Guerrilla Marketing on the Internet

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Experts from the reputation agency Topface Media tell us about the opportunities of guerrilla marketing on the Internet, its advantages and how to organize such an advertising campaign on social networks .
The term "guerrilla marketing" was coined by American writer and advertiser Jay Levinson , whose book of the same name about low-budget promotion techniques was published in 1984. The trend for guerrilla advertising as a marketing method intensified in the early 2000s: it was then actively used by various brands offline in the most unusual forms.

Example of guerrilla advertising
Example of guerrilla brand advertising ( source )

Nowadays, guerrilla strategies have moved online and become part of digital marketing, including for large companies: they are used to increase brand awareness online and to compete.
Guerrilla Marketing - What is it?
Guerrilla marketing is based on social media marketing service an unconventional, innovative approach to advertising a product, service or brand. Such advertising campaigns are especially creative and often balance on the edge of ethics. They are aimed at creating excitement, entertaining the audience and can be built on provocation, speculation on hot topics (newsjacking) and the effect of surprise.

According to Jay Levinson, guerrilla marketers do not rely on guesswork and assumptions, but work with the immutable laws of human behavior, thereby reducing the likelihood of failure when using risky promotion tactics.
Pros and Cons of Guerrilla Marketing
The advantages of guerrilla strategy include:
The ability to launch a campaign with minimal investment or even for free
Efficiency and results do not directly depend on advertising costs. This makes guerrilla marketing accessible to small businesses and startups that do not have a marketing budget but want to get a chance to win in the competitive struggle.
Saving on distribution methods
Guerrilla campaigns are designed to go viral. Effective content in guerrilla marketing on social media can take the form of attention-grabbing videos, photos, memes that users willingly share with each other. Guerrilla advertising is distributed through earned media - in online discussions of the company, opinions, reviews of the brand by customers, bloggers and influencers.
Flexibility and creativity
Guerrilla advertising allows you to be creative and stand out by using original ideas to develop your brand. Due to the variety of forms and the absence of any restrictions, it is easier to adapt to a wide audience and a specific segment of customers.
Insights
Guerrilla tactics in social media promotion can be bold and controversial. But any opinions the audience has in response to advertising messages are valuable material for analysis and the search for hidden pains and desires of customers.



On the topic: Search for insights and trends: how social listening and social prediction technologies help brands
Partnerships
Placing advertisements in public places, at festivals or on popular online platforms attracts the attention of not only consumers, but also potential partners.
The downsides of guerrilla promotion strategies are the risks that arise when a brand uses content that is too controversial and crosses the line of social tolerance. In this case, it may:

Losing stakeholder trust, investment and lucrative partnerships – no one wants to invest in a company that uses unreliable strategies.
Lose some loyal users who are not close to the company's position expressed in advertising or who are not pleased with overly radical meanings or forms of content presentation.