Before a million pails of cold water brought amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) global attention, many people had never heard of the disease. After a summer of ice bucket challenges, the devastating motor neuron disorder has an astonishing level of awareness. Although the campaign didn’t originate as a deliberate marketing strategy, it’s a great case of the power of guerrilla marketing in the social-media age.
Inexpensive, small scale and non-traditional marketing tactics can be extremely effective ways to promoting your brand if the idea catches the public imagination and goes viral. Guerrilla marketing covers a huge variety of activities.
To determine if there’s a tactic that will work for your business, consider these five tips for crafting an effective guerrilla-marketing campaign that will resonate with your target audience.
- Have a hook: If your product or service is something people don’t ordinarily care about, you need to give it an attention-grabbing hook, like the ALS ice bucket challenge.
Dollar Shave Club made the hardly earth-shattering idea of mail-order razor blades really engaging with an offbeat and low-budget YouTube video. Within two days of launch the commercial went viral, generating 12,000 new orders.
A fitness company ad appeared on German subway trains showing a man hanging on to a weight, rather than a subway hand rail.
- Be provocative: Controversy sells, so if you’re willing to break taboos and speak truths that people usually prefer to ignore, you can turn heads. This is a common tactic for charities and non-profits like the visually arresting ketchup packs created by Campaign Against Landmines.
- Sell an idea, not a product: As a startup, your passion for what you do and vision for changing the world is incredibly powerful. Stating that vision boldly and selling your product based on emotional appeal, not rational argument can give you an advantage.
You don’t have to be starting out to harness the power of ideas. IKEA celebrated the 30th anniversary of its popular Billy bookcase by filling 30 of them with book and placing them on Bondi Beach in Australia. Beachgoers could swap a book for one of their own or donate to a literacy charity. By focusing on the popular beach pastime of reading, the furniture company got people’s attention while still promoting its product.
- Make it Tangible: Physical manifestations are great guerrilla marketing. Translating your idea into an object or event can help explain a product, especially digital services.
A shopping mall in California installed a real-life Pinterest board as an interactive store directory. If you capture your physical-world tactic and share it online, you can get a viral multiplier. Adobe cleverly achieved this with a bus stop prank where they Photoshopped waiting passengers into a fake digital movie poster as a way to advertise its Adobe Creative Day. The “candid camera” appeal of this stunt reached more than 22 million views on YouTube.
- Take a risk: Some of the best ideas sound dumb on paper (and some are when you actually do them). They may flop, but you won’t know until you try. Many guerrilla campaigns get attention precisely because they are unusual, outrageous or unconventional. So don’t worry that people may laugh at you. It’s all about being memorable!
Ride-sharing service Uber promoted its service by delivering ice cream or puppies to customers. In December 2013, Canadian airline WestJet asked passengers boarding a flight to Calgary what they wanted for Christmas then delivered the gifts when they landed. Take the time to watch his one!
Whatever style of guerrilla marketing campaign you choose, remember to document and publish everything. Most guerrilla marketing is by its nature small in scale but it’s the shared links, laughs and likes that will make your campaign a big success.
Ready to brainstorm a few guerrilla marketing ideas for your business? Call for an appointment and let’s see if we can come up with something to catch attention, get shared and get noticed! 931-456-4910.
