The Future of Guerilla Marketing

The Future of Guerilla Marketing.

Hey, marketers and business owners.

We’ve made it to 2020, a new decade to connect with our audiences. Conventional methods just won’t cut it anymore. It’s time to escape the notion that you need to spend loads of money to reach loads of people.

Although we’re taking on a new decade knowing that people no longer interact with companies the way they did when our grandparents did the advertising, why are so many of us still afraid to push the boundaries they’ve set?

We’re not confined by a 20th-century code – besides, they’re more like “guidelines” than actual rules.

What is Guerilla Marketing?

It’s not just about building advertising that defies the laws of marketing and pushes its way into the blind minds that traditional advertising has created. There’s an inaccurate definition that many are using – that it’s all about the unconventional. The truth is literally right there in the definition. “Guerrilla” warfare, a term defined by Webster as “irregular military actions carried out by small usually independent forces.” Guerilla Marketing is less about being remembered on Pinterest and more about an imagined design meant to reach the biggest audience using the least amount of resources. As businesses, we may not be going to war, but we’re at battle with other brands, competitors, and even the attention-spans of those people we’re trying to reach.

As small businesses, you have the most opportunity to use guerilla marketing to reach your target audience and make the biggest impact. Why? Because big box brands are recognized already – and they’ve ingrained themselves with that advertising needs to be focused on selling.

You’ve got the chance to build that recognition, make a statement that isn’t backed by high-paid CEOs, and reach and engage with your audience. 

Most guerilla marketing ideas are established on a few mutual characteristics:

• They’re cost-effective – money doesn’t matter;
• There’s more thought put into location and timing than anything else;
• They’re unique and well thought out; and
• They need to be perfectly executed on the first try – there is no room for error.

Some other marketers and organizations have attempted to categorize various guerilla marketing techniques into sub-categories. Less emphasis should be one what category your idea fits into because then it would be subjecting it to a label when guerilla is meant to go outside the lines.

For your own reference only, these categories are listed as:

• Indoor guerilla marketing;
• Outside guerilla marketing;
• Event ambush guerilla marketing; and
• Experiential guerilla marketing. However, we believe all guerilla marketing plans still remain experiential.

If you’re hoping to make an attempt at guerilla marketing and have an idea in mind, you can take some inspiration from other businesses who got it right. 

→   Get some inspiration

• Bounty Creating Big Messes on NYC Streets.
  If you came upon a normal-sized cup of coffee on the street, you’re likely to absent-mindedly step right over it. Now re-imagine what you see every day but made so big you can’t ignore it. That’s what Bounty did to grab the attention of commuters in NYC.

http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/07/21/bounty-paper-towels-ad-campaign/

By re-creating something simple into something extravagant, Bounty was able to provide their solution to an everyday problem without needing to describe it. Because we already know Bounty sells paper towels, but now it’ll remain in their heads the next time they’re grocery shopping.  

• Raise Awareness About Youth Homelessness By Making People Look.
  As humans, we train ourselves to look at the things that are aesthetically pleasing instead of those things that we know will make us uncomfortable. It’s why so many of us choose to ignore the homeless people sitting on the streets; it’s not because we don’t care, but we mentally don’t want the image to ruin our day.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/8866530488990663/?lp=true

http://waveavenue.com/profiles/blogs/interesting-awareness-campaign-for-the-homeless

Replace that struggling youth with a poster, and suddenly people look down – curiosity trumps comfort. These posters were designed to take the place of a homeless person and raise awareness of the fact that, just because you choose not to see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there.

• Make the Public Become Part of Your Guerilla Campaign.
  
  http://marketingideas101.com/ads/5-great-guerrilla-marketing-ideas/

Through interactive ideas, you can capture an audience’s attention by having them become, evening unwillingly, part of the campaign itself. The interesting fact about the above example is that those walking on the ad, may not be aware that those on the upper floors are mistaking them to be fleas. If you can conjure up an idea like this one, where the audience becomes interactive, you’re more likely to leave a lasting impression.

• Being clever in your marketing pays off.

Have an idea you’d like to explore and need some creative minds to put your plan into action? Reach out today to get started!