What Is Guerrilla Marketing and How Does it Work?

As a business owner or marketer, you’ll likely be looking for new and innovative ways to promote your company and reach your goals. With so many different strategies and tactics available, you’ll be constantly fighting to ensure that your business stands out from the crowd, and guerrilla marketing is a very effective way to do so. In this blog, we’re going to uncover the fundamentals of guerrilla marketing and how you can implement them into your upcoming marketing campaigns.

What Is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing, pronounced guh-rill-a (like the ape), is a long standing, popular form of marketing, which builds on impactful and memorable campaigns. Businesses get a chance to use unconventional, creative tactics for promoting their brand and offerings, with the aim of obtaining high levels of attention and creating an experience which customers can’t stop talking about.?

The term “guerrilla” comes from the tactics used by warfare groups who rely on surprise attacks and unconventional methods to achieve their objectives, and this mirrors the approach of guerrilla marketing. In other words, rather than focusing solely on traditional TV or print advertising, guerrilla marketing requires an element of differentiation to be successful.

Why Is Guerrilla Marketing Effective?

There are many reasons why guerrilla marketing can be seen as effective, and the fact that it’s been popular for so long emphasises the benefits. Key reasons this tactic can prove beneficial for your business include -

Zero to little cost - If you’ve got a limited budget, you can utilise guerrilla marketing campaigns to try and capture the attention of your target audience. Highly impactful - Guerrilla campaigns are designed to be powerful and memorable in order to generate excitement and engagement. The best campaigns often get noticed and further publicity through other sources, such as the news or influencers who naturally spread the word further. Tailored to your audience - Guerrilla campaigns give you the chance to target specific audiences, allowing you to be in front of the right people at the right time.?

In the next section, you’ll see some great ways businesses have used guerrilla tactics to provide success with their marketing activity.?

3 Inspirational Guerrilla Marketing Examples

?

Equinox banning new member sign ups on January 1st

?

New York based luxury gym group, Equinox ran a campaign which banned people from joining as a new member on 1st January 2023. Taking to both Twitter/X and TikTok, the brand explicitly said “WE DON’T SPEAK JANUARY” and wrote a message branding New Year's Resolutions as fantasies.

Many people join gyms in January as they aim to succeed with various New Year's Resolutions, such as “exercising more” or “losing weight” which Statista show as being highly popular goals set in the UK .

Creating a lot of curiosity and surprise, this campaign caught the attention of many users across social media, with various responses and high levels of engagement across the board.

?

BBC Dracula Billboard

?

The BBC wanted to build awareness of a new Dracula TV series which would be airing, and their creative team quickly went viral on the back of just 2 billboards. During the day, the billboards looked like a plain white space, including the show name along with 50 stakes, which may have looked odd. At night, however, the billboard came to life with light shining through the stakes to form a shadow of Dracula.

Despite not being seen in person by a large number of people, the creativity of the campaign led to the billboards being seen across the world, sparking conversations and leading to the goal of increased awareness being a great success. This worked well thanks to the creativity of making the most of light and shadows to build a scene which was prevalent at night, a perfect representation of the main character of the show and the locations in London and Birmingham were popular enough to be seen by the right amount of people to generate curiosity.

IKEA’s Oxford Street Store

?

IKEA are well known for their unconventional marketing ideas, and in 2023, the press and social media users went wild for their 128ft wide scaffolding cover which was designed to look exactly like the recognisable IKEA carrier bag. This was made to bring excitement to the new IKEA store opening on Oxford Street, which is one of the most exciting retail areas in the UK. ?

They’ve used their bag in previous campaigns, however, this time they found extra success as people flocked to Oxford Street to see the bag in person and share it across various social media platforms. Conversations were being sparked across the country and even worldwide discussing the sheer size of the bag and the level of detail used to include realistic looking handles.?

Common Types of Guerrilla Marketing

There are many different types of guerrilla marketing campaigns which you may come across when looking for inspiration, like those we’ve provided. The right type for your campaign will vary, depending on your brand and the goals you hope to achieve. To help you understand different forms of guerrilla marketing, we’ve outlined the 4 most popular in a way which is easy to digest.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing, sometimes known as buzz marketing, is a technique which is focused on getting consumers to spread the word. Often seen on social media channels, this strategy relies on consumers sharing your content with their social network, friends and family. Rather than spending time marketing the offering yourself, viral marketing works by consumers building greater awareness of your brand or promotion on your behalf, on the back of their excitement and high levels of engagement.

Stealth Marketing

Stealth marketing takes a lot of planning and consideration, however, can be extremely rewarding. There are many moments in life in which you’re being advertised to without realising it, thanks to moments such as tactical product placement on TV shows and references to services in podcasts. Stealth marketing promotes your product or service in a subtle way, without being obviously promotional, and is designed to feel natural rather than pushed, which is where the term “stealth” comes in.

Ambient Marketing

Ambient marketing is a way of promoting your products or business using unusual locations or items as a way to connect with the target audience. With advertising being so prominent in the modern world, it can be really difficult to stand out and capture attention, which is where this tactic can prove beneficial. Whether it be creating unusual 3D billboards or using CGI to place products in unexpected locations for an online campaign, many well known brands love using ambient marketing to capture the imagination of their audience.

Projection Marketing

Projection marketing is a risky form of guerrilla marketing, which can reap huge rewards. Regularly used for special events, brands like using this in their strategies to personalise their promotions for semi permanent campaigns in which they place large captivating adverts, usually on the sides of buildings or bland walls. As alluded to in the name, these campaigns are often created using a projector, which allows your business to create an interactive experience which connects with your customer in an unusual way, rather than using more traditional forms of advertising.

Our Top Guerrilla Marketing Tips

Learn about our top 5 tips you could consider when you look to implement guerrilla marketing into your strategy.