Guerilla Marketing Tactics: Leave a Lasting Impression

REEFExperiential Marketing Blog
what is guerilla marketing
You’re likely familiar with the term ‘guerrilla warfare.’ The term describes combatants in war who are willing to throw rules out the window. They’re willing to sabotage, ambush, raid and incorporate elements of surprise in order to reign victorious. So, how does this relate to guerilla marketing?

What is Guerilla marketing? 

Guerilla marketing is an alternative style of advertising that relies on low-cost, high-impact communication that is not unlike the “hit-and-run” style of its namesake. It’s about taking your consumer by surprise, leaving a lasting impression and creating a lot of buzz around your brand. This is typically done by targeting your consumer at a more personal, memorable or unexpected moment in an unconventional way. Guerilla marketing is actually pretty interesting. Looking at guerrilla marketing examples can leave you amazed at the thought and creativity behind these campaigns. Here, we discuss some guerilla marketing tactics and why you may want to use them for your brand.

It helps to create distinct and memorable experiences

Needless to say, guerilla marketing isn’t your run-of-the-mill advertising tactic. Its success relies on being unique. The goal of any successful marketing campaign is to elicit feelings and emotions from your consumer. A well-orchestrated guerilla marketing campaign is designed to accomplish this while leaving a lasting impression on anyone who encounters it.

It grows your customer base

It should come as no surprise that the goal of any marketing initiative is rooted in a desire to attract new customers, and a guerrilla marketing campaign is no exception. The idea of a guerilla marketing campaign is to surprise and engage someone in a way that your brand leaves a lasting impression. Your product or service will stick out in their minds. Guerilla marketing allows you to reach markets that you may not have been able to reach using traditional marketing efforts. This is a great way to obtain a new customer base as well as encourage old customers to engage with your brand again.

It’s budget friendly

The tactics involved with a guerrilla campaign are almost always low, and in some cases, no cost. This is because the key to guerrilla marketing is the employing of unconventional methods to engage the consumer in new, exciting and memorable ways. Some of the best guerrilla campaigns happen in unexpected places, with minimal overhead, which provides incredibly flexible and cost-effective campaigns. Guerilla marketing examples include creative advertisements in public areas, such as a subway station or along a highway. Easy to implement, hard to miss.

It builds partnerships

At its core, guerilla marketing relies on everyday places and situations in order to accomplish its full effect. However, this may be difficult for a company to do on its own. This is actually a good thing. Guerilla marketing campaigns give companies the opportunity to form strategic partnerships with local businesses, organizations and charities. This could be coffee shops or university campuses. This allows companies to engage their target audience more efficiently and usually at a reduced overhead.

It has the potential to go viral

To ignore the presence of social media and technology in our day-to-day lives would be a mistake. The accessibility that comes from smartphones and the internet today lends the potential for real world events to reach millions of people at little to no cost. A well-orchestrated and creative guerrilla marketing campaign can easily and often tap into this trend. Local campaigns have the potential to reach international audiences overnight if the campaign’s strategy is creative and well-executed.

It’s unconventional

While we hope this doesn’t come as a shock, the truth is that sometimes people don’t trust advertising. For the most part, traditional advertising is in your face, straightforward and unapologetic in their attempts to get you to buy a product or service. As a result, people can often feel manipulated. However, a guerilla marketing campaign has a much more organic feel, leaving a lasting impression with consumers without making them feel like they have just been advertised to.