Guerilla Marketing and the Key Tactics to New Business Marketing and Advertising

No matter what type of business you own, you are constantly trying to find the best ways to get your name out there and promote your product. In today’s competitive marketing world, unless you can drop a million dollars on a 30 second commercial, you need to be more creative and devise your own cheaper methods of product promotion. Guerilla Marketing is just one of the newer unconventional tactics used in marketing today. Most sources define Guerrilla marketing as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing tactics are rare and unconventional by targeting consumers in the most unexpected locations and circumstances.

The main objective in any type of marketing plan is to get your product and name in front of as many potential customers as possible. In the past the thought process was to spend the majority of your marketing budget on television and radio commercials, print, or billboard advertisement. However nowadays in a world that fast forwards through commercials or constantly checks caller ID to avoid telemarketers, tactics such as guerilla marketing need to be implemented in any successful marketing plan. Here are just some examples of guerilla marketing tactics that may useful to any business looking to gain attention without breaking their budget:

1. Planting Your Business Card: People love to browse through magazines so why not stick your business card in any magazine that is related to your customer base. In other words, my company sells car parts, therefore putting my business card in any type of car magazine assures me that anyone who opens that magazine and sees my card fall out is a potential customer. Besides book or magazine stores, planting your business card in unique spots such as restaurant menus, bus windows, park benches, or anywhere your card can attract someone who is seated for a long period of time is a great place to start.

2. Tissue Pack Marketing: purchasing small tissue packets with your logo or product on them is a fool proof way to have people hold on to or keep your information because it is useful to them. Every time they pull out another tissue they are reminded of your product, not too mention every time they give a tissue to someone else it creates a buzz and spreads the word.

3. Utilizing Magnets: Even the most satisfied customer will forget who you are unless you can somehow constantly remind them of your service. Therefore giving away business card size magnets with every order will allow a satisfied customer to stick your information on their fridge or desk as a reminder to use you again. It is very minimal in cost, but also very effective! While you’re at it to take guerilla marketing even further keep a stack of magnets with you at all times and stick them on any metallic areas that would draw a good customer base……nothing illegal of course!

4. T-shirt Marketing: Get a T-shirt made with your website’s logo or website on it. Give away these t-shirts to deserving customers, not only will you have a happy thankful customer, but now you just created your own walking billboard.

5. Bumper Stickers: Stickers are always great because they can go anywhere, not just on your car. Bathroom stalls, benches, signs, street poles, etc… Get creative with where you place them. Areas where people will be situated for long amounts of time are a great place to start!

6. Blanketing the Web: Marketing is all about reaching and contacting as many people as possible, therefore joining any and all social networking sites can get you in front of thousands of people in a very short time. Sites such as Facebook,MySpace, or any social blogs are key networking sites where the snowball effect can result in your customer audience expanding on a daily basis. The key to social networking is constant contact as well as constant content. Stay in touch with your customers, and never stop adding content.

There is no limit to the unconventional tactics of guerilla marketing, and almost any idea is worth looking into. People love creativity when being pitched a product, and the marketing ideas that seem to create the most buzz are not from old school conventional marketing but out of the box pitch techniques. It is a fast pace world where people no longer find the time to sit through commercials or look through newspaper ads. You need to use new and creative tactics without breaking your marketing bank in order to turn your small business into a large player!