Top Five Guerrilla Marketing Tactics Of 2013

Guerrilla marketing isn’t something new. It has been used pretty extensively in marketing history and it can be very effective to keep your brand in the public eye.

These days, it’s getting harder to get your name out there. With ads on every web page and on every YouTube video, consumers are getting fed up.

However, there are always marketing techniques that can generate buzz for your brand or your clients.

Let’s take a look at some of the best guerilla-marketing tactics of 2013.

Get People Talking About Your Brand With Impromptu Public Events

Word-of-mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools out there, but the problem is getting people to talk about your brand.

With ads all over the place, traditional marketing is easily ignored these days, so you’ve got to think outside of the box.

Coca-Cola has used this sort of marketing to great effect over the past two years or so. Does anyone remember the vending machine that kept on giving out free bottles of coke? How about the ATM in Spain that gave out €100 so long as it was shared with others?

These weren’t planned or scheduled events, and the people that ended up on TV or on YouTube were not actors. Instead, these were impromptu events that gave members of the public a nice surprise.

This feeling of genuine surprise and appreciation got people talking about Coca-Cola and started up the word-of-mouth machine once more. Any brand can pull off something like this, even if your brand is a digital product.

It’s not so much what you’re selling, but more about how you make people feel about it. Pull off a surprise in public that leaves people with a smile on their faces, and you’re guaranteed to improve your exposure.

Become a Little Controversial on Social Media

We all know the power of social media, but it’s one of those things in which you’ve either got it or you don’t. T-Mobile USA has certainly found their mojo and their CEO, John Legere, is one of the most popular CEOs on Twitter.

It’s not because T-Mobile is the best wireless network in the U.S. but more because he has people talking about T-Mobile all the time.

Legere has a reputation for being a little too honest at announcements, and online he’s perhaps a little worse.

He has attacked Twitter accounts of AT&T, Verizon and their CEOs, and taunted them with prices and offers that generally make them look bad.

All of this makes T-Mobile stand out to the Internet-savvy, which is arguably its target audience thanks to unlimited data plans.

This just goes to show that while social media is great for exposure, you’ve got to do something a little different to really get your name out there and keep it that way.

Give Something Away for Free

In this age of rising living costs, it’s always nice to get something for nothing. A little freebie can put a smile on our faces and cheer us up on a bad day. You can see where this is going.

If your brand were to give something away for nothing, then your brand is giving out good vibes. Good vibes lead to happy people and happy people could easily become happy shoppers.

Of course, it depends on what your brand or client is in the business of, but there’s a good chance that giving something away is possible.

For instance, one of the latest Batman films was promoted with free cakes. You’re probably thinking, “What does cake have to do with Batman?” The answer is absolutely nothing, but that’s not the point.

The point is that those who got a free cake probably spoke about Batman a number of times throughout the day. That could be your brand these people are talking about.

Become Part of the Community

If you’re embarking on a new campaign, the chances are that you’ve done your research. If this is a national campaign, then you can cherry-pick the best communities to become part of to promote your brand.

For instance, let’s say you’re strictly an online brand. You would want to become part of a community that’s pretty tech-savvy. Once you’ve picked out your community, you can go to work on sponsoring local teams, helping put on local events and more.

This is something of an old-school strategy, but it’s no less effective. In fact, in today’s age of people glued to smartphones, community has a stronger meaning than ever. Sponsoring a local event is one of the best ways to get your name out there and be seen as one of the “good guys.”

Big, multinational companies are often looked upon with distaste because they don’t give anything back. By giving a little back and bringing your marketing down to earth, you’ll gain exposure and hopefully make some money.

Red Bull is a brand that has gotten pretty good at this, sponsoring big events such as their Paper Plane contests that got communities all over the globe talking about the energy drink.

Shock the Public

Getting people to talk about your brand or think about purchasing something is pretty difficult these days. Nothing gets people talking to each other, however, than a good shock to the system.

Shocking someone plants a memory in their head, and if you’re smart with how you do it, you can achieve some pretty powerful exposure.

The 2007 movie “Death Proof” used this tactic to great effect on the streets of Amsterdam. Placing severed arms on streets with DVDs in their hands got people talking.

More than that though, people were sharing it on social media, sending photos to friends and generally giving the marketers a big helping hand. Something like that would be ten times as effective now, with consumer instinct to instantly share something like this.

Controversy is great for exposure, but it can be a double-edged sword and you need to wield it properly. Go too far the wrong way and people will be talking about you for all the wrong reasons.

What About You?
What are the guerrilla marketing tactics or campaigns you really like?

Follow & Share
Want more stories on breaking with the status quo? Browse our category Viral & Social Video, join us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, RSS and get our weekly E-mail Newsletter for updates and free bonus content.

About the Author
Alicia is a content coordinator at an Internet marketing company. In her free time, she writes on her blog MarComLand.com and is furthering her education online.