Guerilla Marketing – A Marketing Tactic with a Limited Budget, but

IRACST – International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM), ISSN: 2319–2828

Vol. 5, No.1, Jan-Feb 2016

Faculty, Dept. of Commerce and Management, Aditya Degree College, Affiliated to Adi Kavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

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Guerilla Marketing – A Marketing Tactic with a Limited Budget, but

Exponential Creativity

V.Mrunalini Sasanka*, D.Madhulatha*, P.Lalitha Rani*

Abstract:

Innovative, creative marketing initiatives are

part of the culture. "It's definitely an

advantage to be part of a franchise system so

we can see what others are doing, what's

working. One popular, low-cost activity

across the brand is standing on the side of a

busy street in their uniforms, waving a big

orange foam hand. They also park their

trucks at busy intersections to "get in front

of anyone that we can. Guerilla Marketing is

an interaction in order to promote a product

or service. Guerrilla marketing is different

than traditional marketing in that it often

relies on personal interaction and has a

smaller budget, and it focuses on smaller

groups of promoters that are responsible for

getting the word out in a particular location

rather than on wide-spread media

campaigns. The present article studies about

the low cost budget and stresses on how to

invest time, energy, imagination and

knowledge instead. It puts profits, not sales,

as the main yardstick. It urges that you grow

geometrically by enlarging the size of each

transaction, having more transactions per

year with each customer, and tapping the

enormous referral power of current

customers.

It is a marketing tactic not designed for all

types of goods and services, and it is often

used for more "on edge" products and to

target younger consumers who are more

likely to respond positively. It's not

something you can do just halfway. If you

do, your guerrilla marketing it will be little

more than a direct mail postcard without

postage. Guerrilla marketing is much more

bold, creative, and, most important,

surprising. In fact, all successful examples

of this type of marketing feature unexpected

placement, timing, or messaging.

Key Words: marketing tactics, promotion,

messaging, unexpected placement, market

aggressiveness, strategic alliances, text

messaging

Introduction

Marketing is one area where entrepreneurs can actually define a unique identity for themselves.

The term was actually coined in 1984 by American advertising executive and writer Jay Conrad

Levinson. Its meaning is relatively simple – in essence, the art of getting consumers to pay

attention – but its execution is no easy feat. The effectiveness of guerrilla marketing campaigns

can be measured by the amount of attention they attract – in contemporary marketing terms, the

amount of engagement they incite. Remember, consumers are inundated with as many as 2,904

media messages on any given day, and will positively recall only four. Guerrilla marketing

campaigns, which typically involve some serious thinking outside of the box, can be a smart way

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/promoter.asp

http://www.franchising.com/business_services_franchises/direct_mail.html




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to grab attention. It includes print, social media, TV, radio, and other forms of media that

informs the consumer.

Guerrillas know they must seek profits from their current customers. They worship at the shrine

of customer follow-up. They are world-class experts at getting their customers to expand the size

of their purchases. Because the cost of selling to a brand-new customer is six times higher than

selling to an existing customer, guerrilla marketers turn their gaze from strangers to friends. This

reduces the cost of marketing while reinforcing the customer relationship. Guerrillas are able to

think of additional products and services that can establish new sources of profits to them.

They're constantly on the alert for strategic alliances--fusing marketing efforts with others in

order to market aggressively while reducing marketing investment.

Who employs guerrilla marketing?

Originally conceived as a tool for small businesses and entrepreneurs, guerrilla marketing is

nonetheless increasingly popular among large businesses. Additionally, non-profit organizations

have been apt to invest their time, energy, and creativity into guerrilla campaigns. In competitive

markets, it can be easy to get lost in the crowd. One of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs is

standing out from their competitors. Marketing in new, unusual, or aggressive ways is the best

way to illustrate what makes a business unique. Below are some marketing strategies that

entrepreneurs have used successfully in the past. A company can direct all of its marketing

efforts towards one strategy, or use several of them at once.

Relationship Marketing – Focuses on creating a strong link between the brand and the

customer.

Expeditionary Marketing – Involves creating markets and developing innovative

products. Companies act as leaders rather than followers.

One to One Marketing - Customers are marketed to as individuals. All marketing

efforts are personalized.

Real Time Marketing – Uses the power of technology to interact with a customer in a

real time.

Viral Marketing – Places marketing messages on the Internet so they can be shared and

expanded on by customers.

Digital Marketing – Leverages the power of Internet tools like email and social

networking to support marketing efforts

Developing of Guerrilla marketing campaign:

A guerrilla campaign starts with a creative and engaging idea, generally involving not

just the content of the message, but its form. Surprises and innovative methods of

communication are key components for engaging the interest of the consumer. For example,

Devi sons, a fashion mall in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, deployed mirrors with images of

their fashions (instead of posters of fashion models), so that consumers could see what they

looked like in every variety clothes. Guerrilla marketing was conceived to primarily target




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existing customers rather than new ones, aiming to increase their engagement with a product

and/or brand. When selecting audiences for a guerrilla message, a group that is already engaged

with the product at some level is the best target; they will be quicker to recognize and respond to

creative tactics, and more likely to share the experience with their friends.

A variety of creative methods can be employed—and indeed, one of the principles of

guerrilla marketing is to use a combination of methods. Graffiti (or reverse graffiti, where a dirty

wall is selectively cleaned), interactive displays, intercept encounters in public spaces, flash

mobs, or various PR stunts are often used. While using a variety of methods, the overall

marketing message should be consistent. Repeated sightings of the surprise message build

interest, and changing messages for each stunt tends to confuse or diminish a consumer's interest

in the brand.

Principles of Guerrilla Marketing

Marketing managers are responsible for supervising every aspect of the marketing process.

In entrepreneurial settings they may be responsible for small teams or take responsibility for all

marketing themselves. Their duties include carrying out market research, approving images and

text, and negotiating rates for ad space. They will also play a central role in developing

marketing plans. Main principles of Guerrilla Marketing are:

measure success by profits, not sales.

instead of prioritizing new customers, prioritize increasing number and size of

transactions from existing customers, and gaining referrals.

aim messages at small groups instead of mass audiences.

focus on gaining the consent of the consumer to send them more information.

commit to a campaign, pursuing effective frequency, instead of creating a new message

each time.

Strategic Planners develop corporate strategies to increase growth and profitability. Most

entrepreneurs will employ a strategic planner to help them as they grow from small to large

businesses. Planners will make decisions about a number of business decisions, including

marketing efforts. They do not create ads themselves, but identify new opportunities and

methods for marketing.

Ways to make Guerilla Marketing effective:

Creating a unique experience does carry with it an amount of risk. Specifically, a communication

that is too creative may be misinterpreted. Advertising Account Managers often work for

agencies that serve several clients, and may produce guerrilla-style advertisements for multiple

companies, products, and brands. Below are some of the ways to make guerilla marketing

effective.




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1. A strategy that makes it Clever: The ―memory retention‖ approach relies on displaying

your offering from a new, clever point of view. The smarter the campaign, the more memorable

it will be.

2. Dynamic presentation: Another way to do guerrilla marketing is to enlist unknowing

participants. Frontline covered a mall‘s floor with this advertisement for flea and tick spray. As

you can see from the photo, the shoppers walking across it looked like parasites to those up

above. Wouldn‘t you take an extra moment to stare at this?

3. Make it Endearing: People LOVE all things free, which is why some of the most

engaging guerrilla campaigns are tied to free giveaways. Coca-Cola recently turned a standard

vending machine into a ‗Happiness Machine.‘ Consumers who used the machine were rewarded

with free bottles of Coke to share with friends, beautiful flower bouquets, and even entire pizzas!

The results were incredibly positive – one person in the video can even be heard saying, ―I

love you, Coke.‖ This might be a more expensive example of guerrilla marketing, but even a

small giveaway can go a long way.

4. Memorable Advertising: Want to make a busy main bazar stop and pay attention on

their way to work in the morning? You‘ve got to get coffee involved. Nescafe Coffee printed

stickers which transformed manholes into freshly brewed cups of joy. The steam coming from

these manholes, which is a typical sight in Andhra Pradesh, transformed the eye-sore into a

brilliant advertisement. Now every time you see a steaming man-hole, you might think of

Nescafe.

5. Make it Interactive: It doesn‘t get simpler than this Tyskie Beer ad. By placing decals

around door handles, the door opener feels as if they are holding the handle of a beer mug. Each

time an individual enters through that door, Tyskie beer is on the top of their mind.

6. Make it Subtle: Not all campaigns have to stock people in their tracks. This Mr. Clean

ad uses no words, just their well-known logo. By painting the single cross-walk line with fresh

white paint, the message is being unassumingly conveyed to the viewer. Mr. Clean makes

surfaces cleaner!

Guerrilla Methods:

Guerrilla marketing tries to launch a new business, product or idea. It develops a focused

customer base, and use interactive marketing to engage them and generate word-of-mouth buzz

about their business. Marketers must invest their own time and energy in guerrilla campaigns,

instead of contracting out to agencies. They also have to identify market opportunities for new

businesses, products, and unique advertising messages.




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A great way to get to the customers pocket through Text messaging: "You text a word to

a number and you're enrolled. Then we send you a text message with a special deal or

reminder," he says. "With technology advancing so much, the best way to get a customer is to

make them feel like you're right next to them, not like a distant corporate office."

E-marketing: Using Constant Contact, they send an email newsletter once a quarter to

customers who have opted in. "We talk as little about housecleaning as possible," he says.

Instead, they focus on local events, their community participation, and simply keeping their

name in customers' minds. They also post tips on Facebook, such as how to clean old headlights

using toothpaste.

Networking: It's all about building relationships with people in the community. They've

teamed up with a local television host, appearing once a month to talk about cleaning.

Internet: It's a growing place to be, an important place to be. If you're not on it, you're

missing a lot of potential business. "Not many housecleaning companies around here are doing

Facebook and Twitter yet. Starting early gave us a strong advantage."

Effective guerrilla marketing requires creativity, foresight, and follow-through. A marketing

program can equip you with all you need to both think creatively and execute your plan efficiently.

A great guerrilla campaign can convince us, if even for a split second, that we aren‘t looking at an

advertisement and that it‘s acceptable to pay attention. Guerrilla marketing tactics can help

businesses to stay a step or two ahead of the competition by using methods that were previously

unknown.

Conclusion:

Guerrilla marketing is still as valuable today as it was back in the 1980s. It‘s a way for small

businesses to level the playing field. For a small investment, the smaller businesses can compete

with the big names. This has lead to an unprecedented commercial environment where the

relatively unknown company can garner as much attention as – and often more than – the well-

established national brand. It would be nice to think that guerrilla marketing will take a different

(less shocking, more personal) turn. We‘re seeing already that brands – especially small

businesses – are taking it to the streets, so to speak, by joining forum discussions, obsessively

updating their Twitter accounts, and writing articles for newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

Building personal relationships with customers may be the best marketing move of the future. A

handshake and the assurance that even a big, important business owner is never too important to

wait on a customer is just what we jaded masses need to help us reconnect to our buying habits. There are so many new ideas being rolled out that you have to spend a lot of time and money

making something that is very different. Even then, you‘ll easily get lost in the noise if you don‘t

figure out how to stand out.

One of the reasons that guerrilla marketing has become so popular is because it allows you to

compete with international brands that have much deeper pockets. That‘s why startups are

constantly trying to create underground marketing campaigns that shock the world, causing

waves of attention. Viral tactics are probably the most popular form of guerrilla marketing. The




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Cadbury gorilla, the Force commercial by Volkswagen and the Old Spice Man are good

examples of viral marketing. Guerrilla marketing is not some gimmicky stunt, but rather

marketing that has direct and immediate business impact. It‘s why large companies like Virgin

and Apple use. But it‘s low cost makes it a great way for small companies with a small budget to

make their dollars go a long way.

References:

1. Guerrilla Marketing: The Nature of the Concept and Propositions for Further Research

Katharina Hutter and Stefan Hoffmann.

2. GUERILLA MARKETING: REDEFINING MARKETING, Tactful Management

Research Journal, VASANTH KIRAN AND DEEPAK JOSE.

3. Levinson, J. C. (1984). Guerilla marketing: Secrets for making big profits from your

small business. Boston. Houghton Mifflin.

4. Levinson, J. C. (1999). Mastering guerrilla marketing 100 profit-producing insights you

can take to the bank. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

5. Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L. (2009). A framework for marketing management. Upper

Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

6. Wensen, H. V. (2008). Advantages of Guerrilla Marketing, EVP, Chief Guerrilla Officer

Draftfcb Amsterdam. Podcast Transcript. 1(2): 2-5.

7. Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Guerrilla Marketing Michael Serazio University of

Pennsylvania, [email protected].

8. Twitchell, J. B. (1997). Adcult USA: The triumph of advertising in American culture.

New York: Columbia University Press.

9. Verklin, D., & Kanner, B. (2007). Watch this, listen up, click here: Inside the 300 billion

dollar business behind the media you constantly consume. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &

Sons.

10. http://www.sciencedirect.com

http://ascidatabase.com/author.php?author=Katharina&last=Hutter

http://ascidatabase.com/author.php?author=Stefan&last=Hoffmann

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/

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Guerilla Marketing – A Marketing Tactic with a Limited Budget, but