Guerrilla marketing

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 the 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 get people to remember products or brands in a different way than they are accustomed to. As traditional advertising media channels—such as print, radio, television, and direct mail—lose popularity, marketers and advertisers have to find new strategies to get their commercial messages to the consumer. Guerrilla marketing focuses on taking the consumer by surprise to make a big 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 don't need to spend large amounts, they just need to have imagination, energy and time. Therefore, it 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, as 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 it is shared amongst friends, it enables repetition. The term 'guerrilla marketing' is traced to guerrilla warfare, which employs atypical tactics to achieve an objective. In 1984, the term guerrilla marketing was introduced by Leo Burnett's creative director Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The term itself was from the inspiration of guerrilla warfare which was unconventional warfare using different techniques from usual and small tactic strategies used by armed civilians. It involves high imagination and energy to execute a guerrilla marketing campaign. This kind of marketing is purely focusing on taking the consumer by surprise, creating a greater impression and eventually leading to buzz through word-of-mouth or social media platforms. Guerrilla marketing is perfect for any small or medium size businesses to bring their product or services to its consumers without investing more money on advertisements. This has also been used by large companies to show the difference from its competitors and to make use of social media campaigns. Lately, individuals use unconventional methods of job hunting or to work more. As a result, the concept of street marketing was born. It has evolved from being only the application of activities on the streets, to be the development of innovative practices of promotion. For example, one method used by many enterprises to promote their products or services on the streets is the distribution of fliers. This activity does not focus on creativity, but on making publicity on the streets. However, with the passage of time, companies have developed more unconventional techniques to catch the attention of the clients. Ambient communication is advertising presented on elements of the environment, including nearly every available physical surface. It is a compilation of intelligence, flexibility, and effective use of the atmosphere. These kinds of ads can be found anywhere and everywhere from hand dryers in public bathrooms and petrol pumps through to bus hand straps and golf-hole cups. Ambush marketing is a form of associative marketing, used by an organization to capitalize upon the awareness, attention, goodwill, and other benefits, generated by having an association with an event or property, without that organization having an official or direct connection to that event or property.