Guerilla Marketing: Some ideas

“Guerilla” strategy” has mostly military connotations, as in guerilla warfare, guerilla army, guerilla zones, etc. But there is one “battleground” that doesn’t have anything to do with guns and ammunitions. In the world of business, companies rise or fail, depending on how they fight the competition. They formulate plans to call attention to their products, attract customers, and create good will for their company.

Marketing strategies can be very sophisticated and expensive, especially among multinationals and other big businesses. The strategies might involve costly market research, mass media advertisemenets, and public events.

This should not discourage small enterprises, with shoe-string marketing budgets to engage the competition. There are so called guerilla strategies that need not dent their bank books.

Guerilla marketing refers to innovative, unconventional and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product.

Examples of guerilla strategies that have been formulated are:

  1. Creating chalk art in sidewalks
  2. Asking tricycle drivers to display taurpaulins in their vehicles that prominently display their company name and products., thus effecively having “mobile signboards.”
  3. Providing free themes and news releases for bloggers and website owners.,
  4. Asking customers to leave reviews at point of purchase
  5. Extending limited and selective credit, such as when an innovative store owner put up a sign saying “YOUR CREDIT IS GOOD. LET’S DISCUSS TERMS.”
  6. Conducting product sampling in cooperation with institutions like schools, barangay and municipal halls, local banks, etc.
  7. Using catchy or fun store names such as SHOE-PER MARKET, for a shoe store, HAIR PORT, for a hair grooming parlor, and FULLY BOOKED, for a second-hand book store.