If you walk down the streets of downtown Chicago, New York City, or Los Angeles there are probably hundreds of guerrilla marketing tactics companies are using to catch your attention that you sometimes do not realize. Guerrilla marketing is the unconventional form of marketing a product, or service with little costs that produce maximum results. Guerrilla marketing tactics include posting pictures with a message that gets peoples attention or a video produced on YouTube with a small budget that garners millions of views.

No longer do you have to spend a fortune on advertising you can put together a low-campaign budget and capture the attention of millions if done correctly and with a plan.

The purpose of guerrilla marketing tactics

Guerrilla marketing was developed to break from traditional advertising done by companies on television and radio. People were getting tired of having companies advertise them on what to buy. Guerrilla marketing uses unconventional purposes to get the personal attention. When you take the consumer by surprise, leave a great impression, and create lots of buzz about your product you can call it a successful marketing campaign. The goal is to use as little money as possible and harness a lot of attention. Not all guerrilla marketing tactics will be successful, and your start-up needs to assure that the guerrilla-marketing tactic does not harm anyone, offend a group, or cause damage to the company name.

Deploying an effective marketing campaign

To start a guerrilla marketing campaign ask yourself, “what is the purpose?” Is the goal to get peoples attention to the name of the business, make a memorable moment, create a media buzz or all three? Establishing a purpose will help get the process started. Once you established the goal it’s time to get the process started.

Let your imagination run wild and have fun with your campaign. Have you watched the Dollar Shave Club 2015 YouTube video? The video is less than two minutes and has over 24 million views. The video left an impression and produced maximum results.

Get together with your start-up and write out a video that you think would be memorable and funny. You do not need to be Steven Spielberg or spend millions on production costs. What you need is a memorable video that will get peoples attention. A few years ago I created a video for a conference I hosted with one camera, two guys, and imagination run wild. The video helped create buzz about the conference, and I got over 50% of the registered attendees to show up.

Spreading the word through social media

Harness your social media accounts and of your teams to promote at every opportunity. Be your product without having to tell people to buy your product. If you watch celebrities and athletes, they promote at every opportunity without saying much about the product. For example, Kobe Bryant draped in a Body Armor sports drink towel on his final game speech. Ice Cube wearing the Big 3 shirt at his television appearances to promote his Big 3 league. And Lavar Ball, the father of Lonzo Ball, wears Big Baller Brand every time you see him on social media or television appearances. If you and your team have a high number of dedicated social media followers use it to promote your business but with the purpose of leaving an impression. The last thing people want to be told what to buy. You have to get people to fall in love with your product and make them part of the product.

Guerrilla marketing, the unconventional way of getting peoples attention of your product is a smart thing to do if done right. Do not get caught up in the need to get people to purchase your product. When you tell a story and get people to be part of the product you already have them sold. Be creative, funny, and let your imagination run wild.