Guerrilla marketing

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Guerrilla marketing is a creative, out-of-the-box approach that businesses employ to advertise their goods or services. It encompasses various forms such as ambient marketing, which utilizes physical environments in public areas for promotional purposes. Ambush marketing capitalizes on events indirectly related to them to enhance brand visibility. In contrast, stealth marketing advertises products or services in a covert way. Viral marketing encourages people to distribute marketing messages, leading to exponential growth, while buzz marketing ignites public discourse^[3] about a brand to create hype.

A subset of guerrilla marketing, street marketing, applies unconventional advertising^[2] tactics in public spaces. This strategy involves handing out leaflets, crafting animations, and organizing roadshows. The objective is to engage the target market, stimulate senses, foster closeness, and build trust.

Guerrilla marketing also merges with social media platforms for digital marketing^[1] strategies, which have the potential to go viral, providing worldwide exposure. The impact of this method is substantial, with triumphant campaigns like Coca-Cola’s ‘Happiness Machine’ gaining global fame. The success of this marketing tactic underscores the potency of innovative, non-traditional advertising.

Terms definitions

1. ↑ digital marketing. Digital marketing, a broad term, refers to the utilization of digital platforms, predominantly the Internet, for the advertisement of products or services. Its roots can be traced back to the 1990s, marking key events such as the first clickable banner ad and the emergence of marketing automation. Fundamental tactics in digital marketing encompass SEO, SEM, content marketing, and social media marketing. It plays a crucial role in enhancing brand recognition, influencing consumer behavior, and guiding their choices. Despite hurdles such as privacy issues and the necessity for platform adaptation, novel tactics like data-driven marketing and retargeting continue to progress. This marketing technique also promotes the engagement of influencers and digital channels to amplify brand visibility and interact effectively with consumers. Nowadays, digital marketing extends beyond merely selling products; it's about carving out a distinctive brand persona and fostering a robust bond with the audience.

2. ↑ advertising. Promoting a product or service through communication, also known as advertising, aims to inform or persuade a target audience. Its roots trace back to early civilizations where sales messages were inscribed on Egyptian papyrus, and wall murals were utilized for promotional purposes across ancient Asia, Africa, and South America. Over the centuries, advertising has adapted to technological advancements and the rise of mass media, transitioning from newspaper prints to audio-visual and digital platforms. The strategies employed in advertising vary, with some focusing on raising awareness or boosting sales, targeting different demographics at a local, national, or international level. Common methods encompass print, radio, web banners, and television commercials, among others. Modern advertising models have introduced innovative trends like guerrilla marketing and interactive advertisements. Women's contribution to advertising is significant, with their perspectives highly valued due to their influential purchasing power.

Guerrilla marketing (Wikipedia)

Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service. It is a type of publicity. The term was popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson's 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing.

Guerrilla marketing uses multiple techniques and practices in order to establish direct contact with potential customers. One of the goals of this interaction is to cause an emotional reaction in the clients, and the ultimate goal of marketing is to induce people to remember products or brands in a different way than they might have been accustomed to.

As traditional advertising media channels—such as print, radio, television, and direct mail—lose popularity, marketers and advertisers have felt compelled to find new strategies to convey their commercial messages to the consumer. Guerrilla marketing focuses on taking the consumer by surprise to make a dramatic impression about the product or brand. This in turn creates buzz about the product being marketed. It is a way of advertising that increases consumers' engagement with the product or service, and is designed to create a memorable experience. By creating a memorable experience, it also increases the likelihood that a consumer, or someone who interacted with the campaign, will tell their friends about the product. Thus, via word of mouth, the product or service being advertised reaches more people than initially anticipated.

Guerrilla marketing is relatively inexpensive, and focuses more on reach rather than frequency. For guerrilla campaigns to be successful, companies generally do not need to spend large amounts of money, but they need to have imagination, energy and time. Therefore, guerrilla marketing has the potential to be effective for small businesses, especially if they are competing against bigger companies.

The message to consumers is often designed to be clear and concise. This type of marketing also works on the unconscious mind, because purchasing decisions are often made by the unconscious mind. To keep the product or service in the unconscious mind requires repetition, so if a buzz is created around a product, and if it is shared amongst friends, then this mechanism enables repetition.

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