Lazy Saturday to everyone,
I am a bit out of track these days - caught cold and was working on the last chapter of my dissertation, therefore, did not write much here. But today I was reading this little note I found on some SNS and thought it was interesting thing to write about.
Our discussion, more like my writing, today will concern the so-called 'guerrilla marketing' and its digital dimension. For those who don't know the term refers to quite cheap means of marketing for the businesses who cannot afford very expensive tools, so this is something you can do even if your company has only 2 employees, 1 laptop and plenty of great ideas. The only condition for choosing guerrilla marketing as a main tactic is creativity. In that article I mentioned above 25 examples of the guerrilla techniques for marketing and PR were given. I want to share with you the most interesting ones and give the idea of possible digital application of those techniques.
Picture source: crystalbballforecasting.com
Here we go:
1. Attract attention. One way of marketing as a real guerrilla is to organize a 'fake' meeting near you companies office. Say there will be a group of people holding streamers like 'This business is too amazing', 'this company is too professional', 'their services are too good and effective'. This kind of mass event will certainly gather people's attention and may become a good news hook. On the other hand, this somehow indirect way of promotion and even self irony will work better as more straightforward 'we are the best company - choose us'.
As for the digital implication of such technique one would probably immediately think of viral marketing. Viral content without direct sales flavour have proven its efficiency in a number of campaigns. One of my favourites is viral video about English speaking traffic officer, created by a language school in Ukraine before the UEFA EURO 2012 championship. For those who don't know - check this video. Another example would be Internet memes or the use of hashtags for marketing purposes that help generate awareness of a company or a product.
2. Use business cards. Every business person has business card. That's clear. What isn't so obvious are the creative ways those cards may be used. For instance, guerrilla marketing suggests going to a local library, finding books in the section, relevant for your business and putting hour business cards in those books. In this way, you are only doing good stuff. Say, a person is interested in reading about painting walls. He/ she opens a book and...ha! out of nowhere there is 'Clever wall painters' business card inside of the book. Of course, there is no guarantee the person will use your service, but readers would definitely appreciate a free bookmark you gave them.
The digital analogue of this approach can be made in a few ways. Firstly, you may think of posting stuff about your company in a relevant Internet communities and forums. However, I am not sure as a user whether I would much appreciate this, because those posts don't always have similar value for me as a free bookmark. On the other hand, information about a company on a source like Wikipedia as an example (in a good context) make people aware and increase chances of consideration. If you think of Wikipedia as a book, an article about your company or a mentioning is like a business card in the library. Hey, Wikipedia haters, don't get me started! I know some of you may think of its low authority as information source and unchecked content. As Master's student I am absolutely aware of the criticism and limits, but millions of users and crowds of other students would argue that Wikipedia has great persuasive power, just don't forget about the audience you are going to target.
Other form of digital business card, I guess, would be: a link to your website and social media accounts, reference in the thought leader's blog or industry journal.
3. Comment, read and keep commenting. The last technique would be initially digital, but I would think of real-life alternative in the end. So, don't underestimate the importance on commenting and supporting conversations about your company (product, service). When you comment on information regarding your business (e.g. in other people's blog or website), this gives you better promotional opportunities than writing information yourself - it is less direct and, therefore, less aggressive. Similarly, it is important to always comment and reply on other people's posts and notes in your own blog, website or SNS page.
As I promised to think of a real-life example of the last technique, the one thing I came up with is 'join the conversation'. Have people talking about your business out loud at some event, join their conversation and make other people hear. No, not like scream through loudspeaker, but spread the word in non-obtrusive maner. Like: 'Yeah, I heard that company is great, my sister uses their services all the time'.
I am a bit out of track these days - caught cold and was working on the last chapter of my dissertation, therefore, did not write much here. But today I was reading this little note I found on some SNS and thought it was interesting thing to write about.
Our discussion, more like my writing, today will concern the so-called 'guerrilla marketing' and its digital dimension. For those who don't know the term refers to quite cheap means of marketing for the businesses who cannot afford very expensive tools, so this is something you can do even if your company has only 2 employees, 1 laptop and plenty of great ideas. The only condition for choosing guerrilla marketing as a main tactic is creativity. In that article I mentioned above 25 examples of the guerrilla techniques for marketing and PR were given. I want to share with you the most interesting ones and give the idea of possible digital application of those techniques.
Here we go:
1. Attract attention. One way of marketing as a real guerrilla is to organize a 'fake' meeting near you companies office. Say there will be a group of people holding streamers like 'This business is too amazing', 'this company is too professional', 'their services are too good and effective'. This kind of mass event will certainly gather people's attention and may become a good news hook. On the other hand, this somehow indirect way of promotion and even self irony will work better as more straightforward 'we are the best company - choose us'.
As for the digital implication of such technique one would probably immediately think of viral marketing. Viral content without direct sales flavour have proven its efficiency in a number of campaigns. One of my favourites is viral video about English speaking traffic officer, created by a language school in Ukraine before the UEFA EURO 2012 championship. For those who don't know - check this video. Another example would be Internet memes or the use of hashtags for marketing purposes that help generate awareness of a company or a product.
2. Use business cards. Every business person has business card. That's clear. What isn't so obvious are the creative ways those cards may be used. For instance, guerrilla marketing suggests going to a local library, finding books in the section, relevant for your business and putting hour business cards in those books. In this way, you are only doing good stuff. Say, a person is interested in reading about painting walls. He/ she opens a book and...ha! out of nowhere there is 'Clever wall painters' business card inside of the book. Of course, there is no guarantee the person will use your service, but readers would definitely appreciate a free bookmark you gave them.
The digital analogue of this approach can be made in a few ways. Firstly, you may think of posting stuff about your company in a relevant Internet communities and forums. However, I am not sure as a user whether I would much appreciate this, because those posts don't always have similar value for me as a free bookmark. On the other hand, information about a company on a source like Wikipedia as an example (in a good context) make people aware and increase chances of consideration. If you think of Wikipedia as a book, an article about your company or a mentioning is like a business card in the library. Hey, Wikipedia haters, don't get me started! I know some of you may think of its low authority as information source and unchecked content. As Master's student I am absolutely aware of the criticism and limits, but millions of users and crowds of other students would argue that Wikipedia has great persuasive power, just don't forget about the audience you are going to target.
Other form of digital business card, I guess, would be: a link to your website and social media accounts, reference in the thought leader's blog or industry journal.
3. Comment, read and keep commenting. The last technique would be initially digital, but I would think of real-life alternative in the end. So, don't underestimate the importance on commenting and supporting conversations about your company (product, service). When you comment on information regarding your business (e.g. in other people's blog or website), this gives you better promotional opportunities than writing information yourself - it is less direct and, therefore, less aggressive. Similarly, it is important to always comment and reply on other people's posts and notes in your own blog, website or SNS page.
As I promised to think of a real-life example of the last technique, the one thing I came up with is 'join the conversation'. Have people talking about your business out loud at some event, join their conversation and make other people hear. No, not like scream through loudspeaker, but spread the word in non-obtrusive maner. Like: 'Yeah, I heard that company is great, my sister uses their services all the time'.
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