Today, in the era of cut-throat competition, small business units are often found in a dilemma as regards achieving big results with little resources. It works; however, small businesses may sometimes feel overwhelmed with this advertising option as it can be expensive. With this, how do small businesses get noticed without spending too much? This is where guerrilla marketing comes into play - an unorthodox campaign that is relatively inexpensive and focuses on smart ideas rather than large advertising budgets.
Guerrilla marketing is all about engaging the mind, delighting the audience and creating a buzz. This is an innovative way to do business in which small businesses are able to fight above their weights and be able to compete with bigger companies regardless of the absence of an advertising budget. In this article, we will discuss the best guerrilla marketing ideas that can help your small business attract attention and increase its market identity.
What People Mean When They Use The Phrase Guerrilla Marketing
Before deep diving into particular tactics it is relevant to clarify what exactly is meant by guerilla marketing. Taking sociocultural cues from the phrase guerrilla warfare, which denotes the imposition of unconventional means by relatively minor forces over relatively larger forces, guerilla marketing centers on the relative employment of creativity and surprises when marketing. You have to embrace a culture of innovation, surprises and lots of interactions that would have a huge impact on the audience.
The intellect and creativity are not the only ingredients in making a business successful. In some instances, strategies have been adopted to branch away from the normal practices and market to customers differently. This is guerrilla marketing.
Moreover, guerrilla marketing is about creativity, which is why many entrepreneurs prefer it since they don’t have to burden themselves with promotional expenses.
Key Characteristics of Guerrilla Marketing:
Cost effective, but makes impact
Multipurpose and inventive
Delightful and unforgettable Impression
Viral or easily shared
Let’s begin with some ideas about which any entrepreneur would want to sulk upon – guerrilla marketing techniques for small business.
Street Art and Murals
Of the many creative guerrilla marketing ideas available, using street art is the most effective visually. Placing urban and colorful graphics or chalk drawings in a public space is sure to grab the attention of passersby. Street art can also be great since it can be captured and posted on numerous social networks, thus expanding your target market, aside from the area you are in.
To illustrate, a coffee house may have their local artist create an impressive abstract wall painting which incorporates all of their beverages. It not only garners foot traffic but also compels buyers to take pictures and share with their social circles hence enhancing exposure.
Pro Tip: Make sure the artwork embodies a big picture that resonates with your viewers in a meaningful way. If possible, choose a place that would be busy and would give maximum exposure.
Flash Mobs and Pop-Up Events
Public attention is difficult to get, but there are times when things like distressing flash mobs come in extremely handy. Performing art in a sudden fashion can always capture attention and stimulate discussions about what took place. The limitation with these flash mobs has always been in execution - people would need to be coordinated whether they are performing dance, playing music or they are brand ambassadors who are just flaunting around with an offer that is hard to forget and definitely relates to your brand.
Another option is arranging a pop-up event. It could be a surprise mobile store, or an interactive booth in the center of a busy street, the purpose of both is to make people feel they are in the hurry to purchase something.
Example: A mini bakery may carry out a flash mob where a group of dancers is deployed to some central shopping area to attract shoppers and once the performance is over distribute the bakery items. It is not only eye-catching but also enables potential clients to try out the goods during demonstration.
Pro Tip: If possible and you want to have the largest reach and the greatest effect of your activity, take videos of your flash mob or pop-up and spread the footage to as many social media platforms as possible. Remember to append hashtags and ask persons who take part to do the same to the edge of your campaign.
Marketing Using Stickers
Stickers are small in size, light in weight, and can be passed out easily, so they are also cost effective ways to ensure brand awareness. For example, Guerrilla marketers would use stickers to place their logo or message or their artwork upon non traditional advertising spaces such as street poles, public transportation, or even sidewalks. The secret lies in making your stickers interesting in that people would want o share it with others.
Example: A crafty small craft brewery could think of making odd shaped, one of a kind funny slogans with their logo on the sticker and sell it. Take these to community events or leave them at supporting businesses for customers to take. Who does not like to have a good collection of stickers? And if it is okay in design, people would use it on laptops, water bottles or notebooks and thus, advertising your brand at no cost.
Pro Tip: Your goal should be to enhance the design of stickers so they sell, for instance you can use the eyebrow raising promotion on your stickers. It is not a bad idea to hire some local artists for creating artwork whose design will best suit the character of your company.
Reverse Graffiti
In normal circumstances, graffitiist will use spray paint and stencil and spray images on a wall while in reverse graffiti someone cleans off certain dirt in some forms. Stencil plus cleaning implements equals a surface that is dirty and messages/pictures that are clear and appealing on sidewalks or walls. great for the environment it is often seen as cutting edge and gets people’s attention.
Example: A conventional business concept for a niche cleaning company might be to sponser a reverse graffiti advertisement that modernizes a certain dirty area by removing a logo. Hence it gives a subtle view of how their service looks like while increasing the visibility of the company.
Professional Tip: It may be more seemly to seek permission from local authorities or property owners prior to using reverse graffiti because in some cities there could be restrictions on public advertising.
Viral Video Challenge
This latter one has perhaps the quickest obtain-ability of all because in the current social media series of videos, steps with the same aim tend to go viral and therefore grab attention fast. This usuallly has been the case with Guerrilla Marketing with regards to Videos Challenges internet challenges have become popular which become a trend and people seek to take participation in it, only this time use their creativity. It should be more fun on the clients side and engaging as well as easy to share.
Example: A typical approach a fitness studio can take is to organize a.31 days fitness video “upload non-stop doodles”. The fitness studio could offer free classes or discounts and even hand them out to make noise for their brand and get interested clients to take part.
Professional Tip: Promote your video challenge on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other preferable sites where the target audience can be reached. Help the audience from actively participating by coming up with a special hashtag and giving straightforward guidelines on how to participate in the activity.
Creative Flyers and Posters
Flyer and Poster may sound inclusive in decades past marketing, but even guerrilla marketers are more liberative in today’s versions. The trick is to make your flyers, posters or even postcards very artistic and engaging. You can embed QR codes to your website, include promo code tear-out tabs, or construct them in a way that invites action.
Example: A small dog grooming enterprise can give creative flyers in dog shapes with cheery pinch-off “coupon collar” giving out discounts. This allows participants to engage in physical activity while propagating a relatively bland marketing tool.
Pro Tip: Get creative about places where you place your flyers. For apartments – in elevators, public transport for offices, or if you’re a yoga studio, local coffee shops or health food stores. Focus your placing on areas that your target market goes to.
Conclusion: Ramp up Your Small Business Utilizing Guerrilla Marketing
Amidst an all-around background hum of promotional activity, guerrilla marketing is perhaps the only alternative left to small enterprises, which revolves around imagination, surprise and creativity. These arts enable you the opportunity to quench unmet needs of your target market by innovating on what has always been done but inside their pockets.
When implemented carefully, guerrilla marketing can elicit excitement, increase the clientele base, and generate attention from the public relations industry which in turn enhances brand recognition. The good news is sour trailers already called, satisfied their orders, slogans from social marketing 2. 0 focused on social networking have been focusing on mixed marketing within, across and beyond cultures.
Are you equipped to do something unforgettable? Use these strategies of marketing an adventure based promotion and understand within no time, your small business will be under the lime light.
Frequently asked Questions
Do online businesses not take advantage of guerrilla marketing strategies?
It is not true that guerrilla marketing works only for gay local businesses. Guerrilla marketing can work for local businesses as well as for online businesses. Most of them come in use, especially for localization purposes such as street performances and pop up events, while some rest entirely on the world wide web reaching a wider audience than real gardens.
How can I determine if a guerrilla marketing campaign is successful?
The measures of success can be social media engagement (likes, shares, comments), traffic to the website, brand mentions, and increase in sales among others. Before you launch a campaign, it is vital to define what you hope to achieve.
I have an idea for a guerrilla marketing campaign. Is it legal?
Most of the time, the strategies employed for guerrilla marketing are legal. However, it is still advised to take care of any required permission, especially for places, and properties, which are open to pubic or private use. Make sure to check with local authorities to avoid problems.
Do all guerrilla marketing campaigns need to be costly?
Not at all! Guerrilla marketing is very low cost which is what it’s famous for. Many of the campaigns simply require the person to be creative as opposed to having a lot of money which is good for small businesses who do not have a lot of money to spend on marketing.
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