The first principle of guerrilla marketing warfare is to “abandon conventional military tactics”. In doing so, this strategy draws on the element of surprise, offering a competitive advantage to those willing to think outside of the box.
The war that guerrilla marketers wage for customers’ attention takes a similar approach, which is why guerrilla marketing is transitioning from a flash-mob fad to a crucial, non-traditional marketing outreach strategy.
Guerrilla Marketing
For those of you unsure what guerrilla marketing is, it is essentially an out-of-the-box marketing campaign, designed to cause an emotional response that will get people sharing their experience with others. Take Vodafone for example. In 2009, they ran a guerrilla campaign to highlight the importance of taking out mobile phone insurance.
Mobile phone theft is a big problem in Romania; in fact, a phone is stolen every two minutes. So Vodafone hired some professional pickpockets – not to steal phones – but to slip flyers into people’s pockets and bags that read; “it’s this easy to steal your phone. Insure your phone at Vodafone.”
While unconventional, the clever guerrilla marketing campaign certainly got consumers’ attention and raised awareness of Vodafone’s insurance packages.
What value is there to your business?
Guerrilla marketing strategies ditch traditional marketing models in favour of surprising, unexpected and often wacky methods. But what is the value of this unconventional strategy to your business? Here are just a few:
- Guerilla Marketing can save you precious pounds. At the top end, you may end up investing a few hundred pounds in promotional items or a major, centralized piece that you can build campaigns around. At the low end, it’s free – and you can’t beat free!
- In addition to growing your business, Guerilla Marketing is a valuable networking tool – both with your customers and other businesses. In the process of executing and maintaining your campaign, you will make a lot of new friends and business allies.
- Guerilla Marketing works. If you do your research, plan your campaign, and stick with it, you will more than likely end up with a better and more profitable business.
- Many aspects of creative Guerilla Marketing campaigns are just plain fun! You get to perform wacky stunts and engage in unusual activities, all in the name of work.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.
