Guerrilla marketing is all about creativity, resourcefulness, and making a big impact with limited resources. Instead of relying on expensive ads or large-scale campaigns, it focuses on “doing more with less” by using unconventional methods to grab attention and engage your audience. This can include ambient marketing (placing unexpected messages in everyday spaces), experiential marketing (creating memorable experiences that people participate in), street marketing (posting attention-grabbing visuals in public areas), viral campaigns (content designed to be shared widely online), event marketing (leveraging local events to showcase your business), and stealth marketing (subtly promoting your brand without a direct sales pitch).

For example, a small coffee shop might use sidewalk chalk art to lead passersby to its entrance (ambient marketing), or create a fun pop-up tasting event in a local park (experiential/event marketing). A fitness studio could create short, shareable workout videos online that encourage viewers to tag friends (viral marketing).

Click here to see a more detailed guide on guerrilla marketing, including real-life examples and strategies for each category, so you can apply them to your business and maximize impact without breaking the bank.

Video: Guerrilla Thinking

Video: How to Approach Guerrilla Marketing

Some General Categories or Forms of Guerrilla Marketing

By Michael H. Morris, Ph.D.  

 Bartering:   Trading out goods or services for a marketing resource.  Example: printing company gives free services to radio station in exchange for on-air promotions.

Co-marketing and reciprocity:  Different companies directly helping one another.  Example: two marketers mention one another in their advertising

Sharing:   Different companies going in together to acquire a resource that one could not afford and then share it. Example: two companies share a salesperson.

Using opinion leaders:  Placing products with opinion leaders and incentivizing them to use the products in public contexts.  Example: fashion clothing company has popular high school students wear their clothing at school.

Taking advantage of surroundings:  Turning things surrounding around the business into resources.  Example: pizza restaurant uses homeless people to market its pizza.

Finding underutilized resources you don’t own:  Placing promotional messages in public venues where they do not typically appear. Example: advertising on floors, bathroom stalls or in elevator doors as they close.

Making use of underutilized resources you do own:  Examining assets or things you own or control that are not being fully utilized. Example: car rental agency at an un-busy time uses the cars and employees to deliver donuts to car repair shops to generate referrals; plumber paints toilet on side door of his truck so he looks like he is sitting on it when driving.

Stealth/Disguising agents:  Having people pretend to not work for you and have them effectively endorse your product. Example:  maker of cameras has employees pretend to be tourists asking other tourists to take pictures of them using the company’s product.

Placing products:  Having products featured in movies, songs, video games or at events. Example: Harley Davidson offers motorcycles at no cost to the organizers of the Super Bowl halftime show.

Creating news:   Doing something newsworthy and getting media coverage.  Example:  local computer store offers free training courses to disadvantaged or at-risk individuals from the inner city and gets local newspaper to publish story on the program.

Creating buzz by being provocative:  Engaging in an activity in your business that is highly provocative and gets people talking. Example:  Honest Tea runs “The most honest city in America” campaign and sets up unmanned displays with bottles of their tea in city centers to see who pays versus just takes one; or a jewelry store will give back 75% of the price of any diamonds purchased during the Christmas season if there is a white Christmas.

Leveraging networks:  By belonging to various groups or organizations, the entrepreneur is able to effectively promote his/her business. Example:  membership or sponsorship by an entrepreneur of an organization that supports stopping spousal abuse, which results in other members/supporters using the entrepreneur’s services.

Co-creating:  Using customers to help produce products or services. Example: You Tube does not create the content that is the essence of its value proposition; Vespa has a contest where customers create videos about why they love their Vespa.

Here are some Guerrilla Marketing Ideas applicable for any business.

🧠 Exercise: Coming up with a Guerrilla Approach for Mateo - Bike business

You are the # 1 representative of your company. You are the face of the business. Unfortunately, many of the entrepreneurs in our program are hesitant to be too pushy when it comes to their businesses. Some tell us they are introverted, or shy, and prefer to be humble. Yet, it is possible to be humble while also spreading the word—letting people know that you exist and what you can do for them. Especially when you have little money to spend on marketing, success requires that you proactively represent your business and serve as its spokesperson.

Everywhere you go, you are a visible agent of your business. So be prepared. Always have business cards with you. Wear clothing that has your business name on it. Write your business name on nametags. When you get into an elevator, or find yourself talking to people at a coffee shop, or interact with people while waiting in line, make a point to talk about your business. Make it a two-way conversation, but find ways to mention what you do and convey why you love doing it. It is a good idea to have short stories you can talk about things you have done for customers.

A key tool for spreading the word is for you to get involved in community organizations and clubs. You should attend their meetings, participate in their events, and support their causes. A beginning point would be organizations such as the following:

- Chambers of Commerce (including the Black or Hispanic Chambers of Commerce)

- Local chapters of service organizations like Rotary International, the Lions Club, or Kiwanis International

- Local chapters of the Entrepreneurs Organization, the Young Presidents’ Organization, the women’s business owner associations, or other groups focused on local entrepreneurs

- Other professional associations, such as local chapters of 100 Black Men or 100 Black Women, the American Marketing Association, the Building Owners and Managers Association, the Society for Human Resource Management

In addition, getting involved in local organizations that support causes you care about can be helpful. Whether the cause is animal welfare, breast cancer awareness, the environment, homelessness, the arts, or any of many other possibilities, your engagement in these organizations can make connections with people who share your passion for a cause or issue. If they know you are a business owner, they may be more likely to do business with you, or spread good word of mouth about you.

Another means of making connections involves attending public events (e.g., a Martin Luther King Day breakfast). In many cities, there are a growing number of events and activities around entrepreneurship. These can include a local speaker series, events where the ventures of entrepreneurs are being showcased, business pitch competitions, social networking events for entrepreneurs, and pop-up events for local small businesses, among others.

If you are struggling to find organizations and events to attend, check out Facebook. You can search under the EVENTS tab (be sure it is set to your local area). Most neighborhoods and communities have Facebook pages and groups where organizations post events and other information. Other helpful sites include AllEvents (https://allevents.in/), Meetup (https:// www.meetup.com/) and Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/). You can also search for groups that might be worth joining on Facebook (tap the top right, then Groups, then Discover). Separate from looking online, you can ask other entrepreneurs to identify organizations that they find useful for making connections. Your customers might also have ideas for organizations and events where you might want to be visible.

Being involved in these organizations is a way to let people know you are part of the fabric of the community. Of course, it matters that you show up regularly and get engaged. As a supporter of local organizations and causes, and as a participant in their meetings and activities, you are giving them more reasons to support the success of your business.

Commercials, billboards, and magazine ads may not be in the budget. That’s okay—but you still need to be aggressive with your marketing, especially at the beginning. There are plenty of inexpensive, outside-the-box ways to spread the word about your business, especially when just starting out. This creative way to promote your business is known as guerilla marketing. As opposed to conventional advertising, guerrilla marketing means marketing that is unconventional, non-traditional, unexpected, creative, low cost, not by-the-book, and extremely flexible. As a small business owner, finding inexpensive ways to advertise your business is crucial.

It is the nature of guerilla marketing to find solutions that are unique. Think critically about the type of business you own, the area the business resides in and the audience that your business reaches or intends to reach. What are some everyday things you can do or be a part of to grab the attention of customers. Here are some ideas. However, we invite you to use your creativity. The sky is the limit!

Bartering: Trading out goods or services for a marketing resource. Example: printing company gives free services to radio station in exchange for on-air promotions.

Co-marketing and reciprocity: Different companies directly helping one another. Example: two marketers mention one another in their advertising

Sharing: Different companies going in together to acquire a resource that one could not afford and then share it. Example: two companies share a salesperson.

Using opinion leaders: Placing products with opinion leaders and incentivizing them to use the products in public contexts. Example: fashion clothing company has popular high school students wear their clothing at school.

Taking advantage of surroundings: Turning things surrounding the business into resources. Example: pizza restaurant uses homeless people to market its pizza.

Finding underutilized resources you don’t own: Placing promotional messages in public venues where they do not typically appear. Example: advertising on floors, bathroom stalls or in elevator doors as they close.

Making use of underutilized resources you do own: Examining assets or things you own or control that are not being fully utilized. Example: car rental agency at an un-busy time uses the cars and employees to deliver donuts to car repair shops to generate referrals; plumber paints toilet on side door of his truck so he looks like he is sitting on it when driving.

Stealth/Disguising agents: Having people pretend to not work for you and have them effectively endorse your product. Example: maker of cameras has employees pretend to be tourists asking other tourists to take pictures of them using the company’s product.

Placing products: Having products featured in movies, songs, video games or at events. Example: Harley Davidson offers motorcycles at no cost to the organizers of the Super Bowl halftime show.

Creating news: Doing something newsworthy and getting media coverage. Example: local computer store offers free training courses to disadvantaged or at-risk individuals from the inner city and gets local newspaper to publish story on the program.

Creating buzz by being provocative: Engaging in an activity in your business that is highly provocative and gets people talking. Example: Honest Tea runs “The most honest city in America” campaign and sets up unmanned displays with bottles of their tea in city centers to see who pays versus just takes one; or a jewelry store will give back 75% of the price of any diamonds purchased during the Christmas season if there is a white Christmas. Leveraging networks: By belonging to various groups or organizations, the entrepreneur is able to effectively promote his/her business. Example: membership or sponsorship by an entrepreneur of an organization that supports stopping spousal abuse, which results in other members/supporters using the entrepreneur’s services.

Co-creating: Using customers to help produce products or services. Example: YouTube does not create the content that is the essence of its value proposition; Vespa has a contest where customers create videos about why they love their Vespa.

The key is to use resources creativity and see things as resources that others do not. Consider an example. A new restaurant has a fun, festive party with free drinks and free food at their location. But they only invite all the local hairdressers to the party. They then get six months of promotional support from these hairdressers, who mention the restaurant when they talk to their clients—something that is more effective than spending thousands on conventional advertising. As another example, a car rental company offers a service to pick up and drop off the people renting cars from them. The entrepreneur realizes that a number of people that might need a rental car (and to be picked) are people taking their cars to auto repair shops. So, they start a campaign to take free donuts and (and some business cards) to 30 auto repair shops on the first Monday of the month. The auto repair shops start referring lots of customers to the car rental business.

A good approach is to continually ask yourself three questions:

• What internal resources do we have that we are not fully utilizing? (Are we making full use of our website, packaging, vehicles, sales and service people, or any other assets under our control?)

• How well are we leveraging relationships with people or companies in our network? (Look at relationships with suppliers, vendors, producers of related products, financiers, distributors, customers)

• What untapped or underutilized resources exist in the community or marketplace? (Kids who are opinion leaders, houses on prominent corners, walls in restrooms, table tops, car bumpers, abandoned buildings, school kitchens during summer, stay at home moms or dads)