What is Guerilla Marketing?
(aka Gorilla Marketing Strategy)

And Why is Guerilla Marketing Important to Small Business Owners?

Today’s definition of guerilla marketing is to strike the market hard, strike fast, get in, and get out.

And do not let your competition see you coming.

The original definition of guerrilla marketing, and the term, came from marketing author, Jay Conrad Levinson. It was the title and subject of a book he wrote in 1984.

To summarize his concepts, guerrilla marketing is an approach or marketing tactic that focuses on low cost – and fast-to-market – promotions.

These marketing mix promotions require marketers with creativity and energy to break down the fairly large and comprehensive task of marketing, and building the right marketing mix, into smaller, more do-able pieces.

Some Call It, Mistakenly, Gorilla Marketing.

And while marketing of any type or style can seem and feel like a monkey on your back (particularly to non-marketers), guerrilla marketing is really a tactical, creative and fast marketing style that is well suited to small businesses.

The agility of small business and the ability of small business owners to use decision making tips and problem solving techniques to take quick action, allow this marketing tactic to work well.

Additionally small businesses are typically much closer to their customers and therefore are more likely to be able to read and translate customer needs into a guerrilla marketing plan.

The very nature and definition of guerrilla marketing has resulted in a good fit with small business marketing plans.

Small business owners can not afford the big marketing and advertising budgets of big business, but the very entrepreneurial nature of small business owners lends itself very well to guerrilla marketing techniques.

Some Key Marketing Tactics are:

• To build a marketing plan and the marketing mix using psychographics;
• To be low cost and/or low budget in the marketing application;
• To focus not only on sales, but primarily on increasing profit;
• To focus the majority of attention on existing customers first – grow sales with them;
• Once existing customers are grown to the maximum, to find new customers through referrals;
• Do not focus on your competitors – focus on building alliances, business networks and partnerships with businesses that can help you grow and profit;
• Tactically, to use a variety of marketing tools; such as a direct marketing campaign;
• and finally, to be both unconventional and creative in creating your marketing plan.

Guerilla Marketing is One Approach to Small Business Marketing; there are many approaches.

It can be very effective, low cost and focus your efforts on quick, creative tactics and help you build a strong marketing mix.

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