Small Business Guerilla Marketing

In both its virtual and physical forms, guerilla marketing works on the viral principal. The aim is to get people to talk about your product to their friends and family, either in person or online. This is brilliant promotion because not only will it cost you absolutely nothing, but also any recommendations from someone not being paid to promote you are far more valuable than any advertising campaign that you could dream of.

Due to the economy being in such a poor state, small businesses are increasingly being forced to slash their marketing budgets and adopt a bootstrap approach instead. Fortunately, even low-cost marketing strategies can be very successful for a small business, especially one that operates within a niche market.

Bootstrap marketing particularly rewards creative thinkers who are able to think creatively about marketing. People with the ability to dream up clever online PR stunts or utilise new technology as the lynchpin of their strategy are the most likely to get people discussing their business. Putting together a good guerilla campaign is actually very time intensive, especially compared to traditional marketing, but has the potential to be absolutely huge.

Offline guerilla campaigns focus on becoming a success at a local level, because very few small businesses can realistically expect to raise enough capital to cover the cost of distributing their product or service on a global level straight away. Those that try to do so will often fail due to a lack of cashflow.

Prove that your business works on a local level first by getting a small inventory and then renting a kiosk or booth at a local mall, paying rent on a monthly basis so that you are not locked into a long-term contract. Use this space to capture the attention of shoppers and build a buzz around your goods, so that they will in turn tell their friends about you.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

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