Guerilla Marketing, What does that really mean?

You know small and large business alike, we all have to have someone manage our marketing budget. It is important to make sure that we maximize our efforts with what is in every case a limited budget. There’s a few blogs and books out there that talk about small businesses needing to embrace Guerilla Marketing. What does that really mean though?

I asked a few people on twitter to see what a few other people thought. Here’s what I got:

From: @OTGApril
@danielHERNDON Any unconventional marketing technique designed to produce maximum results using minimal resources (i.e. money & materials)

From: @trusthomesense
@danielHERNDON I think Guerilla = non-traditional ways to target audience with msg, many times w/o target being aware.

I liked both of these answers. One from an Experiential Marketing Colleague and the other from a business perhaps doing some of their own Guerilla Marketing.

There are several ways to accurately describe Guerilla Marketing, but the recurring theme is that Guerilla Marketing takes a non traditional approach to the task at hand because the traditional resources could yeild the desired results. Perhaps you want to impact the nation with a new product brand in 60 days and a blanket ad campaign is unachievable. Maybe you are the little fish in a big pond so you have to use non traditional methods to rise above the resources of your competition, or the size of the market. Maybe you’re networking, and using social media. Maybe you are putting together an integrated campaign that get’s people charged up so that word of mouth carries your message. Perhaps thinking outside of the limits of traditional advertisement will open up some new avenues to spread your message.

When your dollar has an end, you have to think about how your marketing efforts are going to return results. Because when your resources or manpower is depleted, you’re done. Even Mr Clean know that a good Guerilla Marketing campaign captures a response that you can’t do with traditional methods, and if you can, not for the same ROI. On this day before Thanksgiving, take this time to be thankful for the business you’ve gained thus far and think about how you will maximize your results and decrease your waste to accomplish your marketing goals in 2010. What are some ideas you will be using in 2010?

B2B Experiential Marketing

I spoke yesterday at Spinweb about marketing your business experientially.  After I updated an older power point presentation with a couple examples and case studies I realized that I had no B2B examples in my presentation. Wouldn’t you know it Michael Reynolds asked this very question! I promised I’d share some examples, and here is the one (borderline) B2B sample that I talked about.

We  have a customer in Idaho that is a not for profit organization that is dedicated to developing resources for autism leaders (Teacher’s education curriculum and certification,  etc.). There is a void in the education system for educators that are prepared to handle the teaching and learning challenges associated with Asbergers, Autism etc. Our initial goal it to present the curriculum to as many Colleges and Universities as we can. The challenge: How to get the faculty to pay attention to our postcards, emails and advertisements. What we’ve begun to do with our Experiential Approach is to ignite young people that are passionate about the cause by building student philanthropy groups through offline communities, brought together by an exclusive online community. We’re targeting specific college communities. We’re promoting through a viral video that carries the message of connecting individuals experiences to the needs at hand and inviting them to play a role in the solution.  Several small events will happen at these campuses, etc. Student feedback is vital and in most cases the major driver in the selection of new curriculum at a College/University. We studied this market, and determined this approach. The principle of the matter is engaging the target industry’s consumers to drive them to the business by sharing their experience. Ultimately businesses make their decisions based on what allows them to grow… customer demands.

Let me share a national example for you that I’ve enjoyed. I am a big fan of the Fox show 24 and have written about it before. They frequently are featuring Sprint product in the show, but another product they often show is Cisco – the name will be prominent on the screen showing some of their high end business productivity tools. Their target client: businesses. The Cisco product is blatantly placed into the environment we imagine, which makes us envious of how we can use the same tools in our office or share the experience.

There’s also a great story about Intel using experiential marketing here.

The question is where does you client spend their time off the clock? They watch 24, they go to cigar bars or sushi bars, they enjoy certain types of music and entertainment, etc. Everyone needs an experience, both at work and at play.

Is Radio Going to Die?

I spoke with a colleague in the Radio Advertising business just recently about the potential demise of radio. With all the constant change in society and people’s lifestyles, will radio soon fall away? Many people are shifting towards satellite radio that plays consistent content without interrupting with 3 minutes of 30 second ads. Some, listening to what they want when they want on their MP3 player. Some still don’t want to let go of the weather and traffic updates and local happenings that a local DJ has to offer.

Part of our discussion falls into the difference of lifestyle marketing versus blatant ads. Radio has struggled to implement lifestyle into their program. Ads are almost exclusively sold in blocks of 30 second recordings and 2×3 tile ads on web pages. Sure – Many radio stations that I have worked with have gotten very creative, but if people don’t listen can it last? The answer is no. But will people really ever stop listening to their local broadcast?

There is a strong argument to both sides, but I can tell you this: if people rely only on the square, cookie cutter ads they will be muted. If you engage your market and their lifestyle, it will ignite conversation and spread like wild fire.

NEWS: Who let the dogs out?

For all of you dog lovers out there, you have to get involved in this!

Pet Supplies “Plus” is known for providing the best in high quality dog food choices. Recently I asked one of their professionals how I could prevent the enormous amount of shedding that my dog Toby has been experiencing. We were quite desperate to find a solution. The helpful professionals instantly were able to provide me with a solution. FROMM Dog food and certain other high quality foods can help to eliminate the problem of dog  shedding simply because it is the right diet for the pet. I also learned about some grooming tools, supplies and techniques that help a ton as well. This has made shedding a non issue for Toby!

As a result we put together the Shiny Coat Tangle so you could all experience the benefits of a healthy dog with a shiny coat while engaging in some fun. Oh by the way, you all will vote for the best dogs in Indy and the winner will receive a $2500 Simon Specail Occasion Gift Card and a years supply of FROMM Four Star Dog food (see http://www.pspindy.com for details)!

Registration ends 10/3 when the voting kicks off –  make sure you enter your dog today!

Engaging the habit in Experiential Marketing

I’d like to encourage you to re-think your marketing approach. The common thought in our minds is that we need to market today to get people to purchase our product today. We need to have some radio commercials to get people into our store this week. In the words of my good friend Dwight “False!”.

The initial purchase goes through this process: awareness, interest, evaluation / experience, trial and purchase. Following is satisfaction and repurchase. Even though many want the repurchase to happen, people often fail to address this in their marketing plan.

“Success comes not from getting there first or from being the cheapest or best product. Success comes from becoming the unconscious habitual choice of the consumers. Bill gates is the richest man in the world because learning to use his product habitually became necessary to participate in the modern world.”

Credit to: Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore.

Consider popcorn. The short story is someone brought it into the theatre scene and made it part of the movie watching experience. They created a habit for people which was based on associations. This popcorn marketed in a theatre became a required part of going to the movies for some people and it naturally migrated even into the home as well. It was integrated into the lifestyle of the consumer so they can experience the benefits of it. The end result is that you don’t have to think about having popcorn with a movie, it just seems right, and those juices start flowing as you prepare to find your seat. This however did not happen overnight.

We’re working with a particular client right now that approached us and said “we want to be the expert on this…” and they knew that out of the box, interactive marketing that creates a direct experience to the customer is going to be what gets them to their goal. To be an expert, or trusted resource for your niche you can’t do anything that only takes one day or one week or one month. You need an ongoing strategy that starts today and continues for as long as you would like to be in business.

For a product to succeed it must first make a connection with existing concepts stored in the unconscious. The habitual mind of the customer must go through a physiological change to accommodate a new concept and a new brand. It cannot be successfully circumvented by simply spending money on advertising or getting good placement in stores. This is a process, not an event.

Since popcorn marketers managed to train people that it is part of the experience of watching a movie- sales of popcorn are as successful as the movie industry – and always will be. And the packaging will continue to have characteristics that remind you of the movies. This may have started out as an accident but it is an intentional part of the marketing thereafter.

So in closing, if they don’t come back, you haven’t won them over.