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âPART ONEâ
GUeRRiLLA MARKeTiNG
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CHAPTER 1
Guerrilla Marketing Principles
Traditional marketing advocates destroying competition; Instead co-operate with competitors and create win-win opportunities
â Jay Conrad Levinson
The term âguerrilla marketingâ was first introduced by Jay Conrad Levinson when he wrote a book on this topic and named it Guerrilla Marketing which went on to become an international bestseller with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide. Since then, the term has become widely popular and has been used in many text books.
The main theory behind guerrilla marketing is that it employs a completely unconventional approach towards marketing and promotion, the foundation of which lies in the application of imagination, energy and time. The motive behind this new technique is to generate unique ideas that do not require much finance. The campaigns involved in guerrilla marketing theory are often interactive, unconventional, and mostly target consumers in totally unexpected places.
The main objective of guerrilla marketing is to come up with something that provokes people to think in a way that has a long-term effect on their memory while, at the same time, creating a buzz that spreads like wildfire and goes âviralâ. For example, the promoters of the cause, âStop Nudismâ, played a clever and inspiring promotional campaign using guerrilla marketing when they posted their âStop Nudismâ sticker on one of the many nude female statues in London, driving the point home by covering up with a bra! This method of spreading their message was widely successful and people truly appreciated it.
In addition to such promotional stuff, guerrilla marketing also involves directly approaching customers on the streets, giving away products in malls or shopping centers in new and innovative ways, along with other PR stunts that grab the marketâs attention without having to spend thousands of dollars or being too over-the-top. The trick and magic of guerrilla marketing lie in innovation and creatively coming up with unique ideas. These days, the gurus of guerrilla marketing take advantage of digital and mobile technologies to gain the edge when engaging with customers and creating a brand experience for them that is truly memorable and long-lasting.
As the introducer of the âguerrilla marketingâ concept, Jay has written hundreds of books giving tips and ideas on how to perfectly implement promotional campaigns. However, itâs important to stress that each company should strive to be uniquely creative in its promotional ideas thereby standing apart from the crowd and making a lasting impression on their target market. Marketers trying to adopt the theory of âguerrilla marketingâ must look deep inside their company, studying each and every little aspect of it and its line of products to find ideas for their creative promotional campaign. They have to utilize all their personal and professional contacts to take full advantage of their capabilities while spending the least possible amount of money.
According to Jay, smaller companies have more advantages and can better implement the guerrilla marketing concept than larger companies. This helps new entrepreneurs and small companies achieve widespread recognition without having to invest thousands of dollars. Small companies also have the advantage of enjoying more personal contact with their customers, giving them more options to choose from when adopting the guerrilla marketing concept. However, Jay always maintained that the most important factor in implementing the guerrilla marketing theory is that the company must âdeliver the goodsâ.
Guerrilla Marketing Principles
The following principles form the foundation of the guerrilla marketing theory:
- 1.This theory is specially designed keeping in view the needs and resources of entrepreneurs and smalls businesses.
- 2.Instead of focusing on judgment and experience as in traditional marketing methods, this theory focuses more on human psychology.
- 3.Unlike traditional marketing methods which mainly focus on how much money is invested in the marketing campaign, this theory focuses on imagination, energy and time.
- 4.This theory is based on the profit that a company makes by adopting the guerrilla marketing instead of the number of sales.
- 5.Marketers adopting this theory need to focus on the number of new relationships they are able to make each month.
- 6.The companies adopting the guerrilla marketing concept are mainly those who have a very specified and focused set of products or services that they try to excel in, rather than offering a wide range of diversified products and services.
- 7.The main focus of companies adopting this concept is to secure larger transactions with their current customers while increasing those transactions instead of trying to find new customers. Referrals are the main method through which they increase their customer base.
- 8.Companies adopting this approach do not bother about competition, trying instead to co-operate more with other companies in the same industry.
- 9.A great piece of advice from Jay was that companies should not only rely upon guerrilla marketing but should adopt other strategies as well.
- 10.Jay also advised companies to use cutting-edge technology to build their business.
- 11.Finally, the last piece of advice by Jay was to avoid trying to push a sale on your customer, rather always try to get his/her consent before you send any further information.
Guerrilla Marketing Today
Companies are seeing a sharp downfall in traditional marketing techniques with the average consumer constantly bombarded with around 1,600 messages on a daily basis. The traditional approach of throwing loud and flashy messages at consumers is no longer working. It seems everyone has turned a deaf ear towards all the traditional ads especially on television, radio and even billboards. The younger target audience is becoming harder to reach out to than ever before which is why companies are now turning to different techniques such as guerrilla marketing. Being flashier, louder and bigger is no longer going to work; the trick now is to turn the approach towards being more honest, intelligent, smart, catchy and different.
This is where guerrilla marketing steps in. The idea is to catch the customer in a completely unexpected setting and totally off-guard when they least expect it. You have to ensure that your campaigns are intelligent and different from the conventional stuff. Each campaign should have a certain edge to it and a hidden wisdom that can instantly click the customer and amuse them. This technique is really helping companies target their customers in a more effective manner and has proven quite successful in grabbing their attention. Guerrilla marketing doesnât involve heavy budgets or fancy settings. The normal routine setting and daily life environment are used to showcase the companyâs uniqueness in a way that will amuse the viewers.
The key elements involved in Guerrilla Marketing are:
Creativity
In guerrilla marketing, marketers are not bound by billboards or 15-second television slots, rather they take the whole world as their billboard on which they are free to display whatever they want, trying to come up with totally unique and unconventional ideas. So, if you want to be successful in guerrilla marketing you need true professionals with the creative knack. Creativity is the center piece of this theory.
Unexpectedness
The settings that you use for your guerrilla marketing campaign have to be totally unexpected. For example, we all expect to see a billboard while walking down a road and to see television commercials during breaks in our favorite shows. But we donât expect to suddenly be approached by someone while out shopping, or view something unusual in a park or any similar place. This is the main trick behind guerrilla marketing. When you are able to catch people off-guard with totally unexpected things they will definitely stop to take a second look and this is the best way to grab their attention.
More with Less
Another thing to keep in mind when adopting the guerrilla marketing theory is to ensure that you donât go too âover the topâ with your ideas, ending up with something completely impractical or which will be too expensive to implement. One of the main foundations of the guerrilla marketing concept is to achieve your objective with the smallest budget. Therefore, always ensure that your ideas are able to give you better results when compared to your budget. A great example of this is using Joint Ventures. You have to be reasonable yet intelligent when designing a guerrilla marketing campaign.
Maximize your Surroundings
When using your surroundings and environment for guerrilla marketing make sure you...
