Business Way Today

Every business needs advertising to grow.  The problem is a lot of new businesses don’t have the budgets for massive advertising campaigns.  If your business falls within this category, what you need to understand is that you cannot compete with companies with huge marketing budgets using conventional means.

Think of your company as a small team of rebels trying to take down an established army.   You don’t have the force, firepower, or man power needed for a full on assault, so instead you go with guerilla warfare tactics. In business you are that small team of rebels trying to take on the established brand names, but to be successful you cannot rely on numbers alone.   This is where you need to put on your thinking caps and develop guerilla marketing strategies.

What is guerilla marketing?

Guerilla marketing is a term used to describe marketing tactics that don’t rely on huge advertising budgets, but instead rely on out of the box thinking, campaigns that target individuals rather than groups, and unconventional methods that have the potential to go viral.  What you need to know is that guerilla marketing works and has the potential to take your company far for less money than conventional advertising.

Three guerilla marketing principals

Guerilla marketing is based on several principals.  First, the customer is more important than sales.  Second, targeting individuals is more effective than targeting groups.  Third, interactive campaigns in unconventional spots demand attention.  These principals are what make guerilla marketing techniques so successful for small startup companies.

People, who know that the advertisements of a company are targeting their needs rather than their pockets, are more likely to be interested in the product or service.  When individuals get hooked on the idea that a guerilla advertising campaign is portraying, they spread that idea to their friends.  This can result in the idea going viral.  That is the power of connecting to the individual and tapping into the referral power of one person.

Guerilla marketing examples

Guerilla marketers know that in order to generate sales from their efforts, they have to maximize on effort and use the money they have very sparingly.  Here are some guerilla marketing ideas that you can use to promote your company with minimal financial expense.

Design a t-shirt with your company’s logo and website and give it out as prizes to your clients and customers.  It doesn’t take a lot to design and print customized t-shirts.  If it is good looking, you will end up having a few good looking walking billboard promoting your company.  Be sure to print one out for yourself as well.

Design customized gifts for the New Year for your clients, customers, and business partners.  A yearly calendar or diary with your company name and logo on it will help remind individuals of your business.  A calendar with your logo is useful for your business partners, and it can help to promote your company to their clients and customers as well.

Write an e-book on a topic your company specializes in and distribute it for free. Be sure to put a link in it back to your website. If the e-book is a hit, it could go viral and drive a ton of traffic back to your website.  These are all guerilla marketing ideas that take little money and time, but have a lot of potential.

Get permission to set up a kiosk in a mall or other crowded area and give away free samples of your products.  Better yet, get one of your employees to MC and play games with the crowd.  The winners get to keep some of your sample products.  This helps promote your company in a fun and happening way.

Guerilla marketing tactics

A lot of guerilla marketing is about thinking outside the box, but much of it has to do with converting work into results.  Because as a startup company, you don’t have much money for advertising, you need to convert your man power and work into sales.  Two of the most common guerilla marketing tactics used are follow-up phone calls and emails.

The power of the telephone

The phone is a powerful weapon when it comes to generating sales.  Follow-up phone calls are never easy, but they generate sales like nothing else.   If you can connect with an individual with targeted phone calls, and can generate more targets by tapping into that person’s referrals, you are on the way to increased sales.  Guerilla marketing tactics take time to start making a dent in the market, and you should be prepared for that.  Think of your work as planting seeds that will grow and in time deliver the fruit of your labor.

E-mail marketing

All true guerillas know the power of e-mail.  In this information age, all of your potential customers have access to the internet.  Connect to them on a personal level by following up your sales with e-mails.  This is a great way to promote special offers, discounts on products, sales in off seasons, etc.  Don’t clutter your e-mails with pictures.  A more effective approach may be to use your emails to promote pages on your website.  If clients are interested, they will follow the link to your webpage.

Viral video marketing

One tactic that you can take advantage of if you have a creative advertising team is video marketing. Video advertising is a huge opportunity for you to promote your business.  With very little money you can design, direct, and produce a funny advertisement and upload it to Youtube.  If the video has what it takes, you could see it go viral with people sharing, posting, and viewing it all over the internet.

These are just some of the many tactics that you can use in your guerilla marketing campaigns.  To cap it up, guerilla marketing is about connecting with potential clients on an individual level.  It is using your manpower and resources in the most effective way, finding ways to advertise that don’t cost a lot of money, but have big potential.   Some guerilla marketing examples are e-mail marketing, video marketing, producing and distributing free e-books, and following up by phone with customers.  Guerilla marketing is tough, but if you persevere you will see results.