Thriving on original thinking and creativity, guerrilla marketing is a fantastic way that ingenuity can beat out big budget advertising. Tending to be cheaper than traditional marketing which rely on both traditional and contemporary tactics. We’ve collated the top 6 guerrilla marketing tools that are still relevant for your business this year.
1. Social media
Let’s start with the most obvious one – the social media channels.
If you can create good, regular content, this can give your business unparalleled exposure. The secret is creating content that resonates with your audience, such as gifs, images, video and text. Another great idea is to get a hashtag trending that relates to your business or an upcoming event that will get people responding. Create an event on Facebook, advertise it on Twitter, and collaborate with other likeminded businesses on Instagram. The options are endless!
2. Stickers
Another great guerrilla marketing tactic that can be very successful when implemented well, the creative use of stickers is a tried and tested tool that has stood the test of time. Whether you send them out to your demographic, put them in a bag alongside your products, or scatter them at an event for potential customers to pick up, there is a way that you can get your business’ name into the hands of others. All you need is to enlist some reliable printing services and a small amount of money!
3. Giveaways
Another tactic that has proved its importance over history is the giveaway.
A surefire way to bring attention to your business, you can giveaway something as small as a food to something as large as event tickets. You don’t always have to run the giveaway yourself either, because in many instances if you offer free tickets to sponsors or in exchange for air time on the radio, they can run the whole competition for you so it offers powerful exposure for minimal cost.
4. Public art, graffiti and urban art
Using the city as a giant canvas, graffiti marketing is perhaps the most ‘guerrilla’ tactic of all!
Of course, for most businesses it is recommended to get permission from a property owner before portraying your artistic prowess on the walls of their establishment. A great idea is to do ‘temporary graffiti’, such as using chalk or temporary paint. You can opt to do something daring like creating optical illusions or you can go for bold marketing statements. Either way, make it interesting and get people talking about it.
5. Online newsletters
A traditional and budget-friendly option that can be used to target current and future customers is to send out a regular online newsletter. Although they are inefficient if done poorly (just like anything, really), they can definitely still be useful whilst requiring minimal work and funds.
To create a successful newsletter, you will need to make the reader feel like they are getting value out of reading it. Pepper your newsletter with trends and information related to your business or event, as well as offering discounts, insider info and interviews. This will make people want to sign up to the newsletter and subscribe to it long term.
6. Local event sponsorship
Another classic guerrilla marketing tactic you can employ is to sponsor a local event, for example a sporting event or a function at a local school or university. However, it can be important to remember that it is ideal to be associated with an event that’s within the sphere of your target demographic.
By offering branded volunteers to help with the event or just by sponsoring and having a banner, stall or logo on the t-shirts you are linked to the local community and makes your name memorable to others, especially if their event is much smaller than yours or your brand.
From social media to graffiti, there is a huge range of guerrilla marketing techniques that are bound to suit your brand or business. You don’t need to go broke to make your business known! If the appropriate time and effort is put in to reach your desired demographic, the results can be as good (if not better) than traditional marketing.
Image source: Shutterstock