Author’s Note: Quick Bites is a series of write-ups on various marketing concepts. I decided to come up with this series to help people understand these concepts better through a few easy to read posts. Any comments or suggestions for the next topic are welcome. Cheers!
‘Attention’
That is what the all of the brands crave for. Aspire for.
Guerrilla marketing refers to the use of unconventional marketing techniques that help the brands make a big, lasting impact. This marketing strategy involves the use of high-energy, creative use of the surroundings and imagination to engage and make a memorable impact.
Guerrilla marketing is mostly performed in public spaces example streets, shopping centres. Its aim is to take the customers by surprise and create a buzz around the brand or the product. This style of marketing is very effective for small businesses which are competing against large, established brands, as it is inexpensive and the focus is on reach rather than frequency. Many established brands also use this to maintain their consumers' mind share or promote their new launched products.
Guerrilla marketing can be further divided into:
1. Ambient Marketing
This type of advertising is done at places that where you usually wouldn’t expect an advertisement. This helps to take the audience by surprise and helps to create the wow-effect. Some examples of brands resorting to ambient advertising are:
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="399"]
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McDonald's promoting its fries'[/caption]
2. Ambush marketing
In these the advertiser ambushes the brand or an upcoming event to compete for exposure from other advertisers. It is used to ride-off the prominence of a major event or some other brand to gain attention and exposure.
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'Pepsi trying to ride on the popularity of the world cup' [/caption]
3. Stealth/Buzz Marketing
Stealth marketing, also known as buzz marketing, is any marketing strategy that advertises a product to people without them knowing they are being marketed to. The main purpose to create interest and excitement and not sales. This will make consumers more receptive to direct advertising later.
Product placement features a product outside of the context of an advertisement, usually as a part of some form of mass media or entertainment.
4. Viral Marketing
Viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services to increase brand awareness or sales.
The ultimate goal is in creating successful viral marketing programs that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being spread in a short period of time.
You can also check-out the other 'Quick Bites' write-ups through the following links:
1. Understanding Brand Equity
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About the Author:
Priyanka is a second-year MBA student at Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and is a member of InsideIIM’s second student team. She is also a part of PRiSM, The Marketing Cell at IIM Lucknow.