There are many ways to market your products or company. You can use newspapers, social media, bus stops or public transport. But what if you abused this power and made your ads appear everywhere? This is called Guerrilla Marketing. The term guerrilla marketing was first used by an academic marketing expert named Conrad Levinson in 1984. A good definition of this type of marketing is the use of unconventional marketing tactics designed to gain maximum exposure, attention and results with minimal use of resources. In this article I'll talk about why it works, why it doesn't, and how it relates to consumer marketing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There are many ways to use guerrilla marketing. Some older methods would be things like stickers and badges, tree posters, and sidewalk chalk. A good example of sidewalk chalk is what they did in Broward County Florida. They are allowing the company to use stencils in areas where thousands of people pass through every day to display their advertisements such as parking lots, elevators, garage paths, building entrances and exits, and sidewalks. In this way, people traveling on trains will see these advertisements every day and will always have the image of the design and the company in their heads. In today's world you see more of these tactics on the Internet. A good example is the pop-ups you see on the Internet. The advertisements you see on your screen when you click on something are perfect examples of guerrilla marketing. They stick the ad right in your face and you see it over and over again. When you see these ads, they are very short ads. In fact, sometimes they don't say what the product does, but advertise the product's ideal results. For example, if a company is trying to advertise a car, they aren't just showing off the car. They are selling the lifestyle that comes with owning one of their cars as if once you buy this car your entire lifestyle changes. The same as for diets or training for performance improvement. They are not trying to sell the workouts, they are showing you pictures of the end results and results that you want to buy from their product. They're selling, buying, selling you the emotional aspect of it. There are a few reasons why this marketing style works, one being the surprise aspect. The feeling of "wow!" seeing what you were looking for, regardless of brand, at a lower price might catch someone's attention. The way they briefly describe the product and give you that feeling, regardless of the brand, can convince a customer to buy a product. Another aspect of an ad is humor. Humor plays an important role in ad creativity. Seeing a funny quote on an ad might catch a potential customer's attention. Providing an ad with a catchy quote could make the consumer feel good and give a positive feeling towards the product and gives them a higher chance of purchasing the product. With humor and the element of surprise added to the ad, emotional connections to the product are introduced. aD The movement of the ad is what sells it. Research shows that ads that contain a good message are more likely to sell than ads that convey a negative vibe. When you put all these aspects together you might see the results of more people buying your product because of the way it makes them feel. Guerilla marketing isn't just for womenlarge companies, but also for small businesses. The good thing about this tactic is that you don't have to spend a fortune to do it. Small businesses will no longer have to spend money on television programs or highway billboards. As much as they can help your business grow, they can start to cost a lot of money. These tactics could be things like a free sample where you can meet with a customer one on one and have them try your product. If you've never had that person offer you free samples, that customer may never have known your product existed and will actually enjoy your product and start buying it. This also gives small companies the ability to merge with larger companies as well. Additionally, small companies steal many of the same ideas as large companies, so this helps them merge with larger companies as people see this chaos of pop-up ads on their computers. A good example of a small company that becomes big through guerrilla marketing is Red Bull. In a world where Pepsi and Coca-Cola dominated the industry, Red Bull managed to rise to the top. What they did was start sponsoring small sporting events. Extreme sports like team driving. These sporting events would be broadcast by small networks. They also gave out free red bulls and what they got in return was airtime they could never have afforded before. When people started talking about Red Bull, they were able to sponsor larger events like surfing, skateboarding, and other extreme sports. Now, Red Bull dominates its market and is a very large company. This is a perfect example of a company using guerrilla marketing while getting more visibility and using less money. Word of mouth is another tool of guerrilla marketing. Word of mouth is an old tactic between two people where the consumer trusts what the person is telling them and encourages them to buy the product. Like a third party. It works the same way in guerrilla marketing. For example, a person sees an ad that attracts him. They found the ad useful, entertaining, or advertises a product they've never seen but are interested in or perhaps purchased. Then that person tells another person about the addition and they look it up and it continues. For it to work you need to have some credibility. This means you tell a customer something and they believe it to be true, so they trust your judgment, buy your product, and tell other people about the product. If people say that what they sell has some truth, then there is positive feedback and people are more likely to buy your product. If you go around saying things that aren't true about your product, word will spread and no one will buy your product because it doesn't do what it's advertised to do and you will lose credibility in your company and it's very difficult to get it back. There are some guerrilla style techniques that may not work. For example, the Cartoon network had an advertisement for a television show on their network. They set off flashing lights in the city of Boston. But what they didn't realize is that in Boston this indicates a bomb threat and forces them to close roads and other forms of transportation around the city. This is an example of bad publicity. It cost the network millions of dollars in fines. Another good thing about this approach to advertising is that it is very flexible. Since these are sweet and simple ads, it is very easy to adapt them. Due to some things that might happen to a company over the course of a year, things might happen like a new look for a company or advertising of a new product. This makes editing easier..