Why Guerilla Marketing is Alive More Than Ever in 2017
In 2017, the way we market our business is constantly changing.
Or is it?
As someone who helps run a marketing agency for a living, a read a lot about the newest ways to reach consumers and how business owners can grow their customer base. Every day I open up my email to see another *brand new* strategy that you have to try if you want to grow your sales by X amount.
The truth? Sure, there are plenty of new ways to market. A lot of opportunities have been created by the internet; We now have an immense number of platforms and tools to use to test campaigns and refine our marketing.
Not everything has changed, though. The tactics and platforms we use to reach our audience may have changed yes, but the strategies for good creative remain essentially the same.
A Great Example of Guerilla Marketing in The Digital World
There’s a super funny commercial that’s going viral in Alabama. Off of a shoestring budget – this company’s commercial has been shared in numerous news outlets like Al.com and DailyMail.
It’s a roofing company, and to boost sales they decided to offer a promotion where they give away an AR-15 to every person that buys a roof. Apparently this isn’t uncommon – but the way they marketed the offer is completely different.
In the video we see a scantily clad, burly dude get out of a car, drink a beer and whisky, pitch his company and then shoot off one of the AR-15’s while fireworks are also blasting. The script is essentially one American pun after another. It’s low budget but the presentation is hilarious.
Here’s the video. As of right now it’s gotten 100k views and almost 1000 shares.
Is All Press Good Press?
Already, Digital Roofing Innovations is receiving tons of inquiries, opening up new business from the commercial. Some people don’t understand the satire or were offended (one person went as far as saying that the commercial was disgusting, and that the company should be boycotted).
Those who did understand the comedy, love it. Remember that they’re targeting the gun loving state of Alabama. The company knew that the offer would resonate with a lot of people. That’s why this is a great example of understanding your target market.
True… They may lose some business by using guns and patriotism in their ad. After all gun ownership is a touchy subject for many people in America. For the people that either like guns or are indifferent to people owning them, this video has been a really great and cheap way to build brand recognition.
Remember that if you try to speak to everyone, no one will hear you. The benefits of getting a lot of brand love from a majority of people, outweighs the con of a small percentage of people hating them (can’t win ‘em all!)
How You Can Use Guerilla Marketing
As I explained in the beginning of the article, the strategy hasn’t changed here. It’s actually really simple in theory.
1) Understand your target market
2) Figure out a message they will resonate with
3) Wrap the message up with a high-intensity emotion (humor, anger, pride etc)
As you probably noticed, the video touches on a lot of different emotions for different people. Emotions which have secured this company a lot of brand recognition and potential business. The video is different! That’s what makes Guerilla Marketing effective.
If you’re boring, no one’s going to talk about you.
