages in crosswalks, etc.), and games (treasure hunts or contests to create a new flavor of a popular snack, for example). Guerrilla marketing campaigns can really be anything that surprises the audience. They are only limited by the creativity of the people devising them. Here are some things to consider when deciding whether guerrilla marketing is right for you:
- Cost. Cost is one of the biggest advantage to guerrilla marketing because there usually isn’t much of one outside of common supplies and time and effort. If you have a limited budget, you will need to think outside the box, and guerrilla marketing might be for you.
- Creativity. One of the benefits of a guerrilla marketing campaign is that it allows you to show off the more creative side of your brand. Creative endeavors tend to give your audience more of a feeling of personal connection, and, as a result, they build brand loyalty.
- Buzz. The buzz created by guerrilla marketing is the whole point. Unusual marketing campaigns get people talking about your brand. Sometimes a campaign will be so surprising that it will generate media coverage or a lot of attention on social media. We live in an age of information saturation; anything that truly helps you stand out and genuinely engages your audience, especially in the real world, can differentiate you from the competition.
- Legal and ethical issues. These are issues that can crop up and ruin a good guerrilla marketing campaign. Some tactics are illegal (defacing public spaces) or immoral (paying someone to write bad reviews of your competitors) no matter how you slice it. Other issues are less clearly wrong, but still problematic. You can run into trouble for performing in some spaces without a permit, for example. Some guerrilla marketing tactics can also damage your brand, especially if they frighten or disgust your audience.
- Unforeseen challenges. You can’t predict everything, no matter how well you plan your “attack.” The weather could ruin your plan (an unexpected rain shower washes away your chalk drawing or an unforeseen cold snap keeps people from seeing your street performance), as could a random event (a fire a few blocks away draws everyone’s attention or an accident closes the street you’ve planned to incorporate).
- Unpredictable response. Even if you execute your plan perfectly, you run the risk of being misunderstood or criticized. Anything controversial can cause backlash and anything sudden and unexpected can be confusing.
- Memorable. Guerrilla marketing is almost always memorable, which can be a pro or a con, depending on whether your efforts are successful.
- Difficulty quantifying results. If your campaign is chaotic, you might not be able to measure its success. It’s hard to judge the results of something based on whether it makes a lasting impression without data to back that up.
If you do decide to launch a guerrilla marketing campaign, keep these tips in mind:
- Be very clear about your audience, their ethics, and your ethics. Make sure you’re not doing anything that doesn’t align with the values of the people you want to reach.
- Make sure the campaign aligns with your brand. You want to make an impression, but you want that impression to be the same overall impression you’re trying to make every day. It’s no good getting attention or being remembered if people don’t associate it with your business.
- Make sure you aren’t ruining someone else’s big day. For example, don’t steal the thunder from someone else’s scheduled performance, the unveiling of public art, groundbreaking on a park, or a business’s grand opening.
- Make sure you have a clear goal for what you want to accomplish and how to accomplish it. You need a strategy and a creative approach. Your campaign doesn’t necessarily have to be elaborate, but it does have to be memorable.
- Market the marketing. In other words, have a plan to get attention when the “event” happens, either by drawing people to the location, creating some sort of buzz beforehand, or choosing a time and place that will definitely have a crowd.
- Consider measurement metrics in advance. If you want a way to judge the success of the event, figure it out beforehand. If your goal is donations to a cause or visits to a website, for example, have a link specifically for people responding to the campaign. If your goal is for other people to post about it on social media, create a hashtag they will use so you can measure those results. Whatever you want to accomplish, figure out how you’ll know if you did accomplish it.
Substance and Style 