Guerrilla marketing - Definition and Overview

Guerrilla marketing, as described by J. Levinson in his popular 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing, is an unconventional way of performing marketing activities (primarily promotion) on a very low budget.

Levinson claims that small entrepreneurial firms are very different from large firms. He quotes a Harvard Business Review article by Welsh and White which says that small business is not a little version of big business. There is much more to it than just a question of scale. The biggest difference is the relative “resource poverty” of small businesses. Because of this lack of resources, small business must use an altogether different set of marketing strategies and tactics than big business.

A typical entrepreneur should use such guerrilla tactics as:

• a word of mouth campaign
• personal canvassing
• telemarketing by all members of the firm
• personal letters
• advertisements in the Yellow pages
• personal meetings
• circulars and brochures distributed at parking lots, homes, offices, malls, etc.
• classified ads
• ads in local community newspapers
• billboards
• truck and automotive signs
• direct mail campaigns
• seminars, lectures, and demonstrations
• searchlights
• flags and banners
• t-shirts
• matches, pens, and calenders

It is up to the guerrilla marketer to be creative and devise unconventional methods of promotion. They must use all their personal contacts, both professional and friends/family. They must examine their company and its products looking for sources of publicity. Some forms of publicity can be very inexpensive.

It is argued that if you use these guerrilla tactics, you will find your small size an advantage. You will be able to obtain publicity more easily than a large company. You will be closer to your customer and more agile.

Although guerrilla marketing was designed for small business, it can also be used by large businesses.

See also

• marketing
• guerrilla marketing warfare strategies
• marketing strategies
• publicity
• small business

Finding related topics

• list of marketing topics
• list of management topics
• list of economics topics
• list of finance topics
• list of human resource management topics
• list of accounting topics
• list of information technology management topics
• list of business law topics
• list of production topics
• list of business ethics, political economy, and philosophy of business topics
• list of business theorists
• list of economists
• list of corporate leaders
• list of companies

Other Sources

• Guerrilla Marketing, Secrets for making big profits from your small business Jay Conrad Levinson, 1984, Houghton Muffin Co. ISBN 0-396-35350-5

External links and references

• cnn.com on Guerrilla marketing (http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/13/news/economy/weirdads/index.htm?cnn=yes)
• Official site of Jay Conrad Levinson (http://gmarketing.com/)
• Official Guerrilla Marketing Association (http://www.guerrillamarketingassociation.com/)
• Official Guerrilla Marketing Coaching Training (http://gmarketingcoach.com/)