Has anyone ever tried guerrilla marketing?

Ok a friend of mine hands out flyers and stuff like that near bars and clubs and stuff. He told me about some companies that got really big from guerrilla marketing. I can't think of the company names off hand. If you don't know what guerrilla marketing is, its when you basically give out tons of stickers for your business and have someone, put them up all over. Stop signs, light poles, just about everywhere. Do you think this really works? Has anyone ever done it?

In my country they are very strict on that. They find the owner and have him pay the cleaning bill.
Also it might send out the wrong message. You are better of placing advertising boards or posters at parking spots along the road. People do read that cause they are looking at either changes on their daily route or for those who don't use that road regulary are actively looking for traffic signs and in the meanwhile they spot your ad.

I've heard about Showtime hiring someone to leave trashbags filled with something all over LA and other cities to promote their show Dexter, I believe this is considered to be guerilla marketing also, not just some flyers. I think when it's done right it can be one of the most powerful ways to promote your business or whatever product you have.

Guerilla marketing is not about handing out flyers and stickers......thats just marketing.

Guerilla marketing is about using unconventianal means to get noticed on a cheapo budget. This can be creating a buzz in an effort to go viral with a controversial video or maybe hijacking a blue chip companies existing(multi million dollar) campaign.

Duffers5000 said:

Guerilla marketing is not about handing out flyers and stickers......thats just marketing.

Guerilla marketing is about using unconventianal means to get noticed on a cheapo budget. This can be creating a buzz in an effort to go viral with a controversial video or maybe hijacking a blue chip companies existing(multi million dollar) campaign.

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Glad you clarified that, but it isn't just on a cheapo budget. Guerilla marketing can be any unconventional way.

Obey, the clothing line, became what it is today because of guerilla marketing.

Yeah, I agree it is any unconventional way of advertising. I guess what im asking, is has anyone done anything like this? If so what types of things work best? What is worth your time and materials?

Def do not plaster stickers all over. It will eventually come back to you. I know someone that started a skate industry based clothing line and had their "sponsored" skaters hammer their local areas with their stickers. Lets just say they are not around anymore.

In my region, some clever asses feel like they can put banners and glue their ads to walls anywhere. The government just created a whole new agency dedicated to stop this sort of thing.

Personally if I find some pizza flyer stuck to my car window, I make sure I never buy from that place, ever. I fucking hate anything stuck to my car, on the streets or anywhere else.

Just imagine if every business did it, we'd live in a dumpster.

Guerrilla marketing is extremely powerful, if you do it correctly. It can be cheap or it can be expensive just depends on what you do.. the whole concept is to be different and stand out. Point is to get attention , news, social media and then if your really smart you follow it up with a direct marketing campaign. Mailers etc, etc.

Cool marketing company out of new york had an employee walk into major business with a life size cardboard cutout of Justin B. On the chest was a confidential letter to the marketing division/owner. In it was a proposal with an option for 30% off if they took a picture with the Justin b cutout and posted to their facebook. They had a 50% signup rate, these were major contracts thoguh... not little 1000-2000/ mo deals.
Get Creative, do some research.

I believe Guerilla marketing is for example opening physical retail points which are temporary, and keep closing them down, and reopening elsewhere... usually its in artist squats or abandoned warehouses, etc.. anyway I know some companies were doing that in Berlin. It really depends on your target audience, if you are targetting 50 year old men with incomes between $80-150K, then its probably not the best technique. If you're targetting 15-30 year old hip/trendy people, then maybe.

In my opinion guerrilla marketing is an aggressive, rudimentary way of creating a buzz for your product...
there are a lot of clubs in my city because of the thousands of college kids that come here every year.
One of the clubs did their advertisement on concrete, in front of other clubs You know those McDonalds ads along the road ... 2 miles to McDonalds ... he painted the street in front of other clubs with his advertisement ... 2 miles to Club Brain... open till 6 AM blablabla... the club got really famous for this but unfortunately it got closed as it was in a fairly populated area and it was an EDM club and a lot of complaints were made

GiorgioB said:

I believe Guerilla marketing is for example opening physical retail points which are temporary, and keep closing them down, and reopening elsewhere... usually its in artist squats or abandoned warehouses, etc.. anyway I know some companies were doing that in Berlin. It really depends on your target audience, if you are targetting 50 year old men with incomes between $80-150K, then its probably not the best technique. If you're targetting 15-30 year old hip/trendy people, then maybe.

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I have no idea what you are talking about? How is opening a physical retail point then closing them down. Any form of marketing at all? Makes no sense to me. Sorry.....????

Well I did a few things. What I did a few days ago was got some fake money and some business cards. I tied them to a balloon with writing that said want to make more of these....and let them go. I did about 30 of these. My company i-camz.com is a webcam modeling site. I fell that if I want to expand and get bigger I need to think outside the box. I have a full affiliate program, that drives most of the traffic to the site. But I want more, like everyone else. I want to combine our online and offline marketing to better help our company grow.

What other ideas does anyone else have?

Pornguy said:

I have no idea what you are talking about? How is opening a physical retail point then closing them down. Any form of marketing at all? Makes no sense to me. Sorry.....????

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exclusive.. underground.. mysterious.. create buzz.. IDK.. i wouldn't do it for my own biz. Just what I recalled when I saw the word guerrilla marketing.

come to think of it.. its actually pretty smart. Why do you think Louis Vuitton and Gucci are so popular? Cos their products are amazing? No.. its mostly because most people can't get it. So when you have a LV or Gucci product, you feel good.. cos most people can't have it.. makes you feel that you are special!

in my home country, Lacoste was before the 90's a very exclusive brand, mainly targetting middle-upper class consumers. Then you have a bunch of, let's call them rudeboys, who were running all sorts of illegal businesses, and they wanted to be seen as "nouveau riche" or new-rich, so they bought Lacoste polos and sports wear. In 10 years they managed to completely ruin Lacoste's image who is only jut recovering. 10 years ago, if you saw someone with Lacoste, everyone was thinking "ok, this guy is probably selling weed" and certainly not "wow this guy is really classy". see what I mean? And now the same thing is happening with LV, Fendi, and all these luxury brands.

I think its good for products which are trendy, fashionable etc.. web cam modelling.. probably not the best

Here. gorge on ideas

http://www.gmarketing.com/articles

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that's good but i don't know if i would spend money on marketing my open positions... i would've gone this way for a cam site:

print up some fake money (20$ bills/50's/100's) and write on one face "do you want to make real cash? call me at #"

rather than just handing them out in the street go more targeted and more dangerous (guerrilla style) ... go to a strip joint and tip the dancers with it

or... take a suitcase full of it, neat and stacked ... have a buddy of yours come after you in the club and make a scene... by mistake the suitcase opens, the "money" comes out.... while the people are basically trying to get whatever they can out of the big pile of cash that's on the floor... cheese it!

Pornguy said:

I have no idea what you are talking about? How is opening a physical retail point then closing them down. Any form of marketing at all? Makes no sense to me. Sorry.....????

Well I did a few things. What I did a few days ago was got some fake money and some business cards. I tied them to a balloon with writing that said want to make more of these....and let them go. I did about 30 of these. My company i-camz.com is a webcam modeling site. I fell that if I want to expand and get bigger I need to think outside the box. I have a full affiliate program, that drives most of the traffic to the site. But I want more, like everyone else. I want to combine our online and offline marketing to better help our company grow.

What other ideas does anyone else have?

Click to expand...

lmxftw said:

that's good but i don't know if i would spend money on marketing my open positions... i would've gone this way for a cam site:

print up some fake money (20$ bills/50's/100's) and write on one face "do you want to make real cash? call me at #"

rather than just handing them out in the street go more targeted and more dangerous (guerrilla style) ... go to a strip joint and tip the dancers with it

or... take a suitcase full of it, neat and stacked ... have a buddy of yours come after you in the club and make a scene... by mistake the suitcase opens, the "money" comes out.... while the people are basically trying to get whatever they can out of the big pile of cash that's on the floor... cheese it!

Click to expand...

Fake cash Drops already exist http://www.realisticdropcard.com