Raise your hands if you think Guerrilla Marketing is the best for promoting brands out there! Want to get all creative? Infuse some guerilla charm. The marketing campaign is dying down? Sprinkle some guerilla flare. Want to create a sudden buzz? Ignite those guerilla vibes! 

Going over the board might not always help to achieve what you aim for, right? It can be a tad bit risky. So, keeping a check on your campaigns with a social media management tool by Social Champ might not be a bad idea. 

A recent study states that Guerrilla Marketing efforts for brand promotion actually affect 57% of buyers. Surprising, isn’t it? Making your marketing go over the top requires wild creativity. But there can be some key pointers you might want to keep in mind. 

Marketing can never get boring with all its fun and creative ways to promote brands and their products. Whether targeting one country or maybe two, thanks to social media, guerilla campaigns have the magic of making brands go viral.

Understanding Guerrilla Marketing

Now, keeping all the hype aside, what makes Guerrilla Marketing so special? Sure, there are other ways to promote the brand, but what really makes this marketing strategy stand out? Ingenuity! Being clever with your marketing strategies and grabbing instant attention is the key to a successful marketing campaign. 

The idea is to surprise the audience with an unexpected act that goes viral overnight. Some famous brands, such as McDonald’s, Nike, and Ford, have been doing this for decades. Now, the question is, how do you start planning all of this? There are two things to keep in mind:

Breaking The Mould

First things first. Being a marketer, it’s important to be as creative as you can. There’s no restriction when it comes to adding crazy ideas and creating a blend of attractive and eye-catching campaigns. This is the exact purpose, so why restrict and refrain from going all fierce? 

The main goal is to break all the norms and create a noise that reaches beyond your own customer base. The quickest way a fire spreads in the jungle is by burning from one tree to another. The same method applies to humans via word-of-mouth. 

The minute a campaign launches and gets attention from its brand loyalists or advocates, there’s an uproar! But that depends on whether the campaign resonates with the target audience or not. Many times, brands fail to deliver the right message. This especially happens with small businesses or newbies in the market. As unfortunate as this situation sounds, it can be an experience to learn from. But what is the purpose in life when there’s no will to take risks, right? In the end, breaking the mold is what brands should aim for!

Core Principles

There are three points to list before setting up the Guerrilla Marketing campaign for creative brand promotion.

1. Creativity Over Budget:

Never ever cut down on creativity just for the sake of budget saving. This is the worst advice any marketer could opt for. When brands know what they want and have confidence in what they are planning to do, budget shouldn’t be a problem. 

It’s about ingenious ideas and execution rather than extravagant spending. In fact, Guerrilla Marketing is one of the most budget-friendly marketing tactics out there. 

2. Audience Interaction:

One magic that Guerrilla Marketing does is create value and a memorable experience for its customers. Likewise, it involves direct interaction and creating memorable experiences that resonate with customers. 

The more the brands engage with their customers, the better the results are. Communication is best when it’s two-way, so keep the radars on and interact with customers as much as you can. 

3. Viral Potential:

Social media is giving users a golden opportunity to have the stage and showcase all the talent they have. Similarly, brands also have the leverage to create an online presence and attain customer retention. With the right social media marketing techniques, brands can go a long way and see a huge return on investments from viral campaigns. 

You never know; your brand could be impacting potential customers to the extent that it actually impacts the lives of those in need. 

Building Anticipation on Social Media

For any marketing campaign to take place, creating hype on social media is super helpful. Teasing the audience with crypto messages or sharing posts with countdowns can be a great way to engage. 

Building anticipation online helps reach a global audience. With the help of a social media management tool, brands can maintain consistent marketing campaigns and get feedback on their performance.

Real-time Engagement

Monitoring the audience is a key factor in real-time engagement. The audience interacts on the brands’ social media posts; it is important to keep the communication in flow. Using Social Champ’s social media management tool helps in monitoring the channels and responding promptly to audience reactions and comments, etc. 

A pre and post-campaign report can show great results and feedback for improvements in future guerilla campaigns and allow for better real-time engagement with the audience.

Types of Guerrilla Marketing

To understand various techniques that brands can apply when choosing this type of marketing, there are four main types of Guerrilla Marketing:

1. Experiential Marketing

This type of marketing makes your customers remember brands for a longer time. The purpose is to create a memorable and emotional connection. Hence, brands use strategies that involve face-to-face communication or activities that create a good impression. 

2. Ambush Marketing

Ambush, the term itself, means that this marketing is more of an aggressive type. Brands take bold moves that involve high-risk tactics that might even end up coming under legal issues if not dealt with the right way. Many brands do, however, opt for this kind of marketing, and if lucky, they successfully go viral.

3. Indoor Guerrilla Marketing

Indoor marketing usually takes place in areas such as college campuses, schools, malls, and train stations where marketing activities can instantly grab attention. One great example is the famous flash mobs, where a group of people come together acting as strangers. They either dance or act out something that immediately turns heads. This is one of the most viral Guerrilla Marketing campaigns ever in the history of Guerrilla Marketing. 

4. Outdoor Guerrilla Marketing

Almost similar to indoor; the difference is that these marketing activities are in more open spaces with more foot traffic. High-end tourist spots with extremely busy areas are the best places for this kind of marketing. 

A recent example of the famous Barbie and Oppenheimer movies that were released earlier this year on the same day. Trash cans on the street were set with a counter where people would throw trash on either side, deciding which movie they wanted to watch. Barbie eventually had more votes. The result of this? A win-win for both movies and also a good example of sustainability for the environment.

5. Hidden/Undercover Marketing

Many times, brands prefer to perform guerilla campaigns from behind the curtains. The best part about marketing is that it is done in one of the most unusual yet creative ways. Whether it’s showing a glimpse of the product in a movie scene or simply hiring influencers to endorse your product in an emotionally appealing reel, it’s pure art! In marketing language, this is called ‘product placement’; it takes an intelligent marketing mind to perform this. 

Overcoming Challenges in Guerrilla Marketing 

Legal and Ethical Considerations

While this marketing is all fun and easy on the pocket, it can involve heavy risk and even legal actions against brands. To avoid getting caught in the fishnet, brands should consider keeping a check to make sure they’re not getting under any legal issues. 

Staying within the boundaries of legal and ethical measures is never a wrong practice, so why not play it safe?

Balancing Risk and Rewards:

It’s never too late to go through a plan that involves risk. Brands can always go back and re-evaluate potential risks and plan accordingly. Of course, this kind of marketing involves surprises, but it’s crucial to strike a balance between being bold and ensuring the safety of participants. 

Always have a plan B and plan C in backup. When plan A tends to fail, it’s always safe to change the plan last minute and go ahead with the next strategy. If the plan fails the second time, then no shame in switching to plan C. Sounds crazy, but being a brand marketer aint easy!

Wrapping Up

It’s time to wind up and ponder over Guerrilla Marketing today. From understanding the science behind this and its various forms, breaking the mould and building core principles is a major aspect of these marketing campaigns. Likewise, building anticipation and monitoring real-time engagement allows consistency and successful handling of the entire campaign. In the end, every plan comes with major and minor risks, which is why considering legal matters and maintaining a balance is also a vital part of this course of action.