Every year, the cost of conventional advertising increases, while its effectiveness, on the contrary, is rapidly falling. The tension of advertising informational noise is growing like a snowball, and will soon reach a critical point, when advertising will not be paid attention at all.
ordinary resident big city On average, he sees and hears 1.5-2 thousand advertising messages per day. In such an environment, the use guerrilla marketing become a very strong argument. Especially for small companies, which advertising budget severely limited or non-existent.
The main task of guerrilla marketing- to be remembered by a potential buyer, to encourage him to take a certain action. Moreover, this must be done, preferably with minimal monetary costs, in an unusual and positive context. The main investment here is time and out-of-the-box thinking.
In this article, I have collected for you the best examples of guerrilla marketing. There were 35 such examples in total.
Naturally, you must understand that each business is unique, so copying these ideas in most cases will be problematic. However, despite this, we hope that many of these examples will help you use your imagination and generate your own, no less GENIUS and EFFECTIVE partisan techniques.
So go ahead!
1. Advertising agency entered into a partnership agreement with a network of household appliances stores. After that, on the screens of all TVs trading network appeared regularly commercials. An advertising agency promotes such advertising services and develops videos. The profit is divided between the chain of stores and the agency according to the agreement.
2. The bookstore wanted to gain an edge over the competition. by delivering books to the buyer's home. But calculations showed that such an idea would cost too much. After that, the bookstore came up with a way out - they established cooperation with a nearby pizzeria. When the courier goes to the desired area, he also takes with him a parcel from the bookstore.
3. Owner of shops selling men's suits, wanted to increase sales. He ordered a thousand different coins, which resembled the coins of a certain state. These coins were plated in platinum, gold and silver and distributed to each store. The seller, while packing the suit, discreetly put one of these coins into his jacket pocket.
It was assumed that the buyer would later discover this expensive-looking coin, show it to his relatives, acquaintances, colleagues and, of course, mention the store where he made the purchase. However, sales for the 1st month did not noticeably change. However, in the next month, sales increased by 3.5 times!
4. Firm for the manufacture of armored doors, used side-by-side advertising. When her masters finished installing a door for another client, one of them goes up to the top floor and leaves a small card with a message on each doorknob. It says that the tenant of such and such an apartment has already installed a new door manufactured by this company.
The cost of this card is a penny, taking into account full-color printing. After analyzing the results, the company's management concluded that the effectiveness of such promotion is noticeably higher than with the help of other advertising media.
5. Pet shop to promote his products, he invited students from nearby schools on an educational tour of the store as part of a lesson in natural history. At the end of the tour, each student was given a GIFT - a live fish in a bag of water. As well as a detailed brochure on how to care for this fish. As a result, many parents of these children purchased an aquarium for the fish, as well as specific food, algae, an aerator, and others. related products. The total profit from this action was dozens of times higher than the cost of donated fish.
6. When Apple were not the most favorable times, she donated one computer to each California school. This achieved 2 goals:
- First, the children told their parents about the new computer.
- Secondly, a whole generation of users has formed who have become fans of Apple products.
7. Owner of a popular US restaurant chain spent very little money on marketing. Despite this, his restaurants always had a lot of customers. How did he do it? Every time he opened a new restaurant, he organized a grand reception in it, to which he invited all the hairdressers of the city. They had fun and ate deliciously at the expense of the owner, and the next day at good mood went to work.
How do hairdressers work? Exactly! They interact with clients every day. And for several weeks they are happy to spread the word about a wonderful restaurant where you can have a good evening.
8. One lawyer, specializes in punching monetary compensation for accidents and industrial injuries. He negotiated personal recommendations with a traumatologist or radiologist. And when the victim, just in bandages, is brought to the X-ray room on a gurney, the doctor kindly holds out the lawyer’s business card and says: “Do you want this bastard who ran you over to pay you 10 thousand USD? This lawyer will drink all the blood out of her, but he will get money for you.
9. An interesting promotion held for the Gavana Club brand, popularizing Cuba Libra cocktails. At the opening ceremony of the Gals Yacht Club, where many famous guests were invited, a sheikh appeared with his retinue. Naturally, his arrival aroused interest, but it was taken quite naturally. No one noticed that it was a theatrical performance - another creative of advertisers.
The sheikh, along with his retinue, was placed in prestigious places where security was organized. It was impossible to get close to the exotic guest, but it was not difficult to see what he was eating and drinking. And he drank exclusively Cuba Libra. Interest in the sheikh was additionally increased by special people, asking the guests about the sheikh and, as if by chance, drawing their attention to what he eats and drinks.
At the end of the party, when the audience got excited, the sheikh's girlfriend announced that she wanted to treat everyone present with a drink (of course, Cuba Libra). The guests again did not notice the catch, since the status of the event allowed such gestures to be made. But they appreciated the drink, especially since they were treated to a real sheikh.
10. Back in the early 20th century Russian businessman Nikolai Shustov hired a dozen students who were supposed to bypass Moscow taverns and demand Shustov cognac. Not finding this, the students made scandals and got into a fight. Local newspapers began to write about this, and Moscow learned about a new brand of alcohol.
11. An example of successful use of guerrilla marketing in Direct mail we can name the experience of Evans Industries. She was faced with the task of developing an effective and inexpensive way to stimulate distributor sales. Evans Industries president Salvador Aliotta said they didn't have the funds to launch a large-scale advertising campaign, so he had no other option but to use guerrilla marketing methods.
At that time, the jackpot in one popular lottery was $20 million. They bought and sent out a lottery ticket to each of their distributors. Along with the lottery ticket, they included a letter saying they could become millionaires by either winning the lottery or selling Evans Industries products.
“For just $300, we ran a successful promotional campaign that increased loyalty and awareness of our products”- shared Salvador Aliotta.
12. Probably one of the earliest examples of guerrilla marketing in direct mail mentioned the almanac "World Traveler" for 1900 (!!!) year. “A New York theater director sent out posters to the residents of the city, enclosing a check for 4 cents on each of them.
The text of the pamphlet was as follows: "Your Majesty! I'm assuming your annual income is $15,000. Since you probably recognize the fact that time is money, we're enclosing a check for 4 cents to pay for the two minutes of your time you use to do this. to read a short and truthful listing of some of the original and new scenes that feature the new three-act musical joke “Damn Grandma”; she will go next Monday for the first time.”
This was followed by a listing of these scenes. The calculation of the action was based on the fact that many people would read the ad, accompanied by a check, but it is unlikely that many of the wealthy people would want to cash such a meager check. Indeed, the advertising campaign made an impression - the hall was full, and only a few cashed their checks.
13. The financial crisis negatively affected the real estate market in the US and, as a result, forced real estate sellers to use their brains to attract clients. Owners of one new building in Los Angeles found a very original way to attract the attention of buyers (and at the same time the media) to their asset.
In the windows of unsold and unrented apartments, homeowners placed human silhouettes of shadows dancing a striptease. The dancers, of course, amuse the audience not in real time - the video is broadcast by a projector. Surprisingly, the clients are coming. The attraction of sex helps even in real estate.
14. Reception, which can be used by companies delivering goods. On the packaging, depending on the product itself, an original sticker is developed with the inscription: “They didn’t throw, didn’t wet, treated with care. Company …
15. In order to make sure that many media outlets discuss some action, you need to create a fairly daring pretext. Euroset has been especially successful in this direction. For example, on April 1, 2002, the company held a promotion, in which everyone could get free mobile phone, but with one condition: he must come to one of the Euroset salons without clothes (AT ALL).
There were many lovers of freebies, but there are much more people who want to look at this spectacle. The facts were documented on photos and videos, and, of course, Euroset logos were present in all frames. Information about this action was published in a number of media, and after a while, photos of naked but happy owners of Motorola C350 phones were posted on the Internet.
And for several years after that, the photos roamed the net: on forums, news and entertainment sites, etc. The action "Undress and get a mobile phone" cost the company only $ 1,300, but the popularity of the Euroset has grown significantly.
16. Sitronics Company, used the so-called “life placement” technique (creating an artificial popularity of the product), using fake “happy” buyers for this. The essence of the action is that at many busy metro stations in major cities people appeared who carried boxes with Sitronics equipment.
Promoters sometimes "accidentally" met their "friends" and loudly discussed the "purchase". Also, before sending your sales representative a store where the company planned to sell its little-known equipment, dummy buyers called there and asked if Sitronics equipment was on sale. Before the start of the campaign, brand awareness was 26.5%, after - 44%.
The network of stores did something similar "Just". Here's what it looked like:
17. France. Guerrilla action to promote LEE jeans:
18. Promotion of car service services in the capital of Austria, Vienna. Quite creative SUVs were used for the action:
The plastic legs of the dummies sticking out from under the bottom created the illusion that the car was being repaired on the go.
Such a fast service!
The inscription on the plate: Are you in need of a change? Call me... Hairdresser.
20. Network of sportswear stores "Sportmaster" conducted extreme tests of Columbia clothing with the help of RA "Marketing Communications":
11 SUVs(6 in Moscow and 5 in St. Petersburg) traveled through the streets of the city for 3 days. There were no problems, although many traffic police officers stopped unusual cars out of sheer curiosity. They did not try to fine – the action took place within the framework of the law.
21. An example of a partisan action to promote the new season of ASPE detective series(ASPE is the name of the detective). As you know, the police circle the found bodies of murdered people with chalk in order to preserve their shape at the crime scene. Which is what was used in this example:
The inscription in the center - Aspe is back, Monday 21-40 on VTM.
22. Quite a popular technique using stickers that are attached to the door - a little below the peephole. Promotion of the pizzeria "Papa Johns"
23. A similar technique of guerrilla marketing, only now peepholes are peeking into thousands of German residents famous model Eva Padberg and offers them the Otto catalog. Moreover, she is not dressed quite conservatively:
24. 100% hit in the target audience was made by the EURO RSCG agency by placing anti-caries mouthwash advertisement on the ceiling of dental clinics:
Ceiling inscription: "Do you want to stare at that dreary ceiling again?"
“Are you going to think more about your mouthwash now?”
25. Agency Arriba Media Group spent advertising campaign to promote the penthouses of one of the developers of luxury real estate. A penthouse is a specific product for a certain category of consumers, so it is quite difficult to advertise them using standard methods.
Therefore, the idea of a direct mail was chosen, as a result of which the target audience (owners of large businesses) received a package with unusual content. Each prospective client, on a certain day, the courier personally gave a box of thick black cardboard into his hands. Upon opening it, it was hard not to be surprised:
Only by removing the fluff and feathers, a person directly discovers an advertising booklet:
On the following pages- a story about what a penthouse is and the advantages of this type of luxury real estate.
26. interesting idea used to promote cottage settlements "Nikolina polyana" and "Mikhailovskoe". Statistically, the largest number calls to developers are brought by informational advertising on billboards near the construction site.
The task was to draw attention to these information boards:
27. Pretty funny business card of one of the employees of the collection agency in the form of an x-ray of a hand with a broken thumb. Customers are said to have a sharp increase in their desire to get their money back:
28. A real Mini Cooper suspended from a multistory building+ 2500 watt spotlights reaching to the stratosphere = the original advertisement, which was written about for free by many media outlets and many sites on the Internet:
32. Advertising agency Rethink from Canada launched a guerrilla campaign for advertising security film for Scotchshield glass. 3 transparent "safes" were installed in the city, using "anti-vandal" film Scotchshield. Each showcase contained 1 million dollars and the inscription: "Heavy-duty glass ad! The money is real!" Who will break - he will take:
The non-standard approach impressed both professional advertisers - many recognized the idea as ingenious - and ordinary people who vigorously discussed how to get such a lot of money from under the glass.
You could only hit the safe with your hands and feet. And the use of any specialized tools, weapons or equipment was not allowed. Vigilant guards who were on the other side of the street monitored compliance with the rules.
Many tried to get this money ...
... but the glass remained intact.
Eventually, The publicity stunt cost the customer only 6,000 USD, and was recognized as very successful: it was covered in many media, and photos of this stand can now be found on many Internet resources that are related to marketing and advertising.
33. Magnifying glass. Swedish bank SKANDIABANKEN found an amazing way to get the consumer interested and read all the advertising information from beginning to end. In the center of a stark white poster with an attached magnifying glass is text printed in tiny letters:
"Hi. Obviously you read the fine print. That's good. Unfortunately, not everyone does it. Most banks make a lot of dollars on this daily. They hide the real value with the help of asterisks and small print. With us no one has to decipher the hidden messages. Put an end to huge profits! How about our 3.25% from your savings account? Go to skandiabanken.se today."
34. Advertising newspaper. Half of the page is occupied by a full-color advertisement with a list of services provided. And next to it, a black-and-white ad the size of a matchbox dipped in - the arrow points to a full-color ad, and it says "We offer the same thing, only cheap and professional." And the phone is in big print. And that's it.
35. One ski equipment dealer in Moscow in the early 90s, had a container in the courtyard of a residential building, where he traded at extremely low prices - even without cash register. When his clients asked where else they could look, they were willingly given the address of competitors, namely those who traded at the most atomic prices. Having gone to them, almost everyone returned for cheap. And they were happy.
A special joke was that the closest competitor, "the one around the corner here," belonged to him! Where the assortment was 5 times smaller, and prices were 2 times higher. But this store also paid for itself, and did not serve as a lure. Moreover, some of those who came to the “elite” store initially (not on a tip from the container) were sent to the container, returned back, and bought the same thing, only at a bomb price.
Well, just from a joke: “Did you take 100 dollars? What a fool! Around the corner, exactly the same ties for three hundred! Joking aside, this rusty container made $2 million a year. Except for advertising is anomalous low prices, not a cent was spent on advertising. They didn’t even spend money on the inscription in chalk on the container.
P.S. What successful examples of guerrilla marketing do you know?
For the first time this original term was introduced into use by the famous American marketer Jay Levinson. His book of the same name, Guerrilla Marketing, published in 1984, opened up new ways to advertise products on a minimal budget. This original name was taken from military terminology, meaning the conduct of actions to attract customers with small forces, inexpensively and almost imperceptibly.
Modern Guerrilla Marketing - this is a whole set of methods and ideas for promoting a brand or a particular type of product, which provides minimum investment and unorthodox approach.
This low-cost type was originally intended to be used by start-up entrepreneurs and new limited companies. Some types of advertising turned out to be so effective and original that they were quickly mastered and adapted by large eminent brands.
Features of guerrilla marketing
The main feature of this type of product promotion is minimal financial investments into advertising. The modern consumer is quite sophisticated and does not react so actively to standard ways of attracting his attention. Guerrilla marketing aims to find completely new ideas, which often cost a penny.
Other salient features include:
- A non-standard approach to the display and presentation of the product, the creativity of the strategy being pursued.
- Minimum budget or its complete absence.
- The presence of outrageous methods that may slightly go beyond the accepted morality and ethics in society (but perfectly attract attention).
- The use of psychological techniques and methods to help persuade the consumer to make a purchase decision.
- Each new technique is used only once: repeating the same non-standard marketing action rarely gives a good result.
Unlike standard approaches, guerrilla marketing puts unusual techniques, bright and memorable "chips" in the first place.
Key tasks
Regardless of the chosen strategy and type of guerrilla marketing, its main tasks are:
- Achieving high productivity when working with low-budget sources (unusual design of windows or a trading floor that attracts passing customers).
- Budget ways to attract attention (bright stickers or flashing lights are placed on the packaging of the brand that is being advertised).
- Placement of information in the most unexpected places (on the doors of taxi cars, on the sides public transport and so on.).
- Development of a targeted impact on the consumer (an excellent example is the distribution of business cards advertising an inexpensive service station to customers of an auto parts store).
The main task remains to increase the awareness of the new brand, increase product sales and create popularity among buyers of different ages.
The main types of guerrilla marketing
Most domestic enterprises are just discovering guerrilla marketing and its interesting technologies.
But we can already talk about several specific types:
- Bright outrageous: advertising actively uses veiled erotica, sexual overtones, non-standard humor. It is aimed at young people who think more openly.
- Viral Marketing: not listed in Levinson's book, but fully consistent with the principles of guerrilla marketing (high returns for small investments). It is based on a psychological technique: if the consumer liked the video, brochure or post on social networks, he will definitely share it with his friends and invite them to watch it.
- Hidden Marketing: most interesting view involving the development of different strategies. This includes veiled advertising, which is more like an exchange of opinions between ordinary people (a product shown in a glimpse in a series or video, reviews on forums or social networks, etc.).
Types of hidden marketing
All methods are designed with a quick return in the form of profit or recognition. Promotions should bring results after the first days of advertising.
Guerrilla marketing in action is based on a combination of several tools:
- Working with potential consumers through social networks. The method involves the creation of groups with bright content, interesting information about a new product. Increasingly, reputable companies are resorting to the dissemination of information on social networks, which are trying to be closer to their customers.
- Development of an original "legend" about a new product. It must necessarily combine real facts and interesting stories.
- Placement of advertising as close as possible to a potential consumer (good example – medicine to improve digestion, information or photo of which is posted on the culinary forum).
- Choosing the right place and time to offer your services or products(in social networks it works according to this principle and brings excellent results).
This is an indicative list of popular tools that can be used in product promotion. Creative marketers develop new options and entire promotions, operate with unexpected tools, constantly replenishing and expanding their list.
Channels and methods of hidden marketing
Hidden marketing differs from the usual advertising in unobtrusiveness. Often, the consumer is not aware of the impact on him, of the manipulations that are being carried out, prompting him to make a purchase. The main task - the client must independently make a choice in favor of the advertised product or brand.
To work in hidden marketing, public and inexpensive channels are used:
- Thematic forums of interest (under the guise of ordinary users, you can talk about the benefits of the product or create a negative image of competitors);
- Social networks (viral content works great);
- Well-known bloggers and media personalities (for a small fee, they willingly use a new product or service);
- Channels like YouTube (off-the-shelf videos grab attention and help promote needed products).
At the heart of most hidden marketing methods is establishing contact with the consumer. They should arouse interest and desire to get to know the brand better, create a positive impression.
Previously, when we first started our consulting business, we did not spend a lot of money on advertising for clients, trying to manage in low-cost ways.
Now I understand that in order to earn WELL, you need to invest. Attachments can be of 2 types. Either money or time. Sometimes time is more valuable than money.
Advertising without a budget?! How is that?
If you don’t know what it is and who invented it, everything is already written on Wikipedia, I advise you to read it, it’s quite interesting, but still I’ll tell you briefly.
Guerrilla marketing is a low-budget way of advertising and marketing that allows you to effectively promote your product or service, attract new customers and increase your profits without investing, or almost without investing, money.
Types and features of hidden marketing, its examples and simple ways in action that can be used in your business, this is what we will talk about in this article!
Examples of such advertisements
Guerrilla marketing in action can be seen quite often abroad. This is exactly the same type of marketing as all others.
However, in Russia he does not yet enjoy such popularity (although the name, as a specialist in guerrilla marketing, is known to many). But nevertheless, examples of guerrilla marketing in Russia will also be lower.
Example 1 - word of mouth
For example, one of the restaurants practically does not spend money on advertising. The main item of his expenses is that he feeds hairdressers for free. At a very decent level, both in terms of service and quality of food.
And we all know that hairdressers / make-up artists / stylists are those who are in a special trust in people (and in fact, we will not trust our hair to someone we do not know.
Especially women) and constantly talk to them, tell their news.
And, as you understand, visiting the restaurant was the best news, so he was advised with great pleasure. Such is the hidden incentive.
Are you serious!? Tell me more
By the way, the hottest clients come by word of mouth. They do not even need to be convinced of the purchase, they are already “ripe”. Therefore, this version of guerrilla marketing is very, very good.
By the way, we used it. In a slightly modified form, but still, in our client's cafe.
Invited to a free tasting of coffee and food opinion leaders in his city. They designed the invitations quite beautifully, and even before visiting the tasting, they posted them on their social networks.
And since the tasting went off with a bang, the reviews were very, very satisfied. By the way, many of the guests later became regular visitors to the cafe.
Example 2 - viral video
Guerrilla and viral marketing go hand in hand. That is why, another way of guerrilla marketing, which we have been wanting to implement for a client for a long time, but have not yet implemented, is shooting a viral one.
WE ARE ALREADY MORE THAN 29,000 people.
TURN ON
A simple example is how the chef of a restaurant sings or dances in the kitchen while cooking for customers. Shooting can take place either on hidden camera or with “imitation of shooting on a hidden camera”.
Then we post it on all social platforms (if the video is really good, it will start to diverge on its own). One example of such a video is “A hamster trolls a traffic policeman”.
The shooting cost literally 3 kopecks, and almost 2 million views brought orders to the E5.ru online store for orders of those same hamsters for six months in advance.
In fact, a viral video is probably one of the most better ways implement covert social media marketing at the moment.
At a minimum, due to the fact that it is watched more and more actively (for example, in one of the most popular social networks Instagram), and due to the fact that it is quite easy to remove it. More about viral video can be read in our article.
Example 3 - another product
Another good example of hidden marketing is sticking your company's advertisement on the back of coins. For a better understanding, see the picture.
Advertising on coins She wears an ordinary ten-ruble coin, which is given out as change in the network of solarium studios.
The method is quite simple and effective, however, you will have to worry about both making stickers and sticking them on coins. The effect may not be noticed right away, but as one of the options for an additional advertising channel, it’s not even bad.
Clones of example 1
Example 1 Drawings on asphalt - what used to be popular and really perceived as guerrilla marketing and carried customers, is now punishable by law.
Therefore, if you are a completely novice entrepreneur, then I strongly advise against using it. Better find something else. These are the features of guerrilla marketing that you should not forget about.
Advertising on asphalt Example 2 Old cars that stand still, but are decorated with advertising from top to bottom.
As a rule, a couple of such cars are redeemed (preferably looking interesting and on the go), weighted billboards and park in the most crowded places.
Advertising on the car Example 4 - outrageous action
In general, if we talk about the effectiveness of guerrilla marketing, then it can even be some kind of advertising campaign with a loud action that will be trumpeted by all the media.
The perfect example that everyone cites is the Euroset advertising campaign they ran on April 1, 2002.
Everyone who came to their salon that day without clothes (FULLY) received as a gift cellular telephone. There were a lot of fans of free phones, but even more onlookers. And the media, TV and radio that filmed it all, documented it, and so on, are just a myriad.
Outrageous action in Euroset Sales after this action at Euroset increased significantly. They are still trying to repeat the action in one interpretation or another, but apparently the arrogance and outrageousness that Yevgeny Chichvarkin had, current leaders lacks.
Clones of example 4
Here are a couple of guerrilla marketing options that I know about, which means the rumors still got around:
Clothing store. You could go into it in your underwear and get for free what you had time to put on yourself in a certain time
Denim store. If you tear your jeans in front of everyone, you can choose new ones in the store for free
Tele 2. At the exhibition cellular communication in St. Petersburg made a splash by the fact that a couple of promoters under their brand wore a coffin. COFFIN, Carl! With the inscription "Dear connection". Of course, everyone was shocked and it was broadcast to various sources.
Guerrilla marketing from “Tele 2” Example 5 - partnership
In general, I personally believe that guerrilla low-cost, viral marketing is a partnership or, in a fashionable word, “collaboration”. Examples:
Example 1 In a dentist's office, a dental company that produces toothpastes and rinses placed a sign on the ceiling (and did you know that we all look at the ceiling while sitting in the dentist's chair?) - “Do you want to never see that boring ceiling again? Our toothpaste will help!”
Example 2 One of my acquaintances, a lawyer who deals with reimbursement of money after an accident, paid extra to traumatology doctors for distributing it to those who got into an accident. They called him even at night, but there was no end to the customers.
In general, partnering with a business that has the same but you don't compete directly is a very good idea.
Good question
And who will benefit from guerrilla marketing? After all, as a rule, guerrilla marketing in action is equated with low-budget ways to attract customers, which, in turn, is equal to advertising for small businesses.
And sometimes even for startups. That is, if there is no money, use guerrilla marketing, read, draw your offer on the pavement (often because of this attitude towards it, experienced businessmen extremely dislike guerrilla marketing methods).
However, this is fundamentally not true. The peculiarity of guerrilla marketing is that it can suit any business.
Both small and medium, and even large. The only question is how to use it?
If you are a small business, then, of course, guerrilla marketing methods will be one of the main ways for you to attract customers (especially at the start);
If you - medium business and you already have advertising budgets, you can use guerrilla marketing as a way to increase
Example. One of our well drilling clients, based on what we developed, implemented the following: they began to show well drilling on their website online.
That is, the user could go to the site and see how the drilling process is going, in what condition the site is left after drilling, and so on.
It has become an excellent tool for additional attraction of customers, so they began to discuss and talk about the company.
If you are a big business, then it will be great way Reach out to an audience that you usually don't pay attention to.
And if you're a really big business, you can even afford to use long-term guerrilla marketing. Just like Apple did in the US.
They gave to every school in the state of California personal computers. Such a beneficence made their name quite famous, however, final goal was in another.
Literally in 5-10 years, they received a whole generation of fans who grew up on Apple products.
Briefly about the main
There are a lot of examples about guerrilla marketing on the Internet, and we did not set out to collect all possible examples and cases in this article.
If you want more examples, completely run-in and working, you can look at the blog of Alex Levitas, he is considered the No. 1 expert in Russia on guerrilla marketing.
The funny thing is that his last name is Levitas, and the last name of the one who invented guerrilla marketing himself is Levinson 😉 But let's think that this is just a coincidence. The most important thing I want to convey to you:
- You need to use this channel, but not in the first place, because, as I already wrote, the time spent on creative and other things can be more expensive;
- You need to be careful when implementing, otherwise everything can work in the opposite direction. And instead of advertising and customer love, you will get a solid negative;
- You can’t just do guerrilla marketing and still count on a large flow of customers. Use our selection and the result in clients will not keep you waiting.
Among huge amount methods of promoting their products guerrilla marketing is one of the most interesting and promising areas for small and medium-sized businesses. Since 1984 (the publication of J. K. Levinson's book on low-budget advertising methods) and to this day, the popularity of this type of marketing has steadily grown, and over the past few years, non-standard methods of product promotion have interested almost all business representatives, regardless of the scale of their activities and industry the economy in which they operate.
Guerrilla Marketing Fundamentals
In order to imagine what the essence of the type of marketing under consideration is, it is enough just to turn on logical thinking. If a small budget is allocated to promote a product / service or company, then insufficient funding (for traditional advertising) needs to be compensated somehow. And the first thing that many readers will think about is that a creative idea and a non-standard approach to solving the problem will help to adequately get out of this situation.
Indeed, if you know the life priorities of the target audience and have a rich imagination, you can come up with a marketing ploy or promotion that will surely interest potential customers. At the same time, your expenses will be several times less than those of marketers. traditional directions and the result is much better. This article discusses all the nuances of guerrilla marketing with examples creative ideas to promote any product or service. In addition, you'll find information and advice of practical interest to aspiring entrepreneurs, seasoned businesspeople, economics theorists, and readers planning to one day start their own business.
Definition and features
We can say that guerrilla marketing is all non-standard, low-budget ideas for promoting goods, services, a brand or a company that allow you to effectively sell your products and attract new customers in order to maximize profits. At the same time, financial investments are practically absent or little money is used. Thanks to this fact this species marketing is often referred to as "low cost" or "low budget". The founder of this marketing direction himself did not give it an unambiguous definition, but drew an analogy with military terminology, where “guerrilla” means the conduct of hostilities by small forces without the use of heavy weapons.
Cheap methods of promoting goods / services involve the use of inexpensive media instead of advertising in the media (business cards, postcards, signs, booklets, etc.), as well as a variety of tricks and tricks that allow you to convey free of charge or at minimal financial cost necessary information to a potential client. As a result, advertising should bring the maximum benefit, which is expressed in monetary terms and is net profit firms.
Recently, an interesting trend has been observed, which is that large companies, with huge capitals, began to be actively interested in cheap marketing. What does it say? It is unlikely that large enterprises decided to save on advertising in this way, most likely, this fact proves the high efficiency of guerrilla marketing, which quite often brings more benefits than traditional expensive methods of promoting goods and services.
Studying the question of what guerrilla marketing is, it is necessary to analyze its main features. As already mentioned, this type of marketing is low-budget, that is, it excludes the possibility of using advertising in newspapers, TV and other media. Alternative options are cheap media or non-standard tricks. For example, in an auto parts store, cards were attached to the goods with the phone number of the nearest service station and a short list of services provided. Or a small company engaged in repairs in apartments and private houses enters into an oral agreement with the seller building materials that he will hand out their business cards and recommend them as excellent specialists in their industry.
Another feature of low-budget marketing is that all its mechanisms are designed for a very quick "return". The planned promotion should work within 1-2 days, maximum - in a week. Otherwise, a small firm simply cannot exist. In addition, almost all marketing ploys constructed in such a way that it is possible to calculate their real effectiveness in monetary terms. For example, the head of a small business has three options for promoting a product. It is almost impossible to choose the one that will bring the maximum benefit without calculations, and when there are specific numbers, there will be no problems.
For traditional advertising, it is quite normal for one company to try to "crush" another with a large number of commercials, commercials, ads, etc. In guerrilla marketing, you will never see a similar picture, it is calculated on the effectiveness of advertising, not on its quantity.
This method of marketing involves establishing partnerships with similar firms. Using mutually beneficial relationships instead of competition, entrepreneurs save not only time and effort, but also their financial resources, which is a very important point for small and medium-sized businesses.
On the other hand, all marketing moves and promotions, in this situation, are not advertised, they are carried out quietly so that competing firms do not know about them. If advertising is designed for a specific target audience, then no one else should know about it. And first of all, it concerns competitors. This nuance due to the fact that a lot of ideas in this area are one-time in nature, that is, if a competing company finds out what you are going to do to increase sales efficiency, and implements this plan first, you will not earn anything on own idea. The second time the target audience will not be interested in the same offer.
One of the main secrets high efficiency low-budget marketing is the application of psychological impact on the target audience. Before choosing a method to attract customers, you need to carefully study all the important points that are relevant to your target audience. You need to know everything about the customer: what he likes, what things he doesn't like, how much he is willing to pay for a certain product, and so on.
Based on the information obtained, it is possible to develop marketing schemes based on intrinsic motivation clients. You should pay attention to the fact that there are no hard and fast rules in guerrilla marketing. moral and ethical standards, and this is a completely natural circumstance. In business, for profit, they do not pay attention to the restrictions existing in society.
Given the pace of business development on the World Wide Web, we can confidently say that many readers are interested in guerrilla marketing on the Internet. If you do not delve into the nuances that do not play a decisive role in this issue, then this method of advertising and promoting products on the network works according to the same principles as in real life. The only difference is that on the Internet you can use additional features, for example, virus programs, various forums for the dissemination of information beneficial to you, etc.
Types and examples
It is rather difficult to divide the existing directions of guerrilla marketing into separate groups, adhering to certain criteria, but, despite this, the theorists have completed this task.
The target audience of outrageous / provocative marketing is young people. Most often, it is used to advertise a budget, but fashionable product, using plots with sexual overtones for these purposes. For example, undressing or hints of oral sex.
The basis of hidden marketing is the recommendations of famous, authoritative people in films, series, television programs, etc. In this case, the target audience is mostly unaware that they are being influenced in some way. If you carefully watch the series, you will definitely find hidden advertising.
Viral marketing is used on the Internet. For these purposes, special viral videos are created with a bright, impressive plot, which are focused on a specific target audience.
The original type of guerrilla marketing is Life Placement, which affects the subconscious of a person. The principle is very simple: a happy young man comes out of the store with a box in his hands, on which the name of the company is clearly visible. His appearance testifies to the great joy that he acquired this product. In this case, front people are used to advertise a particular company.
All of the listed areas of guerrilla marketing and their "live" examples can be seen in Russia, for this you need to carefully monitor what is happening around you, as well as pay attention to the little things when you watch movies and TV shows.
The considered types of guerrilla marketing are aimed at solving the following problems:
they should bring maximum benefit in the absence of Money or in the case of low-budget funding;
may have a targeted impact on customers (one hundred representatives of the target audience receive a certain card with information about a product or service, if five people took advantage of the offer, then the company goes “in plus”).
Tools
Many readers have probably already understood that many of the nuances related to this area of marketing are associated with extraordinary thinking and a creative approach. And the following object of the submitted article is no exception. Consider the main tools used to achieve the goals of guerrilla marketing.
Make a profit out of nothing. This tool implies that any product has hidden features that need to be found and turned into money. For example, a person who made an “accordion” on an ordinary drinking straw so that it takes a convenient shape earned a millionth fortune on only one patent.
Come up with a beautiful legend for your product. The main thing is not to overdo it so that you are not accused of cheating. It is better to use real facts or general, broad concepts.
Be sure to use all available opportunities (media) to advertise your products. Even the price tag can be used for this purpose. For example, in a store, 70% of the price tags are of the same color, and the rest are of a brighter color, while a large poster is placed at the entrance to the store with the inscription: “Only today! Products with an orange price tag are 20% cheaper! Further, on the most illiquid positions, on which you were already going to lower prices, you make the promised discount, and for hot goods make price tags to your liking. But remember the important thing: if a customer leaves your store feeling cheated, they will never come back to you. At best, you will lose a client, and at worst, you will receive a lot of anti-advertising for your business. Therefore, it is always good to calculate all the pros and cons of each marketing move.
Offer your products exactly at the moment when potential client needs it.
Place your ad where it will definitely come in handy. For example, it is not clear why hangover medicine manufacturers do not agree with distilleries to post brief information on how to return to work after a long feast with 1-2 tablets.
The listed guerrilla marketing tools are not the only ones, the list presented may change a lot in a few years. This is due to the fact that the area of marketing in question is constantly evolving, people are coming up with new schemes, business is moving more and more to the Internet every day, etc.
Methods
In order to fully disclose the presented topic, it is necessary to analyze the methods used to promote products within this area of marketing.
First of all, you need to work closely with the firms that work with your target audience, but for a different group of goods/services. For example, a company that was engaged in the construction of water supply and sewerage, agreed with a store that sells materials for these purposes, on mutually beneficial cooperation. Some recommended where to buy pipes, faucets, fittings, etc., while others advised where to go to get high-quality plumbing or sewage.
Offer advertising of your services or goods at a time when a representative of the target audience only thought about the need to purchase them. For example, you buy parrots at the request of a child. Along with the purchase, you are unobtrusively offered a business card with the coordinates of the store where they sell bird food, and business card veterinarian. The costs are minimal, and the potential for profit in this case is very high.
Come up with an event that will attract the attention of the media, which will provide an opportunity to advertise your product, company or company for free. trademark. Anything that attracts public attention can be used as a storyline: sex, extreme sports, money, some kind of grand opening, etc.
A good option to get new clients, if you work with representatives of other companies, and not with individuals, is to organize a certain environment for communication with your target audience. This may be an exhibition, discussions about the prospects for the development of the industry, a presentation of a new product or communication in the virtual space on thematic forum. The main thing is to be unobtrusive and behave absolutely at ease at such events.
Long forgotten by the older generation and completely unfamiliar to those who are now over 25 years old, the way of communicating with a simple letter on paper sent through the mail can significantly increase the sales of your products. The main thing is the creative text and the original design of the envelope so that your message does not get lost among other promotional products.
Go outside and look at the objects around you, the one that attracts the most attention is a great option for placing your advertisement. It is best to use an original approach in this situation, that is, you will either have to turn on your imagination or involve professionals. An ordinary poster will not bring the expected result.
A car that moves around the city every day is also a good place to advertise your products. And again, the main nuance lies in the uniqueness of the design, so that everyone potential buyer When stopping at an intersection, be sure to pay attention to your car.
The list of common piracy marketing tools also includes the offer of related services (in this case, it is better to cooperate with other small firms) and distribution souvenir products advertising your brand, company or product.
Recently, piracy marketing has reached the level where it is used by almost all subjects. entrepreneurial activity, which gives grounds for a more detailed study of this area by theorists of economic disciplines, as well as publications practical advice for business start-ups.
Liked the article? Share with friends on social. networks:Guerrilla marketing is a special type of advertising that is actively used in modern world. There is no clear definition of this term, because almost any non-standard advertising can be called partisan advertising. The main criterion for this type of advertising is cheapness and low budget. That is why all advertising that is cheaper than traditional advertising can be included here. Initially, entrepreneurs with a small budget “guerrillaized” because they did not have enough money for normal advertising, but later marketers realized that such marketing could be much more effective than traditional one. Examples of guerrilla marketing can be found everywhere, it surrounds a person wherever he goes. You can read about popular marketing trends in the article:
non-standard
The main principle of "guerrilla marketers"!
As a rule, any form of manifestation of guerrilla marketing is unconventional. Entrepreneurs compensate for the low cost of advertising with innovation and good ideas. However, this does not always happen. Once upon a time, spam emails were indeed an innovation in the field of marketing, but now this method is used everywhere and is known to many. However, such mailings are still classified as guerrilla advertising. However, the most effective manifestation of guerrilla marketing is still non-standard ways to attract customers.
Types of partisan PR!
To date, there are three main groups into which guerrilla marketing is divided. Next will be short description each of them with common examples:
- Viral marketing. This type is currently used to classify advertising on the Internet. This includes all SPAM mailings, advertising on forums and comments on websites. Perhaps, anyone who has their own email account has at least once encountered viral marketing, when all kinds of advertising messages came to their mail offering to earn money, invest, or just visit a certain site. A more effective form of viral marketing is a message that ends with an invitation to forward it to your friends or repost it. As a rule, such messages are creative, with a bit of humor and, as it were, draw the reader into some kind of game, while at the same time advertising a certain product or service.
The historical ancestor of viral marketing is the so-called word of mouth, when advertising text passed on by rumors and gossip among the people.
- ambient media. All non-standard and non-traditional advertising belongs to this type. As a rule, an advertisement is placed in places of large concentrations of people, but these places are non-standard, i.е. ads are generally not posted there. A vivid example: hang a poster with an advertisement toilet paper in a free toilet stall that never had that paper in it. A person faced with a sharp need for paper will definitely remember the advertised trademark. Non-standard, creative and inexpensive.
In addition to non-traditional marketing, ordinary advertisements on poles and trees also belong to this type, because they are not traditional advertisements, and they do not require a lot of money for a marketing campaign. Of course, this option is less effective than the first one.
- Hiden advertisment. This method lies in the fact that the person to whom the marketing is directed does not understand that he is under the influence of professional advertising, which is why it is hidden. As a rule, in covert marketing, the entrepreneur does not explicitly advertise his product, but, for example, makes the consumer remember his logo or spreads a rumor to the public that indirectly advertises his brand or company. This also includes jokes about some brand. In general, there are actually a lot of options, and their effectiveness depends on the imagination of the marketer and his knowledge of the psychology of the masses.
Examples of guerrilla marketing from life!
As I said earlier, guerrilla PR surrounds us everywhere, and every person has come across it repeatedly, just not always noticed and singled out. To prove this, I will give examples of guerrilla marketing from my life in all three types described above:
- Look at the picture above. This typical example SPAM mailings. In this case, they offer me to buy shares of a certain PJSC at a low price. Most likely, there were no costs for this advertising at all, but, to be honest, its effectiveness is low. The fact is that the compiler of the message made a number of serious mistakes. Firstly, the text itself is not attractive to people; it does not contain loud slogans. Secondly, it contains too little information. After reading the message, I became curious (I had written a lot on the topic of investments, although I did not intend to buy shares), and I asked the sender a few questions. It turned out that the shares are offered to be bought at a price 10 times cheaper than the market price. This information had to be reflected in the text of the advertisement, and a link to the PJSC website was also needed immediately. Most likely, this marketing campaign will not bring the desired result.
- I recently bought myself a silver medallion and a ring at the Silver+ jewelry store, and found there as many as three manifestations of ambient media. Let's take everything in order.
- Now look at the next picture. They put sales receipts in these pretty envelopes. For the most part, people will not throw them away, but will adapt them to various kinds of paper, or they will keep checks in them. In other words, these envelopes will constantly catch the eye of a person, and he will see the name of the company on them. And given the fact that the cost of one envelope does not exceed 1 ruble, such marketing is very cost-effective and inexpensive.
- Now take a look at this business card. Ask, what does the Tarkhankut dive center have to do with it? Yes, in fact, nothing to do with it, but it was this business card that was given to me complete with an advertisement for Silver + itself. Most likely, these two firms have an agreement under which they mutually advertise each other. I can bet that by becoming a client of Tarkhankut, I will receive a business card of the Silver + salon there.
So, now let's move on to the last type of advertising - hidden. When I was at school (gymnasium No. 27 in Mariupol, Ukraine), one fine day several classes, including mine, were taken to some event instead of classes. In fact, it was a hidden advertisement for the Ilyichevets drugstore chain. I managed to avoid this trip, but from the stories of classmates, I realized that all the children were gathered near one of the pharmacies and told to pretend to be future pharmacists. Television arrived, filmed the whole procession, not forgetting to mention that this “charity event” was organized by Illichivets, and the next day everyone already knew that this brand helps children (all participants received small gifts). In fact, everything was a little different, but the essence of this did not change: Ilyichevets arranged for itself hidden advertising and, most likely, increased profits by an order of magnitude.
"Partisans" in the law!
Is guerrilla PR legal? In fact, not quite, at least some of its manifestations. If we take the examples above, then the Silver + advertisement is quite legal, but marketing company"Ilyichevets" - no, because no one has the right to interrupt without good reason educational process and force children to work but their image. Most likely, there was even a bribe to the school administration. As for SPAM mailing, it is, of course, not prohibited by law, but here are the rules social networks- Yes. As a result, it turns out that the actions of SPAMers are contrary to the rules, and their email box can be blocked.
It turns out that guerrilla marketing can be both legal and illegal. Of course, it is best to use legal options, but it happens that it is illegal marketing that brings the maximum result ...
The effectiveness of guerrilla marketing!
I think everyone is well aware that guerrilla PR can be much more effective than traditional advertising just because it is non-standard, innovative. In the modern world, wherever you look, you will stumble upon another advertising banner, people pay attention to non-traditional methods of influence. Of course, everything should be within reason, because manufacturers of, say, combat grenades can conduct a really "explosive" advertising campaign, in the truest sense of the word.
