What Is Guerrilla Marketing?

“In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found.” Remember where you heard these 2 unforgettable statements? This was used as the tagline for the 1999 American horror film, The Blair Witch Project. This also happens to be one of the most famous embodiment of what has come to be known as guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla Marketing?

Formally introduced to the world in 1984, guerrilla marketing is a term coined by marketer Jay Conrad Levinson. Simply put, guerrilla marketing is an advertising tactic that makes use of non-traditional methods (creative stunts and gimmicks rather than high-budget promotions) to achieve traditional results (sales and profits). It was originally intended to give small businesses a chance to make themselves known, while working only on a minimal budget.

Doing away with the usual high-budget tactics, guerrilla marketing relies on sheer guts, ingenuity, and audacity to work its magic, and influence their targets to buy what they are selling, so to speak.

Origins of Guerrilla Marketing

Inspired by guerrilla warfare — a form of small-scale combat used by armed civilians that is characterized by surprise attacks — guerrilla marketing also depends heavily on the element of surprise to make the campaign effective. Because many consumers are so used to being bombarded with the usual forms of advertising (print, media, radio), the unexpected ways that are used by guerrilla marketing to make a product, service, or information known leaves a more lasting impression and results in a more memorable experience.

The Blair Witch Project Example

In the given example, the filmmakers (college pals Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick of University of Central Florida Film School) were able to draw considerable public attention by creating a website devoted to the Blair Witch – a wood-based kid-snatching character who has supposedly been terrorizing Maryland for the past century. Received too enthusiastically by those who visited website, the Blair Witch soon turned from a fictitious character into some kind of urban legend. The overall effect? The movie earned a whopping $250 million all over the world. A major feat considering it only cost about $50,000 to make.

This is the kind of reaction that guerrilla marketing is aiming for. Requiring creativity and imagination that targets customers in ways that no one can predict, guerrilla marketing attempts to create unforgettable impact and elicit observable reactions that will logically lead to the intended course of action, in this case — watching the film.

Characteristics of Guerrilla Marketing

Aside from being far less costly than traditional advertising strategies, a guerrilla marketing campaign generally exhibits the following characteristics:

• It is interactive and stimulating so you can’t help but react.
• It catches you off-guard because it is there when and where you least expect it.
• There is an outrageous, shocking and mischievous element to it, yet when its true intention becomes obvious, there is hardly any feeling of negativity.
• It can turn routine or everyday experience from ordinary to extraordinary.
• It has the tendency to become viral.
• It generates a buzz, creates a hype, and people actually talk about it.

Practical Taxes Can Help…

… with your taxes. While we do love to see businesses succeed, and we can offer some marketing advice, we tend to stick with what we know. And we know taxes, finances, and business. If you are a small business owner, and you have seen a sudden surge in success due to your guerrilla marketing techniques, that’s awesome! We can help you manage the tax implications of your success. Of course if you need help with your tax return, and you are looking for the largest tax refund possible, we can help with that too.

Practical Taxes has recently moved! We are now your Billings, Montana accountant located at 2201 Grand Ave.