What is Guerrilla Marketing and How Does It Work? 5 Tips to Get Your Business Noticed!

Guerrilla Marketing is defined as “innovative, unconventional and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product” (Oxford Dictionary). Guerilla marketing is often utilized by large corporations, but can also be highly effective for small businesses with a modest marketing budget.

The term Guerrilla Marketing is derived from Guerrilla Warfare, used to describe aggressive and unorthodox war tactics premised on the element of surprise to overcome enemies. Similarly, Guerrilla Marketing strategies capitalize on shock factor and other attention-grabbing tactics. Guerrilla Marketing can help you to grow brand awareness and brand loyalty for your business.

Examples of Guerrilla Marketing Strategies

Idaho Central Credit Union

One example that Idahoan business owners might be familiar with is the Idaho Central Credit Union’s Green Machine Campaign. ICCU was founded in 1940, but has taken root throughout the state of Idaho more aggressively over the last decade. Today, the credit union has over 500,000 members in the panhandle state as well as Washington and Oregon.

ICCU has been known to use in-your-face marketing tactics in order to root-down in Idaho’s local communities, and ensure that their brand is recognizable to every citizen. Their lime green colors are plastered across their buildings as well as their fleet of custom Jeeps with flashy green lights.  The green jeeps and bright colors attract ICCU’s youthful target audience of first-time investors, and small businesses. ICCU has strategically placed flags and banners at auto dealerships and college campuses (anywhere someone might be considering a loan). They have representatives at every local event from county fairs to sporting events, fundraisers and parades. At every event ICCU attends, they come prepared with branded flyers, treats, stickers and more to make sure they get noticed… and it works!

Bang Energy Drinks

Introduced in 2012, Bang joined the ranks of competitive energy drink brands and is now the third highest selling energy drink in the United States. This brand, like ICCU, is all about showing up at the right place at the right time. Bang, as a modern company targeting young adults, utilizes pop culture to make a splash on social media.

In addition to flashy Jeeps (yes, we’re seeing a trend here), Bang employs a fleet of attractive brand representatives to actively promote their products to a young and active audience. Their reps have been known to dance on boardwalks and beaches, post their workouts in their signature bang outfits, provide free samples, and aggressively encourage the public’s participation wherever they show up.

What Can We Learn From These Examples 

5 Tips to Make Guerrilla Marketing Work For Your Small Business

Guerrilla marketing can be expensive or affordable depending on the strategy. Through careful planning and a good understanding of your target audience, you can strategically implement Guerrilla marketing into your marketing strategy without blowing the bank. Here are 5 tips to help you get started. 

1) Know Your Target Audience

As with any marketing strategy, you have to know what you’re selling & who it’s for. If you want the right people to see and recognize your brand, you need to make sure that your advertisements are in the right place at the right time!  This will save you time and money in the long run.

If you’re selling things to the youth, you simply HAVE to have a social media presence to back it up. In addition to a powerful online presence, you may consider showing up at local sporting events, pay for advertising at colleges and popular hang-outs. 

2) Create Brand Consistency

Before you start parading your business name across town, make sure that you’ve got a consistent brand message with a visual branding strategy to back it up. You’ll get the most bang for your buck when it comes to brand recognition if you remain consistent.  All that stuff that you’ve heard about logos, and a good branding color really does matter! (learn more about the importance of a logo in this blog post) 

3) Keep it Simple & Clear 

The thing about Guerrilla Marketing is that it will get your business noticed, but you’ll only have your audience’s attention for a short bit of time, so your sales message needs to be crystal clear.

You might want to consider focusing on a single product to promote at a time with each of your ads and/or demonstrations.

4) Give it Away! 

One way to really get people’s attention is to give them your product, or a sample for free. You may not have realized it, but all those free Costco samples we’ve come to love are actually Guerrilla Marketing at it’s finest. Try now, buy later!

If your products or services are higher priced, and it would break the budget to give too much away, you can utilize this same strategy with a little more targeting and finesse. One way to do this would be to seek out an influencer that represents your brand. Give them your product to try in exchange for them reviewing & sharing their thoughts  on the product with their audience. This will gain you both exposure and help build trust with potential buyers without burning through your supplies.

5) Don’t Be Afraid to Put Yourself Out There! 

Guerrilla marketing can have a big payoff, but it can also involve taking some risks and getting out of your comfort zone.  Whether it means showing up boldly on Social Media with a controversial campaign, or showing up in person ready to reach out to people and have conversations, you’ll want to commit to get the best results!

Want to Utilize Guerrilla Marketing in Your Business?

Ready to stand out with Guerrilla Marketing? Get your business noticed this holiday season with our blog post: “Guerrilla Marketing: Holiday Edition.”

Still not sure if Guerrilla Marketing is the right strategy for your business? We’re here to help! Set up a free discovery call with Desert Creative Group today to discuss your business and get started with a custom marketing strategy to move your business forward!

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