Guerrilla marketing seems highly effective as a marketing strategy, but is it worth pursuing?
In the past decade or so, guerrilla marketing tactics have become more commonplace. The basic idea is straightforward; make use of low-cost, yet highly innovative or unexpected tactics to increase your brand visibility and (hopefully) attract more customers to your business.
There are a few main advantages to this approach, which has made it wildly popular. For starters, it focuses on the element of surprise, and surprise is often successful in generating buzz and improving memorability. Guerrilla marketing also usually has some viral component, tying it into social media, which makes it extremely useful in today’s digital, socially connected society. The fact that these tactics are usually inexpensive, relying on simple public gimmicks, is icing on the cake.
But there are also some major downsides to guerrilla marketing:
- True effectiveness. How effective is guerrilla marketing, really? You might have heard about the video that went viral, but did you actually go to that brand for your next purchase? Guerrilla marketers often have difficulty distinguishing between buzz and bottom-line results, which puts this strategy in nebulous territory.
- Dependence on originality. To be a successful guerrilla marketer, you need to have a truly original idea. If you attempt a stunt that’s derivative of another stunt, you’ll be seen as unoriginal and quickly forgotten. It takes time, creativity, and quite a lot of luck to brainstorm something truly groundbreaking, which often makes the strategy unviable.
- Inconsistency. If you pull off one successful marketing stunt, could you really pull off another? Even for the most talented guerrilla marketers, consistency is a real problem. It’s a gimmicky strategy, and an unpredictable one.
- Short-term results. Finally, guerrilla marketing tends to focus on short-term results. Long-term oriented strategies, like SEO and content marketing, tend to yield a much higher ROI over the course of months and years.
If you’re interested in a more consistent, more reliable, long-term marketing campaign, reach out to Quez Media today! We’ll provide you with a free consultation covering strategies like content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).
