Try guerrilla marketing...it can be revolutionary

Your audiences are inundated with digital content these days, so how do you make yours stand out? Sometimes, you just have to dare to be different.

A couple of years ago for a project we were working on at 52M Consulting, we produced a series of informative short films of around 1 minute each. They garnered a few thousand views on the main social media platforms we posted them to, but that was all - even after paying to promote some of them. Then we produced one that was radically different and guess what? Within a fortnight it had been seen over a quarter of a million times on Facebook, all organic views. It was so popular, we literally couldn't keep up with all the page notifications about likes, shares and comments.

The difference? It elicited an emotional response. It resonated more. People wanted to share it so others would see it.

It was less corporate, less 'stuffy'.

There's no getting away from the fact that, sometimes, you have to take a (calculated) risk in order to cut through and get seen and heard.

That's where a well-executed guerrilla marketing campaign can help.

What is guerrilla marketing?

The concept has its origins in warfare, where insurgents use unexpected tactics against their opponents, often exploiting the element of surprise.

When employed in a marketing context, guerrilla tactics are used to create unusual campaigns that catch people off-guard, again with that element of surprise.

It's perhaps best explained with real examples, so I've dug some out below, but the key is creativity: it's about presenting your message in a new and novel way, in a way people wouldn't normally expect. That can include using humour or creating intrigue - remember, if you can create an emotional response (outrage, sadness, laughter, curiosity etc) it's more likely that your audience will engage with and, importantly, share your content.

So, for instance, if you were thinking about promoting a geographic place (like a town, city or county) then instead of a set of videos that depict it in the way people would typically expect, you could instead produce a 'mockumentary' that still showcases everything that's great about the place but that lures people in under a different pretext and adds some humour. If you can get people wondering if it's real, so they feel compelled to watch it to find out, then make it an enjoyable viewing experience, you're onto a winner. That's what the government of Canadian province Nova Scotia did with this viral campaign in 2008, featuring a video and associated website promoting a make-believe smartphone that incorporated a shaver function and could even make coffee. Revealing it was a spoof, it said "Having everything you want in a phone, may be a stretch…but a place that has everything definitely exists". What a great notion!

Some real examples of guerrilla marketing campaigns

Below are some examples of guerrilla tactics used in marketing campaigns.

You'll see they're all different, but also how they're all probably very effective when it comes to getting people talking about them.

1. Led By Donkeys

The idea here was simple. Frustrated by the very idea of Brexit, these Remain campaigners took to creating billboard posters of social media posts from prominent Leave promoting politicians. In the beginning, the four people behind the campaign put up their posters themselves, without the permission of billboard owners, and then started sharing photos of them on social media. Eventually, they were able to crowdfund the money needed to pay for legitimate billboard ads across the country. It worked because it was very different, humourous and tapped-into people's strong feelings about the Brexit topic.

2. Greene King

This brewery and pub chain was worried about the potential for rival retail establishments (think Nando's and similar chains) to hasten the demise of the traditional pub. So, to remind people about the community role of the British pub, it armed 40 of its pub landlords with cameras and got them to create and share video 'memories' of people's pub experiences - from birthday parties to christenings - to highlight how local pubs are so entwined with our way of life. This campaign worked because it was so earthy and involved the audience it was hoping to reach.

3. UNICEF

This is a more hard-hitting application of guerrilla marketing used by the relief organisation UNICEF. It created vending machines that served bottles of dirty water (with each button labelled as a disease caused by a lack of clean drinking water) to highlight the fact that the bottled water consumed without much thought in developed countries is a luxury to entire populations in other parts of the world that have no access to clean drinking water at all. This campaign made a serious point but in a way that people could connect with.

Are you brave enough to start your own marketing revolution?

It's fair to say that the thought of running a guerrilla marketing campaign probably makes some business people nervous.

But it shouldn't.

Done well, guerrilla marketing can be a low-cost way of inserting your business or brand into the minds of your audience how and when they least expect it, but in a very memorable way. It's also great distinguishing you from the crowd, and to help get your content seen by people, especially on social media.

And it can work B2B as well as B2C, you might just need to be a tad more inventive!

We can devise, plan and execute a guerrilla marketing campaign for you, just email [email protected] if you'd like to discuss ideas for yours. And, if you've already done it successfully, let me know about your experiences in the comments, I'd love to hear from you!