Guerilla Marketing : minimal cost and maximum impact

Nowadays, the effectiveness of traditional marketing campaigns has significantly decreased and companies have had to find new alternatives to make a lasting impression on consumers. They feel the need to create a stronger relationship with their audience by impacting their minds. By using unconventional methods such as guerilla marketing, companies are implementing new ideas to promote their product or service with a low-cost strategy and the aim to reach maximum results.

Levinson and the Guerilla Marketing

In 1983 the term Guerilla Marketing was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson (1933-2013), an American business writer. The term was inspired by guerilla warfare and the elements of surprise used by armed civilians such as ambushes or raids. Much like guerrilla warfare, guerilla marketing uses the same kind of tactics in the marketing industry. Levinson suggests in his book: “you don't need many. You need only one good one.” (Guerilla Marketing, 1983). To be efficient, the campaign needs to be unique and well made.

A traditional way no longer effective

At the moment, traditional forms of marketing such as TV, newspapers, magazines, or direct mail no longer have impact on people. Because they are exposed to too much advertising, they are becoming familiar with the on-going same type of advertisement. Traditional forms of marketing have lost their power to attract consumers’ attention and reached a point where they are no longer efficient. Marketers have had to find alternative and new ways to talk to consumers.

In recent years, the popularity of the guerilla concept has been growing steadily. Today, guerilla marketing is mainly used by SMEs because of its rather low-cost investment. Companies are concerned with brain awareness and know that if the campaign is successful the message will make a better and lasting impression on consumers. Guerrilla marketing campaigns aim to strike the consumer at a more personal and memorable level by creating emotion, and sometimes by simply making him smile.

Creative and surprising

This alternative way of advertising relies heavily on campaigns conceived with energy, time, and creativity rather than money. Guerrilla marketing is about taking the consumer by surprise. It became an ideal tool for companies to reach a larger audience, be noticed, and especially to earn the reputation of being fun and different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6V_HPKM_D8 – Palmolive (Germany)

Consumers or customers are targeted in the most unusual occasions to add surprise and shock to their day to day routine. By taking place where people least except it, guerilla marketing campaigns are succeeding in getting people’s attention. It is all about focusing on the customer and proposing something unique, original and different to have a stronger impact on individuals that will then tell their experience to others. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316AzLYfAzw – High quality TV Channel TNT (Belgium)

A wide range of tactics

Making an emotional connection with the consumer can be achieved thanks to different types of instruments.

Viral marketing uses methods to incite a communication process by creating buzz with a video clip being massively shared on the internet for instance. This method doesn’t increase the cost of the campaign but stimulates the diffusion of the message. Indeed, consumers that have been surprised with the message will tend to share their experience with others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO7iCbtlcIc – Contrex (France)

Ambient marketing consists in placing ads at unusual or unexpected places where people spend a lot of time such as buses, metro station, or street benches. 

Sensation marketing aims at surprising pedestrians in public places by actions to catch the attention of the passerby, surprising the consumer with something unexpected to draw their attention to the advertising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o3oS9oE9dc – Tic-Tac (France)

In the last decades, a revolutionary marketing technique known as Guerilla Marketing has found its way in society. This form of marketing often has a high return on investment and enables companies to focus on the consumer with creativity and emotion rather than budget. The key idea is to impress your audience by creating memorable moments.

       Manon.V