Marketing is a big part of any business, and you have to master guerilla marketing if you are to keep your business afloat without spending too much money. First, you must understand guerilla marketing and review some guerilla marketing examples.
Social media has contributed significantly to guerilla marketing, allowing for one campaign over numerous platforms. Having the right guerilla marketing skills can get your name out there, especially among Gen Z. Let us get into the details and understand this topic.
What Is Guerilla Marketing?
Guerilla marketing is a strategy that uses unique methods to promote a product or service unexpectedly. It is designed to be low-cost and high-impact and often relies on surprise to capture the target audience's attention.
The guerilla marketing tactics include flash mobs, street art, social media campaigns, and viral videos. It can be a mural on the wall of a popular spot or a short video about a product or service with elements of interest to a specific audience.
The goal is to create a buzz and generate interest in a product or service through unexpected and unconventional means. One of the key benefits of guerilla advertising is that it can be highly effective at reaching a specific target audience.
Businesses can often reach potential customers more personally and engagingly using unconventional guerilla marketing tactics. This is a better way to drive conversions than large-scale mass targeted ad campaigns.
This can be especially effective for small businesses or startups looking to stand out in a crowded market. Most companies focus on conventional marketing methods, so anything new you do can increase your chances of landing loyal customers.
Another advantage of guerilla marketing is that it can be cost-effective. Because it relies on creative and unconventional tactics, it often requires little to no budget, making it a great option for businesses with limited resources.
It might not cost anything since it can be as simple as having one or two artists create an art piece. Employees or management could create a trendy video that gets traction for the company without throwing millions into the project.
However, it is essential to note that guerilla marketing can also be risky. Because it relies on unexpected and unconventional tactics, it can be challenging to predict the outcome of a guerilla advertising campaign.
The content you create might not be as trendy as you expect, which backfires on the company. It is also important to consider specific tactics' potential legal and ethical implications, as the public may not always like them.
Make sure you understand the laws of a given area and how they relate to your guerilla marketing skills. Keep up with news and social trends, so you don’t create content that poorly reflects your company's image.
You need to understand your products and the customers you are offering them to before you get into any form of marketing. Only leap with enough data since this might tank your brand early and reduce your expansion rate.
What Are the Significant Effects of Guerilla Marketing On Your Business?
Most startups don't focus much on guerilla marketing since they don't get how big of an advantage it offers. Businesses should consider several significant effects of guerilla advertising when implementing this type of campaign.
1. Increased Brand Awareness
One of the main goals of guerilla marketing tactics is to increase brand awareness, which is a significant effect of this type of campaign. You need to have many people know about your brand and what it offers.
Businesses can use creative and unexpected guerilla marketing tactics to grab their target audience's attention and increase brand awareness. Guerilla marketing will put you above your competitors, and you can get more potential customers.
2. Positive Word-of-mouth
Guerilla advertising campaigns that are creative and unexpectedly often generate positive word-of-mouth. This type of marketing can have a significant effect as it relies on recommendations from trusted people.
When people are surprised and entertained by a marketing campaign, they are more likely to share it with their friends and family. This can help spread the word about a product or service and build trust with the new converts.
3. Increased Customer Loyalty
Businesses use guerilla marketing tactics to create a personal and engaging customer experience. This helps to create loyalty.
Guerilla marketing content is fun and customer-oriented, connecting your brand to its customers.
Customers who feel connected to the brand are likely to continue doing business with them. Always leave room for reviews and comments on whichever method you use to enhance customer feedback and engagement.
4. Better Sales
The ultimate goal of any marketing strategy is to boost sales, and guerilla marketing can be an effective way to do this. The most important parts of marketing are capturing customer attention and keeping it.
By using unconventional tactics to grab the target audience's attention and convey the value of a product or service, businesses can increase their chances of making a sale. The more a business stands out from regular ads, the better its chances of converting customers.
Effective Strategies in Practicing Guerilla Marketing
You need skills to execute any marketing strategy, and guerilla marketing is no exception. You need some important pointers to help increase the effectiveness of your campaigns and get you conversions.
You need to have an excellent reputation as a company and good plans/ services for most campaigns to work. Here are a few effective strategies for practicing guerilla marketing:
1. Utilize Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool for guerilla marketing, allowing businesses to reach a large audience quickly and cost-effectively. Most social media platforms are free and have millions of users.
There are millions of social media users across all the popular platforms, and you can get many of them without spending any money. Utilize social media apps like TikTok to raise awareness about your product or service and engage with your target audience.
Respond to comments and post regular content to keep them interested, and you will notice a spike in your customer base.
2. Use Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing involves creating a memorable and interactive customer experience that directly engages them with your brand. This event often creates a lot of attention for a brand.
This could include creating a pop-up shop, hosting an event, or organizing a flash mob. You could sell brand merchandise to make the effect last longer and reach more people.
3. Leverage Viral Marketing
Viral marketing involves creating a message or content to be shared and spread quickly across the internet. This could be in the form of a viral video, meme, or social media post.
Millions of people view TikTok trends, which can be good publicity for your company. Short videos of about 15 to 30 seconds are the most popular for social media as people have short concentration spans in a sea of entertainment options.
This is why you need to understand your target audience to create content they can relate to and share with friends. Avoid vulgar and off-putting videos that might show your company in a bad light and scare away potential customers.
4. Utilize Street Art and Graffiti
Street art and graffiti can effectively convey your message to the public creatively and unexpectedly. This could involve creating a mural or stenciling a message on a wall in a high-traffic area.
People will take images of the graffiti and post them online. Essentially, they will run your campaigns, and your brand will grow popular without your funding or involvement.
Make sure you check with the local government to be certain it is legal to make street art. You should avoid getting in trouble with the law as it might lead to fines and penalties that will derail your company.
5. Use Targeted Advertising
Targeted advertising involves placing ads in locations where they are likely to be seen by your target audience. This could include placing ads on billboards, buses, or targeted publications.
Create ads in vet offices or animal care chat rooms if you have a dog grooming business. Put the ads in areas full of people needing your services to get the maximum ROI.
How Can a Strikingly Website Help You in Guerilla Marketing
Image taken from Strikingly website
Guerilla marketing is a marketing strategy that uses unconventional and innovative methods to promote a product or service. A Strikingly website can be a useful tool for guerilla marketing in several ways:
1. Your Strikingly website can serve as a central hub for your marketing efforts. This will allow you to easily share information about your product or service with a large audience.
Image taken from Strikingly User Website
2. You can use your Strikingly website to host promotional offers and discounts. Such offerings will encourage people to visit your site and learn more about your product or service.
Image taken from Strikingly User Website
3. Your Strikingly website will make it easier for you to track the effectiveness of your guerilla marketing campaigns. You'll therefore be able to make better and more informed decisions for your future marketing campaigns.
4. Lastly, the Strikingly website will allow you to easily and effectively engage with your audience through email marketing, social media, etc.
You can even send personalized emails to your audience. In addition, it's easy to integrate your Strikingly website with your social media accounts. Any important update posted on your website will automatically appear on your social media platforms.
Conclusion
You now understand guerilla marketing and its advantages to your company. It is not a common choice for most businesses, but it is an effective method, especially for small companies that need attention but can’t fund large ad campaigns.
Guerilla marketing is cost-efficient; therefore, you will get a high ROI through it. There are risks involved in this kind of marketing since it might not get the traction you want. Keep up with the trends and laws to get the best results without a lawsuit.
