Guerrilla Marketing is an advertising strategy focusing on low-cost unconventional marketing tactics that yield maximum results. Jay Conrad Levinson coined the original term in his 1984 book “Guerilla Advertising The term Guerrilla Marketing was inspired by guerrilla warfare which is a form of irregular warfare and relates to the small tactic strategies used by armed civilians. Here, you will know the advantages and disadvantages of guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla marketing differs from traditional marketing because it often relies on personal interaction and has a smaller budget. It focuses on smaller groups of promoters responsible for getting the word out in a particular location rather than on widespread media campaigns.

Meaning of Guerrilla Marketing

The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time—energy, and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and weird; potentially interactive, and consumers are targeted in unexpected places. Guerrilla marketing aims to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz.

According to Jay Conrad Levinson, “Guerilla marketing is an unconventional way of performing marketing activities (primarily promotion) on a meagre budget. It is uncommon for marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources.

According to Levinson,” When implementing guerrilla marketing tactics, small size is an advantage instead of a disadvantage. Small organizations and entrepreneurs can obtain publicity more quickly than large companies as they are more agile and closer to their customers.

According to Levinson, the guerrilla marketer must “deliver the goods”. In The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, he states, “To sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer. It must build trust and support. It must understand the customer’s needs and provide a product that delivers the promised benefits”.

Major Advantages of Guerrilla Marketing

The major advantages of guerrilla marketing are as follows:

1. Guerrilla marketing is cheap. At the low end, it’s free-and; one can’t beat free. At the high end, one may invest a few lakh rupees in promotional items or a primary, centralized piece that they can build several different campaigns around.
2. In addition to growing the business, guerrilla marketing involves networking with customers and other companies. In the process of executing and maintaining the campaign, one will make a lot of new friends and allies.
3. Guerrilla 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).
4. Many aspects of creative guerrilla marketing campaigns are just plain fun. One gets to perform wacky stunts and engage in unusual activities, all in the name of working for a living.
5. Guerrilla marketing works. If firms do the research, plan the campaign, and stick with it, they will likely have a better and more profitable business.
6. It attracts attention because it is innovative and less cluttered with competitors trying the same thing.

Major Disadvantages of Guerrilla Marketing

The significant guerrilla advantages are as follows:

1. Guerrilla marketing works – but it is not entirely safe. It is, after all, advertising, which is far from an exact science—the number of variables involved in advertising guarantees that nothing is 100 per cent effective. As with any advertising campaign, one needs help pinpointing precisely what works and what does not.
2. Guerrilla 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 the campaign.
3. If one is looking for a quick fix, guerrilla marketing is not the solution. Firms will only see instant and long-term results stemming from their efforts. An investment of time is required to achieve the business sales goals.
4. Guerrilla marketing is not for the thin-skinned or faint of heart. At the very least, firms will have a few detractors who find fault in the methods. At worst, firms may be threatened with legal action (which is why it’s so important to check the local laws before engaging in a guerrilla marketing campaign).
5. It may reach fewer people than other marketing methods can get, and the tactics are too outrageous; they may offend some people.