There are a lot of people out there trying to crack the code to successful viral marketing, but I think the formula is more complex than the human genome. I think you have a better chance of reading someone’s full DNA code in your lifetime.
I’ve seen uncountable people attempting to create something viral, often through entertainment or something that (loosely) resembles it. What I notice though is that a lot of those attempts tend to be too big. They’re trying to be something that they’re not. It’s a chimp grunting loudly trying to be a “Gorilla”. Guerrilla marketing they are not.
The term Guerrilla Marketing was coined Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The concept is that the marketing and promotion of a given company, product or service is more focused on time, energy and imagination rather than anything that involves a massive budget. Guerrilla marketing sets out to achieve something huge from something very small. They are unconventional and generally unexpected, frequently interactive and found in unexpected placed.
The entire point? Go for unusual approaches such as intercepts in public, PR stunts and other unconventional means outside of standard marketing channels in order to gain to get max results with minimal output.
Levinson identifies the following principles as the foundation of guerrilla marketing:
- Guerrilla Marketing is geared for the cialis dosage small business, where the tsunami can be generated to produce a massive impact from a small tremor, thus saving the initial marketing investment. Does that limit it to small business? Certainly not. Big companies can create a massive wave with a single cannonball as well.
- It’s based on the psychology of people as opposed to guesswork and “Experience” in any given market. It actually targets people.
- It centers on time, energy and imagination – not money.
- The focus on ROI is to measure the actual profits of the business and not just sales numbers.
- Guerrilla marketing also pushes a focus on the number of new customers that are acquired in the wake of a campaign each month.
- It requires a focus on a specific product or service, as opposed to marketing that offers too many products or services.
- Drop thoughts on competition and focus on cooperation with other businesses
- Leverage current technology to build a brand and a business.
- The message should target people on an individual level – Guerrilla Marketing is not intended for truly large groups. It picks out the individuals in the group.
There are just a few principles from his book, but take a look at the following images and you can see how companies have followed the guidelines to create something truly unique that draws a lot of attention and publicity.
