What Is Guerrilla Marketing, and How Can It Help You?

Business leaders often assume "you get what you pay for" when it comes to marketing, which can result in excess spending and going over budget. And because so much of marketing has the same general look and feel, it can be hard to differentiate your strategies from those of your competition.

However, guerrilla marketing can offer relatively inexpensive tactics that make your brand stand out from the crowd. This article is your guide to what guerrilla marketing is, why it's effective, different tactics you can use, and how to do it for less money. With the knowledge you'll find here, you can start designing winning guerrilla marketing strategies today.

Guerrilla marketing refers to using non-traditional and creative approaches to promoting your brand, product, or service. A hallmark of most guerrilla marketing strategies is doing something unexpected to catch your target audience off-guard, grab their attention, and get them to look at your offering in a different context.

For example, the famous pancake chain IHOP temporarily changed some of its onsite logos to IHOb, with the "b" standing for burgers. [1] The company was trying to promote its burgers, which may have gone unnoticed by many customers who had been streaming in for the "p"—pancakes. The move caught the attention of IHOP fans and media outlets, shining a light on their burgers in a way that would have been hard to achieve otherwise.

Innovative, attention-grabbing guerrilla marketing like IHOP's can help small-business leaders reach their target audiences without exhausting their marketing coffers. Simultaneously, these catchy tactics create long-lasting impressions in the minds of customers, keeping your brand and offerings top of mind.

With guerrilla marketing, you solve the challenge of differentiating your brand while bringing attention to what you bring to market—all without breaking the budget.

Guerrilla marketing is especially important and useful in the internet age because your target market has easy access to so many of your competitors. With guerrilla marketing, you present your brand from a different angle, giving buyers something that makes them laugh, stop and think, and, most importantly, remember you when it comes time to make a purchase.

Despite being a nontraditional approach, guerrilla marketing can have an impact as positive and surprising as that felt by your target market while experiencing your campaign.

Cost effective

Often, a guerrilla marketing campaign features one or a few events as opposed to extensive strings of advertisements that quickly run up your tab with media outlets. For example, you could produce an oversized art installation in the middle of a public area depicting a new product or service.

If the city feels your piece will attract tourists or bring positive publicity to the area, they may allow the installation for little to no fee. Contrast this with the expense of a full-page ad in a magazine or even a pay-per-click campaign with high-value keywords, and the savings become clear.

Gives insights into your brand

With guerrilla marketing, you can give your target customers a tangible insight into your brand. Without saying it outright, you can show them that you're willing to take risks, embrace creativity, and are comfortable being different.

At the same time, you can cater your campaign so it conveys a very specific message about your brand values. For example, a humorous campaign shows your company is down-to-earth and relatable. An artistic campaign shows your creativity, and an innovative one lets customers know you're willing to color outside the lines to achieve success.

Builds partnerships

Since many guerrilla marketing campaigns involve public displays, they often require you to connect with others to bring your ideas to fruition.

For instance, you may get the chance to partner with:

• Town or city planners in charge of determining who can use public spaces.

• Brick-and-mortar businesses in the area where your marketing efforts may take place.

• Other companies on social media that you can hashtag if you launch a social campaign.

If a campaign includes a large visual element, such as a sculpture, you can partner with artists, as well as hardware and a variety of other types of stores that you use for supplies. They get free advertising, you may get a deal on materials, and everyone can benefit from the social media exposure.

Brand exposure

Guerrilla advertising can put your brand in front of large and unique audiences in ways that other strategies can't. When you incorporate social media, for example, you can put your brand in front of both regular customers and people who think your marketing is cool enough to share with their networks.

Because media outlets often report on impactful guerrilla marketing, you can also gain the attention of those who watch the news, read it online, or get updates through YouTube and TikTok.

The kind of guerrilla marketing you opt for is limited only by your imagination, but here are some approaches that companies have found effective.

Outdoor guerrilla marketing

Outdoor guerrilla marketing leverages the curious eye of the public, pulling their attention away from their daily routine and toward your brand. Outdoor tactics typically use:

• Public spaces as opposed to those on private or corporate property.

• Areas relatively close to other businesses, so you can benefit from their foot traffic.

• Highly-accessible spaces that welcome people regardless of age or mobility.

Indoor guerrilla marketing

Indoor guerrilla marketing aims to use spaces with the same attributes as outdoor efforts, but these campaigns have the advantage of being weather-resistant. Universities, malls, or train stops are often ideal targets.

Event ambush guerrilla marketing

An event ambush campaign uses an existing event as the backdrop—and lure—for your target audience. The increased foot traffic multiplies the impact of your event, getting you more bang for your buck. This requires thoughtful partnership with event planners so you don't negatively impact the experiences of their audience.

Experiential guerrilla marketing

An experiential guerrilla marketing campaign draws the audience into the experience by having them interact with your brand, its offering, or the marketing collateral itself. For instance, your audience may have to sit, stand on, walk through, touch, or listen to an element of a guerrilla advertisement, becoming a partner in the experience.

In the guerrilla marketing sphere, "impactful" and "successful" are often synonymous. Here are some tactics that have sent positive ripples for brands:

• Juxtaposing humor with a serious backdrop. GoldToeMoretz dressed the Wall Street Bull in a giant pair of underwear. [2]

• Inviting audience participation. Chinese singer Jeffrey Ngai built on his already impressive fame by putting up posters that encouraged fans to share their "initial aspirations," following the theme of his new tune. [3]

• Targeting new audiences. The number one ginseng brand in the world, Korea Ginseng Corp., started a campaign aimed at fans of all things Korean by staging traditional Korean games in New York's Rockefeller Center and other high-profile locations across the country. [4]

Social media is an ideal guerrilla marketing channel because it gives you access to wider, potentially longer-lasting exposure. The following tactics work well for many different kinds of products and brand identities:

• Creating viral content: Create an ad that tugs at your audience's heartstrings, shocks them, or gives them a good chuckle—to the point where they share with their friends, who share with their friends, and so on.

• Publishing polls and quizzes: Some buyers love quick polls that give them an outlet to express their points of view. You can create a poll that also features your company's brand collateral or offering.

• Hosting giveaways: With a giveaway, you capitalize on everybody's favorite price tag: $0. By announcing your giveaway via social media, you can earn shares and likes, as well as the exposure they provide.

• Using social media challenges: Whether it's the #bottleflip, #beautifulpeople, #cinnamonchallenge, or the next big thing, if a challenge aligns with your brand, you can use its popularity to boost yours.

To do guerrilla marketing on a budget, you should try to use public spaces that don't require usage or rental fees. If your campaign is visually compelling, it can boost the experience of people in the public space as well, and you can bring this to the negotiating table.

It's also important to remember that expensive doesn't necessarily equal "better" in the world of guerrilla marketing. A public giveaway advertised on social media can give you thousands of impressions and may cost less than renting a truck and driving to several concerts in your region with free stuff.

It's also important to leverage partnerships whenever feasible. In this way, both parties can benefit, and you may be able to split some of the costs.

You can use the above tactics to design a series of guerrilla marketing campaigns—or just one—that catches your target market off guard and leaves your brand top of mind. Using social media tactics, you can connect with thousands of new customers while firming up relationships with existing ones. And there's no need to shell out a lot of cash.