V9.23: Try Post-COVID-19 Guerilla Marketing

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about unconventional methods to marketing campaigns, especially for a post-COVID-19 world; what works, what doesn’t, and what is just plain crazy. Guerrilla marketing, named for guerrilla warfare, utilizes alternative and unconventional strategies in order to promote your product, company, and so forth. Usually, it is low-cost or even free!

People have asked me what type of business best benefits from this type of campaign strategy and personally I would say everyone! From startups to huge corporations, guerrilla marketing can be extraordinarily beneficial.  Yes, it is ideal for those small businesses with very tight budgets, but it is just as effective for large companies with endless budgets as well.

Here are some of my favorite guerrilla marketing techniques:

1. Blogging/ Guest Blogging: Obviously, I’m a big fan of blogging. Content truly is the driving force of marketing. Blogging is a way to get quality information out there and answer questions before your potential clients even ask them! Guest blogging is also a great way to bring focus back to you and your business. By guest blogging on another site, other people’s followers will (hopefully) follow through to your site! When guest blogging, make sure to always have a link back to your own website or social media sites. This provides great traffic to your company.
2. Viral Videos: In today’s modern tech world, being famous is the new popular. Creating viral videos provides a way for millions of people to see what you want them to see. YouTube has propelled us into a whole new era, so why not take advantage of that? The right video can create a whole new interest in your product, company, etc. The great thing about viral videos as a marketing campaign is that it reaches to a wide demographic. It targets all ages! It is a win-win scenario- the public gets a new video to obsess over and you get free publicity. You don’t even need to make the video~ you could simply sponsor. For example: a candle company donating a bunch of candles to a YouTuber in order for them to promote your business in return.
3. Social Media: I’ve talked a lot about social media as a marketing tool before. I’ve discussed how Facebook and LinkedIn can be extremely helpful to your business. These are actually techniques of guerrilla marketing. Of course, these are just two of many social media sites that benefit. The main idea here is that the sites provide you with a way to target mass amounts of people with one post, picture, video, etc. Use these to your advantage! People don’t like to look for information nowadays; they want it right in front of them immediately.
4. Creative Methods: What I love most about guerrilla marketing is the use of unconventional methods. People respond well to art and creativity. Use that to gain the upper hand in the marketing and advertisement world. Creative ads such as graffiti billboards or bus stops can really capture the eye. Get imaginative in the way you target your audience. One of my favorite examples of this creative campaigning is when a company I used to work for got a little inventive in our strategies. We sold architectural CAD (computer aided design) to large architectural firms. We discovered that many of the partners also had pilot’s licenses and flew small planes. So in order to get these prospects to our event, we sent them a model of the latest new Cessna plane without landing gear or base (so it would not be able to stand alone on the desk). In the message along with the model, we wrote that great designs aren’t complete without all of the details handled and that is why the latest CAD system (from our company) would ensure their next architectural project didn’t miss any details. We also invited them to a seminar so they could see our system in action [and get the base to their new model as well]! It was a great and creative way to spark interest.

Clearly, I am a huge fan of guerilla marketing, but only when the right company in the right circumstance does it. I have a long-time fan of the book Marketing Warfare by Trout and Reis. I often recommend my employees to read it in order to fully utilize the knowledge.