Many businesses assume they must rely on expensive mass-media marketing campaigns to build customer awareness and generate sales. However, this assumption doesn’t bode well for small businesses with limited resources.
Bestselling author and marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson argues that, with the right marketing strategy, even the smallest of businesses can make a significant impact. In Guerrilla Marketing, he provides timeless advice for creating a profitable marketing strategy that any business can use to establish its place in the market.
This guide explains what guerrilla marketing is and distills Levinson’s advice for creating a profitable marketing strategy into a five-step process:
According to Levinson, guerrilla marketers don’t let limited resources prevent them from making a big impact with their marketing. Unlike traditional marketers, they don’t assume that the only way to build brand awareness and generate sales is to rely on expensive mass-market approaches.
Instead, guerrilla marketers focus their marketing efforts on reaching customers that already want what they have to offer. They then plan inexpensive ways to appeal to and create positive interactions with these specific customers—for example, by offering free samples and discounts to build customer confidence, getting involved in community and charitable events to improve customer perception, or providing an excellent after-sales service to promote customer loyalty.
We’ll explore how to find customers that already want what you’re offering and ideas for creating positive customer interactions throughout Levinson’s five-step process.
An Overview of Modern Guerrilla Marketing Techniques
The definition of guerrilla marketing has evolved quite dramatically since Levinson originally coined the term in 1984. While present-day guerrilla marketers continue to follow the advice to create positive customer interactions, the techniques they use to achieve this bear little resemblance to those Levinson details in the book.
Rather, modern guerrilla marketers come up with increasingly unique and imaginative ways to grab attention and delight audiences. We’ll therefore provide an overview of these modern guerrilla marketing techniques to help you come up with your own ideas.
Street marketing: Outdoor methods that bring street elements into play. For example, McDonald’s created the MacFries pedestrian crossing to lure customers during Zurichfest.
Ambient marketing: Methods that promote products and services in unusual places to disrupt customer perception. For example, BIC placed a giant razor at the foot of a strip of mowed lawn to demonstrate how sharp their razors are.
Ambush marketing: Methods that attempt to take advantage of free publicity by imposing on events sponsored by other businesses. For example, Stella Artois placed ads around transport links for the 2011 US Open to imply that it was the official sponsor. It wasn’t—Heineken was, but event-goers didn’t realize that.
Experiential marketing: Methods that create immersive experiences to help people relate to a brand. For example, Tyskie Beer placed decals around door handles in restaurants, pubs, and shops to make people feel like they were holding a beer mug each time they opened a door.
Stealth marketing: Methods that attempt to influence people without them realizing that they’re being targeted. The most popular type involves product placement in movies—for example, in Castaway, the protagonist survives a plane crash only to be left stranded on a desert island surrounded by FedEx parcels.
To create a profitable marketing strategy, you first need to define your target market. Levinson argues that many businesses waste time and resources trying to get attention from customers who have no interest in what they have to offer. Knowing specifically who you’re selling to helps focus your marketing efforts on interested customers—thus contributing to increased sales and profits.
He suggests answering two questions to define your target market:
(Shortform note: Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur (Business Model Generation) suggest an alternative approach to defining your target market: Define the customers you intend to target before you develop your product or service. This way, instead of developing something and hoping you’ll find interested customers, you can design your offer around customers with specific needs and simultaneously develop your marketing and sales strategies to effectively target them.)
Once you’ve defined your target market, conduct market research to understand this customer group’s specific interests and priorities. According to Levinson, the more you understand your target market, the easier you’ll find it to appeal to these customers and influence their purchasing decisions.
Levinson suggests that you should find out as much as possible about your target market, including:
(Shortform note: While Levinson suggests that specific product or service benefits motivate people to buy things, other marketing experts argue that deeper psychological issues motivate all purchasing decisions. According to Josh Kaufman (The Personal MBA), people make purchases in an attempt to fulfill five basic needs: to feel good about themselves, to connect with others, to grow and learn, to feel safe, and to avoid effort. Therefore, considering which one of these five motivations your product or service fulfills will help you appeal to your target market’s innate needs.)
(Shortform note: Business experts expand on this idea by explaining that you should specifically seek out your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Use this information to refine your product or service until it matches or outperforms what’s currently on the market. For example, if you notice that your competitor is slow to ship products, plan ways to strengthen your distribution network so that you can provide a more efficient service.)
(Shortform note: In addition to finding out where to reach your target audience, you should also find out when to reach them. According to management experts, even if people are interested in your offer, they’ll only pay attention to your content when it suits them. They suggest that you can find out your target market’s preferences by tracking, collecting, and integrating data—such as demographic, psychographic, or clickstream—about potential customers and the circumstances in which they make purchases of similar products and services.)
Many businesses spend vast amounts researching ways to reach and appeal to their target market. Levinson claims that, while paid research does provide useful data, there are cheaper ways to find the information required to understand your target market.
In the meantime, he suggests three low-cost methods to research your target market:
However, one drawback of relying on these low-cost methods is that they take more time. Therefore, Levinson suggests that you switch to paid research methods once your budget accommodates them.
Advice on Researching Your Target Market and Competitors
Marketing experts expand on Levinson’s list with in-depth advice to help you research your target market and competitors.
Implement two strategies to gather relevant data regarding market demand for your product or service:
Use SEO tools to analyze how many people are searching for similar products and services to yours and what businesses and distribution channels they use to fulfill their needs.
Sign up for social listening tools and make use of analytical reports to understand how much demand there is for the specific benefits you’re offering.
Many businesses rely on the strategies above to inspire new marketing campaigns. For example, The Body Shop tracked online conversations to learn more about customer preferences. Discovering that customers cared about refillable products inspired them to launch a global refill program that appeals to eco and value-conscious customers.
Additionally, marketing experts suggest four ways to learn more about your competitors:
Attend professional conferences and trade shows: Visit competitors’ booths to see what they offer and how they interact with customers.
Analyze their website and SEO strategy: In addition to visiting competitors’ websites, use SEO tools to analyze the keywords and Adwords they’re buying, their site traffic, and their website ranking.
Examine their social media presence: Find out what platform they use, the type of content they post and how often they share it, how many followers they have, and how responsive they are to customer queries and concerns.
Sign up for their newsletter: This will give you in-depth knowledge of their email marketing strategy—what kind of content they send and how often.
Use this information to determine how you can convince customers that your product or service is superior to all other offers in the market. For example, Apple’s competitive strategy includes pricing products higher than the competition—implying that Apple products are superior to what other electronics companies offer. This approach effectively targets customers who must have the “best” product no matter the price.
After you’ve researched your target market, outline how you’ll appeal to these customers. This involves figuring out exactly how you’ll convince customers to choose you over your competitors.
Levinson argues that customers don’t just rely on specific marketing campaigns to judge your business, but on every detail they perceive about your business. These details lie in both your deliberate attempts to influence them—such as your advertisements and your packaging design—and the way you unintentionally present your business—such as the way a tired employee interacts with other customers on a busy day.
Since every choice you make impacts customer perception, Levinson argues that you should attempt to become more intentional about the way customers perceive your business. You can achieve this by:
For example, you want customers to perceive your business as a luxury brand. You support this perception by creating distinctive, high-quality marketing materials and establishing a stylish dress code for all business representatives.
Let’s explore how to influence customer perception in more detail.
Levinson suggests that you should answer two questions to define how you’ll appeal to your target market.
1) What’s your brand’s identity? Write down how you want your target market to perceive your business and what you can do to promote this perception. For example, because your target market cares about the environment, you want them to perceive your business as environmentally friendly. Emphasizing the contributions your business makes to environmental charities will promote this perception.
(Shortform note: Marketing professor Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow) argues that the majority of customers don’t care enough about branding for it to impact their purchasing decisions. This is due to over-saturated markets: There are simply too many brands trying to distinguish themselves and appeal to customers. To cope with this influx of information, customers completely filter out all of the brand messaging they encounter. So, even if you design your brand to appeal to your target market and garner positive publicity, it’s more than likely that your message won’t get past your audience’s mental filter.)
2) What specific benefits do you offer? Write down how your business, product, or service is better than what’s already on the market. For example, your business provides a more comprehensive after-sales service than your competitors, or your product includes more up-to-date features than other similarly-priced variations in the market. (Consider how Walmart’s original slogan “Always Low Prices,” instantly conveyed why they were better than the competition—thus appealing to money-conscious customers.)
(Shortform note: William M. Luther (The Marketing Plan) clarifies how to define what makes your business better than the competition. He explains that there are only four ways to outdo competitors: 1) Provide a better product or service—by investing in operations such as manufacturing and quality control; 2) Pretend to provide a better product or service—by investing in effective marketing strategies to make your product appear more valuable; 3) Provide a cheaper product or service—by increasing efficiency and cutting costs while maintaining quality; and 4) Provide better customer service—by adopting policies that promote customer loyalty and repeat sales.)
Once you’ve defined what makes your business and your product or service appealing, include these points in all your marketing materials—both online and offline. (Shortform note: Marketing experts suggest that in addition to using the same marketing message, you should use the same logo, colors, and fonts to create a consistent brand image.)
Levinson argues that this approach offers two benefits. First, it helps customers immediately understand why they should choose your business over your competitors. Second, all your different marketing materials will convey a consistent message that reinforces your appeal.
(Shortform note: While reinforcing your marketing message makes it easier for your target market to understand why they should purchase from you, one drawback is that you’ll find it difficult to reposition or reframe the benefits you offer. This is something you’ll need to do if you intend to introduce your product or service into different markets or target different customer groups. For example, Coca-Cola’s distinctive marketing message worked against them when they attempted to open a wine business in 1977—customers were so used to perceiving them as a soft drink business that they couldn’t imagine them as a wine supplier.)
Once you’ve outlined how you’ll appeal to your target market, choose the marketing channels you’ll use to reach your target market.
Large businesses commonly rely on expensive marketing channels such as television and radio commercials, newspaper and magazine advertisements, direct mail, and billboards to reach as many potential customers as possible. Levinson argues that, while this approach does allow businesses to reach a large audience, their approach is untargeted—meaning that they attempt to appeal to customers who have no interest in purchasing what they’re offering. And since marketing to uninterested customers doesn’t generate sales, this approach is ineffective and often results in financial loss.
(Shortform note: Psychologists offer a contrasting opinion: Advertising to uninterested people can generate sales. This is due to the mere exposure effect—the premise that the more often you’re exposed to something, the more you like it. Research suggests that regular exposure makes a product easier to interpret and reduces the uncertainty you feel about it—thus increasing your confidence in it. And your increased confidence influences you to purchase this item. However, the mere exposure effect doesn’t work for things you initially dislike—it tends to only work if your initial reaction to something is neutral or positive. For example, if you dislike Cheerios, regular exposure is unlikely to convert you into a paying customer.)
Levinson argues that, instead of trying to emulate this mass-market approach, you should focus only on the media that your target market engages with the most. The research material you gathered in Step #2 will help you choose the most relevant methods to reach your target market.
For example, in Step #1, you defined the target market for your ergonomic desk chairs as a group of customers that work from home, suffer from back pain, and shop online. Your research in Step #2 revealed two things: First, your target market visits a specific group of chatrooms to find solutions to relieve their back pain. Second, your target market relies on a specific group of online stores to make purchases. Therefore, you focus your marketing efforts on these chatrooms and online stores to reach your target market.
Marketing Channels Depend on What You’re Selling and Who You’re Selling To
Osterwalder and Pigneur (Business Model Generation) expand upon Levinson’s advice about choosing relevant marketing channels. They explain that all business ideas fit into one of five different markets—each requiring a specific marketing approach to reach customers.
Mass Market: You’re selling to one large customer base with similar needs—you need to appeal to and engage as many people as possible. For example, Colgate benefits from advertising in the mainstream media because toothpaste is an essential, widely used personal care product that everyone needs.
Niche Market: You’re selling to a small customer base with unique requirements—you need to target these specialized needs. For example, Lush targets customers who care about vegetarian products and eco-friendly practices, so its social media strategy focuses on engaging “green” customers.
Subdivided Market: You offer slightly different products and services, so you need to employ different approaches to reach different customers. For example, a real estate broker’s customers each have different budgets. The broker may spend more time and resources attracting and developing relationships with wealthy clients looking to buy and delegate management of lower-income renters to employees.
Diversified Market: You offer distinctly different products and services to unrelated customer groups, so you have to employ separate customer-targeting strategies. For example, Johnson & Johnson provides healthcare products to customers as well as medical devices and equipment for hospitals—they need to reach both groups separately.
Multi-Sided Market: You serve interdependent customer groups so your approach needs to appeal equally to both parties. For example, online marketplaces need to appeal to and accommodate both buyers and sellers to operate efficiently—they can’t serve one group without the other group’s active participation. They need to reach and appeal to two different groups with one marketing message.
If you already have a product or service that you intend to sell, consider which of these five markets your offer falls into and how you can align your marketing strategy to reach as many people as possible. Or, if you’re looking for a business idea, choose a market based on which strategy most appeals to you. Then, focus your research on products and services that fall into your chosen market.
In addition to using specific marketing channels to reach your target market, promote your business by facilitating interactions between your business and your target market. Levinson claims that customers are more likely to think positively about and endorse businesses that they’ve personally engaged with than those that they’ve only seen advertisements for.
(Shortform note: While Levinson claims that businesses should create positive interactions to win over customers, he doesn’t address how misunderstanding customer expectations can undermine your interaction efforts. Brand relationship experts have identified 29 different types of interactions that customers expect from a business—they use relationship metaphors such as “one-night stand” or “marriage” to clearly define each interaction. These experts argue that businesses can’t know what type of interactions customers perceive as positive until they’ve collected and analyzed the relationship signals customers send.)
He suggests four cost-effective ways to interact with your target market and promote your business:
(Shortform note: Business experts expand on why you should pay as much attention to customers after they’ve completed a purchase as you do on attracting new customers. Satisfied customers provide four benefits: First, satisfied customers often become repeat customers and offer a reliable source of long-term revenue. Second, they provide positive reviews that bolster your reputation, thus attracting even more customers free of charge. Third, they’re more likely to offer feedback and a deeper understanding of their motivations, which helps you create a more effective marketing strategy. Fourth, they’re more likely to test or become early adopters of your newest products and services without additional effort on your part.)
(Shortform note: While it’s true that free samples, trial periods, and discounts offer a risk-free way to engage with your business, people are unlikely to sign up unless they feel like they need the benefits you’re offering. To provoke this feeling of need, the authors of Positioning suggest oversimplifying the value you intend to offer so that your customers can immediately understand the benefits they’ll receive. For example, if you offer a professional cleaning service, focus on a simple benefit your customers get from using your service—they get to come home and relax knowing that all of the chores have been taken care of.)
(Shortform note: Marketing experts confirm that businesses boost brand awareness when they contribute to causes their customers care about. According to market trend reports, 63% of customers want to buy from socially responsible companies, and 54% of customers want to buy from companies that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in their communities and workplaces. Generate ideas for cause or community-driven marketing campaigns by polling your target market about what matters most to them. Then, look for local charities or community programs that align with those issues and determine ways to help them. For example, arrange for team members to volunteer there or donate a percentage of your profits for new projects.)
(Shortform note: Business experts refer to this type of business relationship as a strategic alliance. Osterwalder and Pigneur (Business Model Generation) distinguish between four different types of alliances: 1) alliances between non-competitors (eBay and Paypal), 2) alliances between competitors (Apple and Microsoft’s patent-licensing agreement), 3) joint alliances to develop new products and services (Ford and Toyota develop hybrid trucks), and 4) buyer-supplier alliances (Samsung supplies Apple). For marketing purposes, you’re more likely to create successful results if you focus on forming alliances with non-competitors.)
Now that you’ve decided how to reach your target market, test each method to determine the most profitable marketing strategy for your business.
Many businesses determine the effectiveness of marketing methods by measuring how much customer interest they generate. Levinson claims that this approach creates misleading results because increased customer interest doesn’t automatically translate to increased profits. Therefore, he argues that the only way to determine the effectiveness of different marketing methods is to measure how much profit they generate.
(Shortform note: Research clarifies why increased customer interest doesn’t guarantee increased sales and profits: People prefer to keep their options open instead of completing transactions. Browsing for products online or window shopping involves anticipating what it would be like to have all of these different things in your life. This process releases dopamine (the hormone that makes you feel good) into your bloodstream and increases your desire to seek out even more things that make you feel good. However, this dopamine hit stops the moment you stop imagining multiple possibilities and commit to one possibility. In other words, it feels more pleasurable to think about buying things than to actually buy them.)
How can you measure the profitability of different marketing methods? Levinson suggests that you insert unique tracking codes into your marketing materials. Each time a customer interacts with your business, you’ll be able to identify what led them to your business and if it resulted in a sale.
Levinson suggests that you use the following process to test your marketing methods:
1) Create a marketing calendar: Include all relevant details to help you plan and track your marketing activities, such as the timeline, budget, and costs for each marketing method.
(Shortform note: Marketing studies reveal the benefits of using marketing calendars both during and after the testing phase: They increase your success rate by 313%. The reason for this is simple—filling out a marketing calendar requires you to set specific goals, plan exactly how you’ll achieve them, and organize your time accordingly. This planning process inevitably improves your ability to implement all of your different marketing methods. If you’re not sure how to set up a marketing calendar, there are several free templates you can use.)
2) Define what you want this marketing method to achieve: What specific action do you want customers to take in response to this method? For example, you email a newsletter with a discount code because you want customers to click on that link and complete a purchase.
(Shortform note: Marketing experts suggest that you should consider your objective before defining the action you want customers to take. They explain that all marketing methods are an attempt to achieve one of eight objectives: Increase brand awareness, generate leads, acquire new customers, increase website traffic, establish industry authority, increase customer value, boost brand engagement, or increase revenue. Therefore, defining your objective will help you pin down what specific action you want customers to take.)
3) Direct customers to take this specific action: Incorporate a simple instruction that tells customers exactly what you want them to do. For example, “Call this number,” or “Respond to this email.”
(Shortform note: Marketing experts refer to this type of instruction as a call to action (CTA). According to them, an effective CTA starts with a command verb, uses words that provoke an emotional response, and provides a compelling reason to take the action. For example, “Sign up today and get 50% off your dream vacation.”)
4) Integrate a tracking code into this instruction: This will help you identify how customers respond to this particular method. Use different URLs, toll-free numbers, or coupon codes to track each of your methods.
(Shortform note: Experienced marketers expand on Levinson’s advice to integrate tracking codes into marketing materials. First, take advantage of digital tools to create trackable URLs, hashtags, and QR codes that integrate into both your online and offline campaigns. Then, use Google Analytics to analyze the specific online journey customers take in response to your method. The following is an example of the type of in-depth report you’ll receive: “Customer X landed on your website via the QR code from brochure #1. She Googled your company and clicked search result #3. Then, she visited blog article #7 and subscribed to your newsletter. She received newsletter #1, clicked on the link, and completed a transaction for product #17.)
5) Measure your profits: First, total your marketing expenses for this method. Then, total the sales value that this particular method generated. Finally, deduct your marketing expenses total from your sales value. For example, your marketing expenses for this method were $500. This method generated $1,500 in sales, resulting in $1,000 profit ($1,500 - $500 = $1,000).
(Shortform note: Marketing experts argue that Levinson’s process for measuring profits doesn’t provide accurate results. They explain that customers move through different psychological stages as they get to know your business and what you offer. Ideally, each time they’re exposed to one of your marketing methods, they feel more confident about your offer and move closer to completing a transaction. This means that even if a specific marketing method doesn’t directly contribute to increased sales, it does contribute to customer confidence and the likelihood of future sales. However, measuring the profitability of individual marketing methods ignores the cumulative effect that multiple marketing methods create—thus providing inaccurate results.)
Consider how to distinguish your business from your competitors and appeal to your target market.
Describe your target market. (For example, your target market consists of women aged between 30 to 45 years who want to purchase custom handmade toys for children under the age of five. They primarily shop online.)
Write down at least one strategy your competitors use to appeal to this market. (For example, your competitors attempt to appeal to your target market by using celebrity endorsements.)
Write down how you want your target market to perceive your business. (For example, you want your target market to perceive your business as a reliable provider of high-quality handmade toys.)
Write down how your business, product, or service is better than what’s already on the market. (For example, your toys are the safest in the market because you implement stricter quality control procedures than your competitors.)