A guerrilla marketing idea’s cost-effective and budget-friendly force-multiplier effect can be extremely beneficial for start-ups, small businesses, and medium-sized businesses that cannot afford to engage in expensive traditional marketing and media. Thus, it is also popular with cash-strapped non-profits looking for direct ways to reach consumers without resorting to expensive advertising.

Some common features of a successful guerrilla marketing strategy:

· Guerrilla marketing has the elements of creativity, quirkiness, and surprise. In their day-to-day lives, consumers don’t expect it.

· In terms of marketing ROI, it is relatively affordable, even without considering purely monetary terms.

· It has never been done before. At the very least, it is new to the target audience.

· The campaign is direct and creates buzz.

· Social media could make it viral.

· It has the potential to generate publicity.

· This makes it ideal for word-of-mouth marketing.

· It will be perceived by many as a stunt.

· You’ll find it edgy. It is not necessarily illegal, but it is pushing the boundaries of what city officials, conservative clients, or conformist parents will approve of.

· It stirs up emotions. The best guerrilla advertising ideas generate happiness, excitement, surprise, nerves (in the case of a stunt perceived as ‘dangerous’), or even force people out of their comfort zone (which many non-profits strive for).

  Example:  For bus safety and road safety, they depicted a bus accident in the street. This created great awareness and also fear among people. In order to encourage pedestrians to look both ways before crossing, this sticker was attached to the front of a bus. It was a provocative campaign.

   So, how are you planning to implement this type of campaign in your business?