The Role of Guerrilla Marketing in Nonprofit Fundraising

Posted: Jul 31, 2010 |Comments: 0 | Views: 108 |

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"Guerrilla marketing" is an increasingly potent force in nonprofit internet strategy.  First coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in a 1983 book of the same name, the term describes a system of marketing which uses effort and ingenuity, in lieu of money, to get a message across.  Thanks to its unorthodox methods and aided in large part by YouTube and other free video hosting sites, the phrase has become a bona fide marketing term.  Common trademarks of guerrilla marketing include viewer interaction, the element of surprise and precision timing. 

One popular example of guerrilla marketing is the flash mob.  A group of people is assembled, often following online or Twitter requests for volunteers, and trained to enact a particular routine at a scheduled time and place, with the objective to shock and amaze unsuspecting passersby, creating curiosity about the cause and leaving them with a memorable image.  Mobile phones make elaborate flash mobs a possibility, allowing organizers to stay in touch with volunteers for minute-to-minute instruction, and document the event with photos and video.  One recent example of a flash mob in action occurred in Times Square, where literally hundreds of people broke out into a dance routine during a Black Eyed Peas performance to kick off the 24th season of Oprah's show.  Not exactly charity, but touching nonetheless.

Other guerrilla marketing campaigns make alterations to the natural or urban environment that sync up with passersby in attention-grabbing ways, such as an ad advocating weight loss in the form of a decal affixed to the back of public seats, depicting a large, bare rear end. A similar idea was used by the South African charity Feed SA, where stickers were placed at the bottoms of shopping carts showing poor children holding up their hands to receive food. Other examples include beer bottle caps imprinted with the words "Don't drink and drive" and a tree stump tissue dispenser.
While the very term "guerrilla marketing" was coined in response to the problem of organizations not being able to afford marketing firms and ad time, there is professional help available to the aspiring guerrilla.  The Guerilla Group, for example, labels itself as "the only marketing agency adapting the principles of Guerrilla Marketing exclusively on behalf of nonprofit organizations."  They offer nonprofit consulting, training and workshops.  The Guerrilla Marketing Association is another website that offers advice in this area.  It lists 100 nonprofit resources, more than half of which are free, including word of mouth, electronic brochures, networking and community involvement.

Nonprofit marketing can be an uphill battle, as charities ask for money with only a clear conscience in return.  In addition, advertising is typically out of reach as nonprofits generally need, rather than bleed money.  It would not be unfair to say that charity work is mostly marketing, and every tool in a fundraiser's toolkit is another step towards meeting that goal.  As the Guerrilla Marketing Association site makes clear, traditional business owners generally use about five or ten marketing techniques, while guerrilla marketers have access to dozens.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/the-role-of-guerrilla-marketing-in-nonprofit-fundraising-2935794.html#ixzz18Ij6AJzp 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Guerrilla Social Media Marketing: Features and Benefits List

Guerrilla Social Media Marketing: Features and Benefits List

7 COMMENTS

January 14th, 2009

Guerrilla Marketing is an unconventional, often cheap way of doing marketing for your business that relies less on big budgets and more on personal (or company) work to promote. The goal is to be memorable, generate interest, and create WOManyway that you can think of. At the core guerrilla marketing is about creativity, and has limitless possibilities which makes it a perfect fit for social media and is the basis for this series.

One of the items that Jay Conrad Levinson brings up in his book Guerrilla Marketing for Free is to create a benefits list for your business. This allows customers to see why your product is superior to your competitors. This bring up a question of context, and how can you market benefits without features? Naomi from the wickedly funny and informative Itty Biz (post contains swearing fyi) covers this topic in away I could not even begin to match. So if you don’t mind a wee bit of swearing give it a quick read.

For those of you who would rather grab the cliff notes here ya go, straight from the Naomi’s mouth “What you want is BENEFITS VERIFIED BY FEATURES.” Now that we have that out of the way how do we translate that into social media? How can you use these wonderful online tools to help create something that will create this great way of selling your business to people? I’m glad you asked, here’s a list I came up with, I’d love to hear yours in the comments below:

• Create a page / post on your companies site / blog displaying your perceived features and their benefits and leave it open for customers to comment on. Take the best ones and add them to the list, and link the list from your front page.

• This could even be handled in a UserVoice styled voting structure to see what your customers perceive as your greatest features and benefits.

• Install Disqus, IntenseDebate, or a similar social commenting system to allow what’s being said to spread to an even larger audience.

• Create a BackType account for your business and follow those who added a feature / benefit (this can also give you more insight into your users).  If you’re using FaceBook add IEndorse,Testimonials, or Define Me to achieve a similar effect.

• Use all of your social media channels to announce the existence of the page and get your users / customers interested and involved.

• Use AddToAny to help your customers share your list any way they can.  Include this list to any content aggregation or social bookmarking strategies you might have in place. If you don’t have one in place, now would be a great time to start.

The information gathered from your customers / users in this exercise is incredibly helpful in other marketing areas. You now have a list of what your customers see as your best features and benefits and can be used to assist with any of your other traditional / online marketing methods. Following your customers gives you insights into what else they are into and if there is a strong correlation to another product or service you now have a golden partnership opportunity laid out.

How I applied it: I have added Disqus (which has built in “voting”) to my blog to find out where else commentators are coming from and to discover new ides and content.

Your task: Add a FaceBook app, install a social commenting setup and create a features / benefits post, or get UserVoice and create your list.

What do you think? Have any ideas or input on this? If you do I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. If you already have a page like this, or if this inspires you to create one please leave the link in the comments below and I’ll link it from the main Guerrilla Social Media Marketing.

Resource page on Shuaism (hooray for free exposure!).

Thank you for reading,
Josh Peters

This is part of a year long project about taking offline guerrilla marketing ideas / tactics and applying them to social media. If you enjoyed this post and would like to host one of the Guerrilla Social Media Marketing series on your blog please email me shua (at) shuaism.com. To get the latest post in the series and easily follow which blog the new post is showing up on pleasesubscribe to my feed via RSS or Email.

Josh Peters is a freelance social media consultant from Salt Lake City, Utah who, when he’s not frolicking in the fields of social media, enjoys working on his startup RoyalAnts, watching horror movies with his wife, and playing with his dogs. He blogs at Shuaism and would really like to connect with you on FaceBook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter.

Guerrilla marketing excellence: the 50 golden rules for small-business success Door Jay Conrad Levinson

http://books.google.nl/books?id=J2VKYlT_qucC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=guerilla+advantages&source=bl&ots=zlXZ6sOtDS&sig=sW4lYgP6M_z_cKon7iNtG10YVso&hl=nl&ei=VFkKTb7sGo_rOaetraIG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CGYQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

Guerilla Marketing An excellent article by Jay Conrad Levinson, in the Winter 2002/2003 edition of Emerging Business

http://www.coloradospringsscore.org/downloads/guerillamktglevinson.pdf

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Guerilla Marketing

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Guerilla Marketing
By http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Rhyn_Potgieter]Rhyn Potgieter

We’ll start with the good stuff:

•    Guerilla marketing is cheap. At the high end, you
may end up investing a few hundred dollars in
promotional items or a major, centralized piece that
you can build a number of different campaigns around. 
At the low end, it’s free -- and you can’t beat free!

•    In addition to growing your business, guerilla
marketing involves networking, both with your
customers and with other businesses. In the process of
executing and maintaining your campaign, you will make
a lot of new friends and allies.

•    Guerilla marketing is specifically tailored to meet
the needs of small businesses, whereas traditional
advertising venues are complicated and expensive to
the point of exclusion (bordering on snobbishness).

•    Many aspects of creative guerilla marketing
campaigns are just plain fun! You get to perform wacky
stunts and engage in unusual activities, all in the
name of working for a living.

•    Guerilla marketing works. If you do your research,
plan your campaign, and stick with it, you will more
than likely end up with a better and more profitable
business.

And now, the bad:

•    Guerilla marketing works -- but it is not completely
failsafe. It is, after all, advertising; which is far
from an exact science. The number of variables
involved in advertising guarantees that nothing is 100
percent effective.

•    As with any advertising campaign, you will not be
able to pinpoint exactly what works and what doesn’t.
Obtaining measurable results is difficult (but not
impossible, unlike other marketing techniques).

•    Guerilla marketing requires a greater level of
dedication and energy than traditional advertising
venues, which often consist of throwing large amounts
of money at other people to do the work for you.

•    If you’re looking for a quick fix, guerilla
marketing is not your solution. You will not see
instant or overnight results stemming from your
efforts. An investment of time is required in order to
achieve your business sales goals.

•    Guerilla marketing is not for the thin-skinned or
faint of heart. At the very least, you will have a few
detractors who find fault in your methods. At worst,
you may be threatened with legal action (which is why
it’s so important to check your local laws before
engaging in a guerilla marketing campaign).

Rhyn is the founder of Webtonic. The goal of Webtonic is to provide a knowledgebase of information about online selling and business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rhyn_Potgieterhttp://EzineArticles.com/?Advantages-and-Disadvantages-Of-Guerilla-Marketing&id=571105

Discussie: Guerrilla marketing seminar with Jay Conrad Levinston on the French Riviera !

Nathanael Ramos

Dear Friends,
Are you finding increasingly fierce competition and challenging economic conditions are making it more difficult than ever to get and keep new customers?
Are you working harder than ever, but not getting the results you hoped for?
Are you concerned that a looming recession will be too difficult to overcome?

You are not alone-we are hearing this from small business owners everywhere.
Many people are just plain scared of marketing. Maybe it doesn't work for you, or it's too difficult to implement and plan or you do not think you can afford to do it ?but in the 8 week Guerrilla Marketing Main Event Intensive we will make it clear, easy to understand and show you inexpensive ways to immediately make your marketing work for you and your business.
I have a very exciting scoop to share with you: it is now official, Potentialis is partnering with Christophe Poizat of Morphosys International to organize the Most Prestigious Marketing Event of 2008 with Christophe personal friend and mentor, Jay Conrad Levinson – the Father of Guerrilla Marketing – on the French Riviera!
Chris has been following Jay for many years now and has a tremendous admiration and respect for him. Jay is a member of INSE, you can view his bio here
Jay is the author of the best-selling marketing series in history, "Guerrilla Marketing," plus 30 other books. His books have sold 15 million copies worldwide. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that today his books appear in 46 languages and are required reading in many MBA programs worldwide.
Jay is the Chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International, a marketing partner of Adobe and Apple. He has served on the Microsoft Small Business Council.
Jay taught guerrilla marketing for ten years at the extension division of the University of California in Berkeley. And he was a practitioner of it in the United States -- as Senior Vice-President at J. Walter Thompson, and in Europe, as Creative Director and Board Member at Leo Burnett Advertising.
He has written a monthly column for Entrepreneur Magazine, articles for Inc. Magazine, and online columns published monthly on the Microsoft Website. He also has written online columns for several Internet websites, including Netscape, America Online, Fortune Small Business and Hewlett-Packard.
The following Guerrilla Marketing Super-Stars will be present at this exceptional 2 day event:
Mitch Meyerson – creator of the Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coaching program and author of many books including his latest, “Mastering Online Marketing”
Monroe Mann – CEO of Unstoppable Artists LLC and co-author of Guerrilla Networking
Alexandru Israil – CEO of MarketMinds and Europe’s only Guerrilla Marketing Master Trainer.
What is Guerrilla Marketing?
Guerrilla Marketing is the world’s biggest brand of small business marketing information, advice and coaching as the books have sold over 15 million copies in 46 different languages all over the world.
What makes Guerrilla Marketing different and so special is that it has been designed for small businesses so it places the emphasis on imagination rather than money.
In Jay’s own words: “Guerrilla Marketing is for people with big dreams but small budgets”.
Why Is Guerrilla Marketing So Vital Now?
Predictions for the world’s economies for 2008 and 2009 are not good and that puts an emphasis on improving the effectiveness of your marketing and its efficiency.
Difficult times cause problems for many businesses but as always, times of change bring great opportunities for those with the right information, the right mindset and the courage to take decisive action.
So when your competitors will be “fastening down the hatches” and cutting back on discretionary sales and marketing expenditure so they have less contact with their customers and prospects at a time when they need more support, imagine the impact you will have when you learn the Guerrilla Marketing low cost, high impact marketing tactics.
If you’re really serious about knowing the latest inexpensive marketing tactics that will recession-proof your business and increase your profits, get your ticket with a special discount, it’s here.

Do it. Hold your spot now.
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/93994139/GME2008/73100144

Codes Discount Number
xgmcp997 ---> 20.00% discount --> limited to 10 Tickets
xgmcp998 ---> 30.00% discount --> limited to 5 Tickets
xgmcp999 ---> 50.00% discount --> 1 Ticket only

Google us and you will see that any investment you make in Guerrilla Marketing will benefit your company substantially as it has thousands of companies for the past four decades.

I look forward to personally welcoming you at the Most Prestigious Marketing Event of 2008 with Jay Conrad Levinson on the French Riviera!

Nathanael

Guerilla Marketing's 20 Keys to Marketing Success

http://www.spatrade.com/knowledge/idx/64/374/New_Generation_Marketing/article/

Guerilla Marketing's 20 Keys to Marketing Success

In some of my past "Guerrilla Marketing" books, I've presented 100 different marketing weapons, and then advised readers to be aware of all 100, try many of them, and eliminate those which did not prove their efficacy on the front lines. In my most recent books, "Guerrilla Marketing Start-up Guide," which I co-authored with my wife, Jeannie, and "Guerrilla Marketing Fourth Edition," I've written about 200 guerrilla marketing weapons. My next book will delve into details of those weapons. In this article I'm listing the twenty most crucial marketing tactics, urging you to be aware of all of them, then try every single one of them and keep trying them. They're all going to work for you and we don't even have to get into that silly conversation about getting a bang for your buck. This article is about the bang but not about the buck. These are the twenty tactics, out of a full 120 described in my book, "Guerrilla Marketing for Free," which are the most crucial for you to understand. 1. Marketing Plan It only has to have six sentences listing your purpose in marketing, prime benefits, target audiences, marketing weapons, niche, and identity. 2. Marketing Calendar Determine your marketing for the next 12 months. For each month, list your marketing thrust, media, and results. Improve it at the end of the year based on results. 3. Name of Company Bad names are hard to spell, pronounce, remember, and believe. All the others are good names. Your job: select any one of the good names and none of the bad ones. 4. Niche The Madison Avenue buzzword for this is "positioning." Your niche is what you stand for, what makes you different; the first thought you want to enter your prospect's mind. 5. Benefits List This is a simple list of all the benefits that you offer, not only your main benefits. It will serve as ammo for those who will create your marketing. It's no time to be modest. 6. Research Studies Your best research comes from questionnaires that you prepare, asking lots of questions to your customers. Analyzing it, you'll learn exactly who should be your target market. 7. Quality Quality is the price of admission for doing business in the 21st Century. Quality is not what you put into your offering, but what customers get out of it. Of course it's job #1. 8. Designated Guerrilla Someone has to ride herd over your marketing program. If you're too busy, delegate it to another guerrilla, in your company or out. The best designated guerrilla is always you. 9. Competitive Advantages Here is where you hang your marketing hat. Your competitors may offer the same benefits as you, so differentiate yourself and stress a competitive advantage. 10. Networking Join a group of prospects, not peers, then ask questions, listen to answers, take notes, contact who you met, and gauge your success by business cards you got, not gave. 11. Elevator Pitch If you had a mere ten seconds to tell what you do for a living, what would you say to make the asker want to learn more about you? Tha answer is your elevator pitch. 12. "A" List Customers All customers are not created equal. Some buy more, refer more, are easier to deal with, and keep coming back. Treat your "B" list customers like royalty, your "A" list like family. 13. Past Success Stories Everything right that you've done in the past is another weapon in your marketing arsenal. Lean upon these tales in your marketing because prospects need signs of your success. 14. Service The only definition of service that makes sense these days is that it's anything the customer wants it to be and not what you have been doing in the past. Be clear on that. 15. Email It gets higher response rates than snail mail, is less intrusive, does not destroy rainforests, and doesn't even need a stamp. Truly, it's the brightest star in cyberspace. 16. Guarantee People expect it but you've still got to stress it. The longer your guarantee, the more enticing it will be and yet the fewer people will ever ask for refunds. Ain't that sweet? 17. Follow-up Nearly 70 percent of business that is lost is due not to poor service or shabby quality, but because of apathy after the sale. The opposite of apathy is follow-up. Follow-up rocks! 18. Free Consultations It's hard to say yes to the offer of a free sales presentation, but simple to say yes to the offer of a free one-hour consultation. During that hour, don't sell. Prove your expertise. 19. Speaking at Clubs Many local clubs will be delighted for you to speak to them for free. Just speak for 30 minutes and don't make a sales presentation. Instead, demonstrate that you're The Man. 20. Customer Mailing List It's worth more than its weight in platinum, especially if it is bulging with information about each customer. It's free to compile such a list and insane not to. A real duh. www.gmarketing.com Jay Conrad Levinson The Father of Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla Marketing for Writers: 100 No-Cost, Low-Cost Weapons for Selling ...

http://books.google.nl/books?id=w_0lIPNwTBwC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=intelligent+marketing+guerilla&source=bl&ots=9NWUpF1uJ6&sig=zQHx-Qt8fcxh38xLY--mZ4bjP3k&hl=nl&ei=SFUKTbWTB4SaOqGfpIoG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCkQ6AEwATge#v=onepage&q&f=false

Creative Marketing Techniques That Grab Your Attention

http://ezinearticles.com/?Creative-Marketing-Techniques-That-Grab-Your-Attention&id=2610188
Marketing techniques are constantly needed not just to create and establish a business but to sustain its growth. The attention span for today's generation is very short and is only growing shorter every day. In order to grab the attention of a potential customer, a business and its web site needs to have some creative marketing techniques embedded into it.

Today a horde of tried and tested marketing techniques exist on the web to take a small business places. But these techniques are being used by almost every one which clearly means there is nothing unique about them. So, how to stand apart and how to be exclusive? This is where creative marketing techniques or guerrilla marketing comes into the picture. Creative marketing calls for coming out with one-of-the-type ideas that have never been tried before. It is important to remember however that generating new marketing ideas alone is not enough; the ideas should create the necessary visibility to the business or web site being marketed.

Advertising in the real world (other than web marketing) - in scores of ways - is a certain way to gain the notice of the public. Local advertising can put a business or web site in the eyes and subsequently the minds of people. Displays at public places like malls, advertising through various media like newspapers, audio and visual media, short awareness campaigns/ meetings at schools, clubs, libraries, and music halls etc - this list is virtually endless.

Community exposure can be achieved by involvement in community efforts like conducting sports events, competitions and sponsoring public events that will attract people from all walks of the community. If a product/ web site being advertised is meant for kids, then a football competition for kids or a painting carnival for kids might be a great idea of bringing a great many kids together at one place. With this technique, the 'brand' name gets a trust worthy reputation.

Advertising by word-of-mouth is a cheap but effective marketing technique which can really pay off with just a touch of creativity. Displaying the web site name on your personal car, using bags and T-shirts with the business name designed on them, having cheer leaders at local events displaying accessories and clothes with the business name on them - are a few ways to market by word-of-mouth. Promotional give-aways can create a long-term impression on the minds of customers depending on the kind of things being given away as 'gifts'. Such items apart from being eye catchers should be ideally used every day, seen prominently when placed some where and be around for at least some time. They should carry the business name clearly. For instance, a music store could give away a CD storage case with the company name printed on it!

All the techniques discussed above are merely indicative under broad categories of marketing. Under each category, a spark of creativity can go a long way in making new ideas which in turn have a huge potential impact on boosting a business and sustaining the growth.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/guerillamarketing/article206202.html

How to Pull Off a Guerrilla Marketing Campaign

It requires creativity, flexibility and a willingness to take a little risk

By Bianca Male   |   April 19, 2010 

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Guerrilla marketing was made for small business owners. It requires creativity, flexibility and a willingness to take a little risk. The one thing it doesn't take is a big budget.

"Guerrilla programs usually start when a client says to us, 'we don't have any money but we'd really like to get some media attention,'" Drew Neisser, CEO ofRenegade Marketing, tells us.

They can also be an awesome way to get you noticed, set you apart from your competition and earn you a reputation for being fun and different--all tailored to whatever budget you have available.

We consulted a few guerrilla marketing agencies to get some tips on executing a successful guerrilla strategy.

What is guerrilla marketing?
While difficult to define exactly, guerrilla marketing is any promotion that's unconventional, unexpected and usually evocative of a unique, memorable reaction from or interaction with the viewer.

Our sources used other descriptive words to explain the essence of guerrilla marketing:

Brett Zaccardi of Street Attack, describes it as anything "unauthorized and disruptive" and "sticky."

Adam Salacuse, Founder and President of ALT TERRAIN emphasizes the undergound element of guerrilla marketing when he says it's "brand activation that isn't 100 percent permitted by the city, event or establishment."

"Guerrilla marketing is a state of mind," Neisser sums up nicely. "It simply isn't guerrilla if it isn't newsworthy."

Guerrilla marketing is NOT traditional media.
All of our sources were emphatic about what guerrilla marketing is not: anything resembling traditional media, like print or TV advertising.

Jay Conrad Levinson, the man who coined the term and literally wrote the book on guerrilla marketing, lists the most important ways guerrilla marketing is different from traditional marketing on his website. A few of the most compelling:

• "Instead of investing money in the marketing process, you invest time, energy and imagination."
• "Instead of ignoring customers once they've purchased, you have a fervent devotion to customer follow-up."
• "Instead of believing that single marketing weapons such as advertising work, guerrillas know that only marketing combinations work."

A guerrilla program is probably not right for your business if you can't take a risk.
While guerrilla marketing is great for small businesses, there are certain industries and clientele for which a guerrilla campaign might not be appropriate.

Neisser suggests that "highly regulated industries like financial services and insurance . . . make considering guerrilla approaches a risky proposition."

And you should consider the fact that a guerrilla campaign, by nature, "could ruffle the feathers of cities and some consumers," Salacuse adds.

If that thought worries you, guerrilla marketing might not be a good fit for your business.

A guerrilla marketing campaign can be tailored to almost any small business.
With that being said, there's a way for basically any business or brand to do some form of guerrilla marketing, "it's just a question of risk tolerance . . . [since it] requires a brand to step outside its comfort zone and do something they've never done before," Neisser explains.

Zaccardi reiterates that there can be "a fit for about any brand--guerrilla marketing can even occur in an online setting, which is a much safer/familiar medium for some brands."

But if edgy is your thing, a guerrilla campaign is right up your alley. Salacuse says that "guerrilla marketing is often the only way to implement a desired concept," and that today's consumers often "tend to gravitate toward brands that implement original and edgy campaigns."

Get started
Zaccardi suggests that every small business ask themselves, "What's their essence--what's the core message that can be distilled into a 5-second exchange or in a clever installation?"

Neisser suggests starting "by setting clear objectives followed quickly by doing your homework, really thinking through your category, brand and consumer." You have to have a goal in mind and you also need to understand who your customer is and what would intrigue and appeal to them.

"Then its time to think 360 degrees, imagining all the ways your idea can come to life," Neisser continues. "It often helps at this point to imagine the story headline you'd like to see, the tweets you'd like to read, the photos you'd like to be taken and YouTube videos that you'd want to view."

Remember, your ultimate goal is to get media attention and make a positive connection with your consumers. How can you make that happen?

Our sources emphasize the importance of researching to make sure your idea hasn't been done before, and Neisser suggests briefly consulting a PR person that you trust to get their feedback.

Tips for pulling it off
Neisser says the first step to planning a great guerrilla campaign is your state of mind: "Try not to think of guerrilla as a moment in time or as a simple street stunt. This will limit your horizons and the potential impact."

"Find the authentic voice and shell for the campaign and rally around it. If you have to 'sell' me on something chances are I've already lost interest," suggests Zaccardi.

And you won't be able to tell if your campaign worked unless you inspire the customer to take the next step. "Will it make a consumer stop and think, laugh, remember?" Zaccardi adds. "Is there a call to action--some trackable ability to gauge results?"

Two famous examples of guerrilla marketing done right:

1. The Blair Witch Project
   One of the most successful guerrilla marketing campaigns ever arose out of a few film students with a minimal budget and a camera.
   
   The documentary-style thriller probably would have ended up a laughable B-movie had the creators not concocted their innovative marketing strategy. By setting up an internet campaign devoted to spreading rumors about the fictitious legend of "the Blair Witch", the film's creators created buzz out of thin air.
   
   The movie grossed $250 million globally, according to CNN--all after being made and promoted on a budget of $50,000.
2. Medecins du Monde's temporary homeless shelters
   When Medecins du Monde wanted to call attention to Paris' homelessness problem, they didn't do it with billboards or ads full of statistics.
   
   Instead, they distributed simple-to-set-up tents to homeless people all around the city.
   
   According to CNN, the effect of seeing the sheer number of tents popping up around Paris was enough to get the government to immediately allocate millions to emergency shelters for the homeless.

A few things you should never, ever do:
These missteps will defeat the purpose of your guerrilla campaign.

• "Never aim to upset, scare or provoke people in a negative way. The goal should be to implement something that people will embrace, enjoy and share with friends," Salacuse says.
• "Don't be contrived or too bland. Don't try to be something you're not," advises Zaccardi.
• Try not to annoy your target," says Neisser. And, he adds,"[it] is generally not a good idea to do something that will cause someone on the team to go to jail."

Two famous examples of guerrilla marketing stunts gone wrong:

1. Vodafone's streaker
   In 2002, Vodafone caused quite a stir when it hired two men to streak across the field during a major Australian rugby match--wearing nothing but the Vodafone logo painted across their backs.
   
   CNN explains the added rub: the match was being played in a stadium sponsored by Vodafone's main competitor, Telestra.
   
   This one backfired somewhat. The streakers were fined and many fans were upset by the disruption (which potentially caused a game-winning kick to be missed).
   
   The stunt did succeed in getting tons of worldwide press, and it earned Vodafone a reputation for pushing the envelope. But most of the sentiments about it were negative--not exactly what you want to do with your campaign.
2. Turner Network's bomb scare
   We covered this one in our "15 Biggest PR Disasters Of The Decade." Cartoon Network thought it would be a great idea to place light-up figures featuring the characters from its show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" around Boston.
   
   Unfortunately, confused local residents mistook them for explosives. The Boston police were inundated with terrified calls from people fearing the city was under attack by terrorists, SWAT teams were deployed and the head of the company ended up resigning because of all the outrage.

When it comes down to it, guerrilla marketing can really mean anything, as long as it's unexpected, non-traditional and memorable. As Neisser says, "guerrilla marketing done right is newsworthy."

If your strategy embodies the spirit of your brand and your customers, it's a winner. And, please--make sure nobody ends up in jail.