Guerrilla marketing is all about hiring a gorilla suit and running around the city center giving free bananas to anyone who wants to listen to your message. OK…I think I probably have to work on my humour but it made me laugh. Today I am going to look at what is guerrilla marketing and try and give a bit of background information.

What is Guerrilla Marketing?

While guerrilla marketing is not about putting on a gorilla outfit and terrifying people in your local city center it is about marketing unconventionally with minimal funds by working with just your time and your own ingenious ideas.

So What variations of Guerrilla Marketing can I use?

I did say “your own ingenious ideas” didn’t I? Just teasing, there are lots of simple methods of marketing your business regardless of your organisations size by using guerrilla tactics. The following are just a few suggestions:

1. Stickers - Everyone loves stickers right? Well if you give out some really cool stickers for free with a link to your website then you are going to be passing your details onto at least one person but they are likely to stick the stickers to something that someone else is going to see. You see this strategy in the form of posters stuck all across town on lampposts, empty shop windows etc.
2. Controversy - Some larger organisations have played on creating controversy about a specific campaign which will attract bad attention resulting in free TV news attention. Companies like Acclaim for example created a campaign where they offered to pay for peoples speeding tickets on a specific date. They immediately got a huge amount of attention from people disgusted that a company like acclaim were offering something that could potentially encourage speeding in a car. As a result they got some great news coverage which lead to a huge increase in awareness of a new games launch to their target audience for next to zero cost.
3. Reverse Psychology - Tell people something like “Don’t shop with us, go shop with them and then come to us later”. OK this sounds like madness but it also makes people very curious as to what you are about and they will take a look and investigate you. If someone told you that there was something good in a box but that you couldn’t look, what would be the first thing you did when they left the room?

Is Guerrilla Marketing Legal?

Well, that depends entirely on what you are doing and how good your lawyers are. Vodafone once paid two people to strip at a Rugby game and run across a field with their logo painted onto their backs. This landed Vodafone in hot water and also got them a lot of free press. I guess it worked as they are very much still in operation today but could you survive a legal battle after doing something like that? My message would be “if in doubt check it out” after-all your goal is to increase business not get yourself shut down.

Is Guerrilla Marketing worth it?

For me it depends on what projects I am working on and what effect I want to produce. When working with some clients they like to get stickers and other spreadable items shipped out to their customers so that their customers will stick the branding and advertising messages to things which others will see. For me the sticker, poster and graffiti campaigns work for specific audiences but be aware that you could run the risk of getting fined in certain places as sticking things to other peoples property is basically vandalism. Campaigns that attract free media attention are always worth going for but don’t fall for the ridiculous saying “All press is good press” as this is simply not true. That doesn’t mean that controversy is a bad thing as I highlighted with the Acclaim Guerrilla campaign.

When choosing a guerrilla marketing campaign remember to think it through fully so that you understand the effect and repercussions from your campaigns as it is your time and reputation that you are investing.