Guerrilla Marketing in Action
by Al Lautenslager
Published on this site: July 26th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Guerrilla Marketing is using time, energy and imagination
to market a product, business or person without spending massive
amounts of hard earned profit dollars. It also has been defined
as non-traditional marketing, something unusual, unexpected
and designed to be noticed. Of course all marketing is designed
to be notice. Its just that some isn't, believe it or not.
There are many examples over time that have passed the guerrilla
test. I will save those for another speech, article or book.
For now I would like to share examples of Guerrilla Marketing
in Action. I have actually seen these in just the past few
months. Someone out there is using a whole lot of imagination
and not spending gobs of money to market. Here we go with
some examples of non-traditional marketing observed; odd places
for media; unexpected messages:
Restaurant Pager
No doubt, you have been in restaurants where you have waited
for a table to become available. In many restaurants they
give you the big half-frisbee sized pager that blinks incessantly
when your number is called. No longer are these plain blinking
pagers. In the center is a full color graphic either advertising
the restaurants drink special or the retail location adjacent
to the restaurant; certainly unusual and probably noticed
most of the time.
Gas Pump Handles
Pump gas and you have to look at the handle to secure it
in the tank opening and then to execute the gas pumping process.
Some genius squared off the top of the back of the handle,
(the part you look at) and made a space for a 2" x 2"
advertisement. Ice for 99cents, Candy Bars two for one, Car
Wash Specials, etc. are all advertised to get that gas pumping
consumer to think of one more item to buy than gas.
Java Jacket
Grab a Starbucks and undoubtedly your next stop is the breath
mint aisle in your local convenient store. Oh what to buy?
Alas, the brand is suggested to you, at the exact right time,
right there on the java jacket, the corrugated sleeve around
your coffee cup to keep you from burning your hand. I recently
had this thought and I looked at the jacket only to see the
brand name, Eclipse, advertising their newest gum flavor.
Guess what I bought next? In marketing we always talk about
putting your message where your target market is. This is
the epitome of that.
Plastic Room Key
Most hotels have gone to the credit card like plastic room
key that slides in the activator right on the door handle.
I was traveling the other day and was craving a Domino's pizza.
Being out of town and not having a clue as to the phone number,
I wondered? I looked down at my room key and Domino's had
purchased the advertising space on the room key complete with
a phone number. Guess who I called? Thanks room key.
Escalator Step
I haven't seen this done but I have often thought it would
make great advertising space: the front side of an up-escalator
step. As you ride up, you come eye level with a step about
3 or 4 ahead of you. What a great place to put an advertisement.
What a great place to charge for advertising. Lots of exposure
and right where your target market is if you are in the retail
business or service business in a retail location. Let me
know if you see this in action. Send me a picture of it and
I will send you a free copy of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.
Get a free 7 step PR plan by sending a blank email to [email protected]
or get a report on how to instantly add 50 people to your
network by going to http://www.market-for-profits.com.
Buy Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days at http://www.market-for-profits.com
where you can also get two free chapters.
Al Lautenslager is a speaker, author, business owner,
consultant, a certified guerrilla marketing coach who helps
businesses and professionals increase their revenue through
focused marketing and an increased client base. He is the
bestselling co-author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days and
a featured business coach for entrepreneur.com. He can be
contacted at [email protected]
or through his website, http://www.market-for-profits.com.
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