Guerrilla Marketing Examples for Small Business

Guerrilla Marketing: What is it?

Jay Convard Levinson originally used the term “guerrilla marketing” in his well-known book “Guerrilla Advertising” published in 1984.

The goal of guerrilla marketing is to leave a lasting impression on consumers by using buzz-generating techniques.

Additionally, it serves as an ideal link to connect online and offline buyers. Unlike other marketing strategies that adhere to a predetermined set of guidelines… Ideas for guerrilla marketing need to be executed with originality.

Guerrilla marketing was first developed to support small businesses, but the top guerrilla marketing strategies are also utilized by numerous large-scale companies to expand their offline operations.

When you own a brand, You’re always trying to find new ways to grow your company. Potentially, you’ve already experimented with email marketing, social media marketing, SEO, and more.

Additionally, it’s simple to build your eCommerce brand both online and off with these marketing strategies.

However, these marketing strategies occasionally call for a sizeable marketing budget. You can make sure your company achieves the success it deserves in this way.

Now, here’s a thought! One of the best low-budget marketing strategies is this one.

It’s unorthodox advertising! This kind of marketing was popular even before the internet. They expanded their businesses by employing this strategy.

For brand owners on a tight budget, launching a guerrilla marketing campaign is an inexpensive marketing option… which enables you to get the best results without having to spend a lot of money.

Thus, there are various types of Guerrilla Marketing

In-Person Advertising

In contrast to conventional marketing approaches, wherein clients typically take on a passive role… They can take part in the process and witness the growth and success of a brand through experiential marketing.

Using creativity, this technique launches guerrilla marketing campaigns that foster an emotional bond between your company and its goods and customers.

Marketing with Astroturfing

As opposed to buzz marketing, which relies on a brand’s natural recommendations, astroturfing marketing creates a reputation and social proof through phony endorsements.

Buzz Marketing

One common guerrilla marketing strategy used by marketers to generate buzz about a product or brand is buzz marketing. Guerrilla marketing of this kind is very economical because it requires little brand involvement.

Obtaining sincere endorsements from well-known people, influencers, and celebrities to market your brand or products without expecting anything in return is the main goal of the process.

Covert Marketing

One common guerrilla marketing strategy is stealth marketing. This approach targets clients without the clients’ knowledge.

This tactic is employed by guerrilla marketers to generate buzz and brand recognition for a good or service.

Street Marketing

Street marketing is not as well-liked as other guerrilla marketing strategies. This strategy, however, can generate more leads and engagement than other options.

Guerrilla Marketing’s Pros and Cons

The ability to generate fresh concepts is one of the best aspects of guerrilla marketing. You are only limited by your ingenuity when it comes to taking action. There’s no one right or incorrect method to accomplish anything, so your strategy may not turn out as planned. Nevertheless, if the campaign is successful, it may draw attention to your brand that would not be possible otherwise.

Naturally, as we mentioned previously, not everyone finds guerrilla marketing to be very effective. You must take into account a few important factors:

Your brand is prominently displayed. Any unfavorable impression of the campaign will have an immediate impact on your business. Never lose sight of that.

It’s called “guerrilla” for a reason, so keep that in mind. It is a risky marketing strategy that is meant to be taken very seriously.

To do what you want to do, you might need permission from the property owner or permits. You risk getting into trouble if you skip this step. However, many guerrilla marketers do take that chance.

A few guerrilla marketers have created attention-grabbing interactive installations, such as superimposing a slide on a subway staircase to allow commuters to rush to their train. Sounds wonderful, until someone is harmed. No one desires legal action.

Speaking of safety, never locate your business in a place that might make it more difficult for safety crews to do their duties. Don’t block an emergency exit, cover a fire hydrant, etc.

If you choose to go the guerrilla route, you will have to accept responsibility for your actions and accept the risks involved.

In business, risk is what makes an investment profitable. The same is true with guerrilla marketing; it’s the risk, the audacity, that draws attention to these kinds of tactics and causes people to take notice. The decision is yours.

9 Cheap Guerrilla Marketing Ideas to Expand your Offline Business

1. To strengthen your brand, use sticker marketing

Some even use their laptops, video game consoles, and other possessions as canvases to showcase the brands they love. Stickers are an affordable way to get your brand noticed.

Give stickers away at events or in conjunction with other swag to empower your audience to display your brand everywhere.

Seeing stickers you’ve distributed adhered to the most unlikely surfaces, such as the side of a bar table or the roof of a bus, is always entertaining.

Additionally, stickers can be used to strategically promote a message in a particular area, such as placing your logo somewhere noticeable to draw in more followers. However, remember that using stickers can also backfire on your brand, so proceed with caution to avoid offending anyone.

2. Open a temporary store

You read correctly: launching a pop-up shop is yet another effective low-cost marketing tactic.

The benefit of those stores is that they are easily open to anyone and can be closed at any time.

With these pop-up shops, you can provide your customers with a point of sale (POS) so they can purchase the items they desire. Even handling payments is possible with the POS system.

Where to locate your store is the main issue, though. Thankfully, you can perform this task anywhere: at home, at work, or even inside a different store. In public areas, you are even allowed to open a business as long as you have permission to do so.

3. Distribute samples

Distributing samples to prospective clients is a surefire approach to get their hands on your products.

I used to have a part-time job at a nearby grocery shop where I would distribute samples of chocolate bars, coffee, yogurt, and other goods as needed.

It was much simpler to sell to people after they gave it a try, and the things I utilized could be written off as marketing costs. I could make multiple samples out of a single product, and on my best days, I could sell out of the whole inventory.

It reaffirmed two points:

-People adore freebies.

-Following a gift, people may feel compelled to return the favor by giving you something in return, such as a few minutes of their time to learn more about your offering.

Similar strategies can be used on a bigger or smaller scale, such as handing out samples at fairs or events where the right people will be present, or locating a few influencers who will recommend your product if they think it’s good. You can even form co-marketing partnerships to offer your samples alongside those of other brands.

Make sure your samples have enough information in them so that customers can find you online in the future. Take advantage of any chance to educate as many people as you can while you’re selling in person.

4. Be mindful of where products are placed

For you, the way you present your goods can make or break a sale.

The secret, then, is to get your products in front of customers so they will see their worth and eventually feel compelled to part with their hard-earned cash.

This is a great way to raise brand awareness because it gets more people to know about your products.

5. Attend nearby community events

Participating in local community events is one of the best ways to increase your visibility.

You could sponsor a seasonal fair or charity event, for instance, if your neighborhood is hosting one to promote your business.

People will look for you when they start to recognize your brand in the community. If your SEO approach is strong, this will drive more traffic to your website.

6. Ads on the street

Another traditional yet very successful guerrilla marketing tactic is street propaganda.

This entails coming up with creative street guerrilla marketing strategies to carry out in your neighborhood.

To gain attention, guerrilla marketers must, of course, be creative in their ideas. One way to start is by distributing flyers or posters to raise brand awareness.

7. Assist influential people

To promote your brand, you don’t actually need to work with well-known social media influencers and Tiktokers—especially if you’re not ready to shell out thousands of dollars.

Positive publicity about your brand can be widely disseminated by a large number of offline influencers. The best part? You won’t have to break the bank on your guerrilla marketing campaign.

One possible strategy is to identify the influential people in your community and make a proposal to them. While some influencers may require financial compensation, others may be content to accept a free sample or giveaway.

Even if you give them money in exchange for promoting your brand on social media, the cost will be far lower than what you would pay celebrities or macro-influencers.

Here, identifying an influencer with significant impact is crucial.

8. Posters, graffiti, and more…

Although advertising space can be costly to rent, there are alternative ways to obtain it.

Posters, window clings, graffiti art—you name it—are all effective ways to create a physical presence that you can use or borrow.

One effective way to target foot traffic is to post an eye-catching poster on a community message board; just make sure you abide by the city’s regulations.

It is even possible to obtain authorization for the use of a wall for branded graffiti art, as demonstrated by this album launch promotion campaign for Justin Bieber.

In cities all over the world, walls were marked in this way. Fans discovered this and flocked to these locations to snap selfies with these works of art, even though there was no overt branding.

Before doing anything of this nature, get permission. Engage in activities that cause people to pause, look, consider, and talk.

9. Take actions that are not scalable

Even though guerrilla marketing is only effective locally, it has the potential to grow when the proper plan and tactics are put in place. It can also reach a wider audience when the experience is taken online.

If you’re short on cash but have lots of ideas, using guerrilla marketing techniques can help you gain visibility at a lower cost.

These strategies don’t scale and it may be challenging to measure ROI, but that’s kind of the point.

It reminds me of the traditional lemonade stand: getting out there and working hard to expand your company by getting your product and brand in front of as many people as you can.

These tips will help you run the best Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns!

When you go for the WOW factor rather than relying on those conventional tactics, guerrilla marketing can be incredibly fruitful.

Even though guerrilla marketing techniques have a limited audience, with the right guidance, they can still grow and accelerate.

But when you can grow online, why should you restrict the potential of your brand to offline reach?