5 reasons Guerilla Marketing isn’t Viral Marketing
6 Pins has some nice examples of guerilla marketing up today. I especially like the above. Regarding the topic of Guerrilla Marketing, here a five reasons I didn’t include it on my upcoming Connect article about Viral Marketing:
- Guerrilla Marketing has more to do with promotional advertising than strategic marketing, although Guerrilla tactics are strategic in and of themselves.
- Guerrilla Marketing doesn’t spread itself as easily as other viral campaigns outside of word-of-mouth
- Guerrilla Marketing tends to be more direct than viral marketing (though not always)
- Guerrilla Marketing is most effective in local and/or regional markets as opposed to the global reach of viral marketing
- At its core, Guerrilla Marketing campaigns are nothing more than rogue, very creative, advertisements for a fleeting memory, though enough to generate short-term buzz and curiosity
That said, I really appreciate the creativity of most Guerrilla campaigns. United’s Ted Launch was one of the best examples of Guerrilla Marketing I’ve read about.
22 Comments
Guerilla marketing = cute, attention grabbing, or suprising; is calculated for great effect.
Viral marketing = takes on a life of its own; is hard/impossible to guarantee effectiveness.
Here in Utah we actually are home to one of the greatest guerilla marketers of all time – Rick Bennett.
You can find him at http://www.rickbennett.com. You will get a kick out of his work that you see on his site.
Mark Newman
HireVue
I agree with RussellPage. However ambush is just an area of Guerrilla and he miss a fact of guerrilla warfare that helps very much in defining guerrilla markting too. Guerrilla uses the landscape, the soil they know better than the enemy to win. Regarding guerrilla marketing, it uses the street as part of the campaing. One can say street but also the people, the birds… the city.
[…] I get asked all the time by business owners if I know any creative ways to help get their brand seen. Business owners usually throw out the terms “guerilla marketing” when asking for creative marketing solutions or even worse “cheap” marketing, however guerilla marketing encompasses more than just creative ways to market your product and can end up costing quite a bit, for a successful campaign. In fact, many business owners are usually shocked when I tell them that their product or service would not fit well with a guerilla marketing campaign. Guerilla marketing, simply put is do something unexpected or thought provoking so as to leave a lasting impression with your “customer”. Yes, this is the “creative” aspect of guerilla marketing; however getting your brand out in front of the wrong people in a creative way will not get you any more business than you had before the guerilla marketing campaign. That is why it is first important to do research on your target market before launching a guerilla marketing campaign just for the sake of being original and creative. In fact, guerilla marketing works best for brands that are already established and that are expanding into a new product line, either to reach a new market, or increase the size of their current market. Take for example Mafia Wars, a popular social networking game. Recently, Mafia Wars company Zynga decided to launch a guerilla marketing campaign in which they hired actors dressed as mobsters to hand out “money” with codes that allowed for players to register for their new version of Mafia Wars. The bystanders who took the “money” then registered their “money” in the new game where then told that Zynga would blow up an armored car in Las Vegas after so many people registered. This created hype around an existing brand (Mafia Wars) that was releasing a new version of an already existing game, and it worked. People knew right away when they saw the “mobsters” with Mafia Wars “money” who was behind this guerilla marketing- Zynga. In my opinion there are more clever ways of guerilla marketing then spending your entire budget blowing up an armored car, and that is why I would do some research as to exactly who you will target during your guerilla marketing campaign as to help maximize your marketing dollars. For someone who has a different take about guerilla marketing, check out this blog which I found interesting: http://www.smoothharold.com/5-reasons-guerilla-marketing-isnt-viral-marketing/ […]
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In response to the old comment Mark said about that Rick Bennet guy. I looked at his site – those were some of the worst ads I’ve ever seen. Would likely be why I’ve never heard of him. Your state can keep him.
[…] Using the street’s material to create your ad. Via Smooth Harold. […]
Hello Blake, I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks. Do you own the copyright for the BBQ drain image? I would like to use it in a report and have been trying to track down the copyright. If it is not yours do you know who does own it?
Thanks for your help.
Kind regards,
Mike Pitt
Director – Marketing Fundamentals Ltd
I love this. Using whats already there to make a statement.
This one is so creative using what is there to make a unique ad.
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i love it when people try to define guerilla marketing and they completely leave out any notion of how “guerilla” marketing got its name in the first place. (Guerilla warfare – is a method of unconventional combat by which small groups of combatants attempt to use mobile and surprise tactics (ambushes, raids, etc) to defeat a foe, often a larger, less mobile, army).
Guerilla marketing is for suprise/ambush of a consumer’s attention. It’s very strategic. Very calculated. Intentional. And, it has nothing to do with viral marketing.
Good post.