Guerrilla marketing tactics: Low-budget, high-impact strategies to outsmart your competitors this summer
You don’t have to have a massive marketing budget to create something worthwhile or to stand out. Guerrilla marketing is often a low cost way to create a memorable experience.
What is guerrilla marketing?
Guerrilla marketing often focuses on creating surprise, fun, and something unexpected in public spaces, like a busy shopping area or park.
Types of guerrilla marketing tactics may include things like an outdoor display, interactive/experiential installations like pop-ups, or a flash mob! There are so many possibilities.
Why it works
Think of it this way, if you see an ad on YouTube or while scrolling, it may catch your attention, but so many just skip past it (literally or by “checking out”). However, if you’re out and you see a flashmob or an interesting display, you might be more inclined to stop and pay attention.
This type of marketing works because it surprises you, it can make you feel something, and in doing so, it becomes more memorable.
Why summer is the perfect opportunity to it
When you think of summer, sure you might think of relaxing indoors with the AC pumping, but more than likely, most people think about heading outdoors, whether they want to hang at the beach or a park, check out an outdoor market or music festival, or just walk around and shop or sight-see. Since so many are heading outdoors, there’s an opportunity to reach a greater audience than you might during the colder months.
Questions to ask yourself when creating your plan
Will this surprise people?
What kind of emotion will/should it bring out (joy, connection, etc.)?
Is this shareable? (Will people want to post about it on TikTok or other social media platforms)
Does it align with your brand and feel authentic?
Think about these and consider them as well as creativity over cost. As mentioned, your budget doesn’t need to be significant.
What to avoid
There are a few things that you should avoid when you’re thinking about doing guerilla marketing. You shouldn’t be breaking laws, creating an unsafe environment, and you shouldn’t ignore proper permits or important rules. Yes, we want to do something unexpected, but we don’t want to do that at the risk of harming our brand reputation and most importantly at the risk of harming others.
Aside from those, you also want to avoid getting lost in the details or making things too complicated. Whatever your tactics are, it should support and align with who you are as a brand and your goals.
As with any marketing, you should think about how you will measure success. To do so, here are a few things you may want to consider:
If you had a QR code, how many scans were there?
The quantity of social mentions as well as content created about it (and don’t forget to consider what people are saying, did they enjoy it?)
If you had a mailing list or SMS messaging sign ups, how many were there?
Who is using guerilla marketing?
Lastly, let’s take a quick peek at a few times brands used guerilla marketing tactics.
Warner Bros. Canada/ IT Movie
What can I say, I’m already in the Halloween mood! IT (Chapter 1) begins with the introduction and disappearance of Georgie Denbrough. If you’ve seen the movie (or the OG with Tim Curry) you probably remember little Georgie in his yellow raincoat as he meets Pennywise. Back in 2017, when IT Chapter 1 was released, Warner Bros. and Rooftop Agency placed Georgies all over downtown Toronto (in the Financial District). This worked because not only did it align with the story and creepiness of the movie, but it also made people want to stop in their tracks and snap a picture.
Over in Australia, they also used guerrilla marketing to promote the movie. This time, they strategically tied red balloons (an iconic object from the IT movies) to sewer grates around the city of Sydney. Similarly to the Where’s Georgie stunt, this was creepy, relevant, and attention grabbing. It was also like inexpensive and impactful. You can learn more about it here.
HONOURABLE MENTION: Dracula
Ok, I love all things spooky and Halloween and I’ve always been a vampires over werewolves person, but even for the non-spooky person, this ad is just cool. While you may not think of a billboard as guerilla marketing and see it as more traditional, BBC created something unexpected and eye-catching by getting creative! During the day, it’s a billboard with stakes (the go-to for vamp slaying), but as it gets darker and darker out, those stakes appear to create a shadow that looks exactly like Dracula. Creative and fitting! This one borders on not being guerrilla, but I love it so we’re going to mention it.
Now yes, BBC and Warner Bros. are big brands, but again, they used creativity to create something surprising and memorable. And you can too!