Blog - budget

Guerilla Marketing

10.10.11

This week we tackle one of our favourite topics, the concept of Guerilla marketing. The term, coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in 1970, describes an unconventional form of marketing intended to achieve maximum results using the minimum budget. Something we are sure all businesses will appreciate!

The main job of any guerilla campaign is to be noticed and remembered by the target audience. “Guerilla marketing works because it’s simple to understand, easy to implement and outrageously inexpensive.” – Levinson. The use of this type of marketing is effective for SMEs because it does not require big budgets. The most vital part of a guerilla campaign is creating a buzz around the message or product to ensure it gets people talking. Levinson states, “Broadening your search isn’t as important as aiming your message at the right people.”

Another advantage of Guerilla marketing is that it is unexpected - the recipient is caught off guard and as a result is more susceptible to an emotional response – laughter, confusion, happiness etc. This reaction is far more memorable than more traditional forms of marketing.

What is the difference between guerilla and traditional marketing?

In the 40’s and 50’s, the main goal of advertising was focused on educating your target audience, rather than entertaining or engaging with them. People became desensitized to this form of marketing and by the 70’s things needed to change. In response, Guerilla Marketing came into being and challenged traditional advertising, which revolved around huge budgets and widespread exposure.  The attraction of guerilla marketing is that it is not educational or designed to teach us something. Instead, it evokes a unique reaction to distinguish the business and ensure it is memorable.

The interactive form of some guerilla marketing also allows the audience to feel as though they are part of a project, thereby fostering a relationship with the business. The more creative a project, the more attention it gets.  

However, “mediocre marketing with commitment works better than brilliant marketing without commitment.”  The main tenet for effective guerrilla marketing is time and effort. SMEs tend to have a greater awareness of their immediate marketplace, so preparation is key. Businesses need to generate interest by concentrating their efforts on small, focused areas of promotion that are effective; and then repeat them over and over again. This formula is demonstrated in the TLC Business PIPE Marketing Formula.

Preparation + Inspiration + Perspiration + Evaluation = Realisation

Without the ‘Preparation’ and ‘Inspiration’, SME’s will waste valuable time and money. The amount of time spent understanding your target audience is directly proportionate to the eventual success of your campaign.

An example of a successful guerrilla campaign is the Innocent Smoothie van. Their vehicles are covered in real, growing grass and are often seen around cities delivering smoothies. This type of guerrilla marketing allows a business to build awareness of their brand without necessarily pushing their products. The vans also serve a real purpose (delivering smoothies) and therefore do not alienate the customer or look like an advert.

Another campaign placed bottles of Absolut vodka on the luggage belt at an airport. The company placed their product in a setting in where their target audience are forced to wait, and therefore are more aware of any distractions.

Creating a big visual impact is also important in making a big impression, so there are alot of PR oppurtunities for SMEs. Swedish furniture company IKEA make over unattractive street corners in Manhattan with their colourful furniture.  The campaign not only creates an awareness of their products by placing them in front of consumers, but it challenges more traditional marketing methods by placing their furniture in an unconventional, and therefore more memorable, setting.

Be warned though, the jarring effect of some guerrilla marketing campaigns has actually caused them to be unsuccessful.  Toyota recently started a campaign called “Your Other You”, which was designed as a website to “prank your friends.” In one case, a woman was signed up by her friend and promptly began to receive a barrage of disturbing text messages, phone calls, e-mails and videos over a five day period. Miss Duick was reported to have believed she was being stalked and felt extremely frightened. She is now suing the company for $10 million. They say there is no such thing as bad publicity; Toyota may beg to differ.

In 2010, the total UK marketing spend was estimated at £16.6 billion. Businesses have clearly been spending. However, it is important as ever that businesses use their budget where it will be most effective. Guerilla Marketing should be appealing to SMEs because of its emphasis on investing time, energy and creativity, rather than money. If you get it right and start people talking (for the right reasons!) your target audience will do your job for you.  Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, it needs inspiration and imagination. Think differently and you can achieve maximum results!

Let us know about your Guerilla Marketing campaigns. What worked and what didn’t!

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Marketing Budget - Money Well Spent?

14.04.11

As the new financial year begins, many of us will be busy putting together our new marketing budget for 2011. Budgeting can be a difficult process; many companies estimate or base their budget on last year. We feel there are more effective means but an estimate is better than nothing. Either route you take, it is important to review and evaluate what worked and what didn’t for your business in 2010. Any time and money you spend on marketing is an investment in your business, so you need to make sure it's time and money well spent.

When completing your new marketing budget, it is important to consider any changes that may have happened in your industry. Have there been any important innovations? What about the use of technology within your market? What about the distribution channels used to deliver your product or service? 

As well as looking outside the box, it is important to consider factors within your business. What were the most successful marketing activities last year? Can they be repeated? It might be an event your business ran or a successful lead generation campaign. Likewise, what are the failures that should be omitted all together this year? Did your advert generate any sales? What about the mailouts? Did you follow them up with a phone call? No? Perhaps that is why they weren’t more effective. When evaluating the relative success or failures from last year, it is important to ascertain whether it was the implementation of the campaign or the activity itself that was fundamental in the success or failure. Don’t make kneejerk reactions.

A new international survey from E-consultancy and SAS found that overall marketing budgets are up, with over 52% of UK businesses claiming to have increased their marketing budget for 2011. Digital marketing continues to be the focus for many marketing budgets, with 72% of companies investing online, compared to 26% purely on offline channels such as print and direct mail.

As an SME ourselves, we understand that marketing budgets can be tight. But that doesn’t mean you can’t budget. We’ve put together some effective, low cost activities that your business can do online in 2011. The success of these activities can be easily measured, helping evaluate the success of your activities when it comes time to define your budget for 2012.

• Web Content – Is your website up to date, do you spend time generating new and relevant content for your website? Keeping your content moving is a great way of getting the search engines to love your website and keeping your target audience fully informed. Do you use Google Analytics to review traffic to your website on a monthly basis? Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool for businesses to understand and measure the effectiveness of their marketing mix – a great way to determine appropriate areas for your future marketing budget.
• Social Media – Do you have a strategy in place? Have you set a target of likes/followers you want to reach in the next 6 months? Yes, you do have to invest your time in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, however, it’s a great way to showcase your business and keep customers up to date with your business activities and news.
• Email Marketing – Do you monitor who views and opens your email campaigns. E-marketing software is a great tool to measure how successful your emails have been. Integrate your email marketing with telemarketing; call the companies that are showing an interest in your emails.

Now is the time businesses need to look closely at their past, present and future marketing activities. Businesses need to create more revenue for less cost and this can take some creative thinking. If you are struggling to know where to spend your marketing budget most effectively on measurable solutions, click here to find out more about TLC Business FREE Marketing MOT. 

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What is in your marketing budget?

29.06.10

Some businesses complain they don’t have a marketing budget, whilst others religiously put aside an amount of money to allocate towards marketing activities throughout the year.  At TLC Business, we feel that the most efficient way to budget is to make sure every marketing activity in your plan is included to meet a specific objective. It makes for a more efficient and cost-effective investment of your money, rather than putting aside a pot of money that is continually dipped into until it is empty.

We have put together 3 example marketing mixes, for those with no budget, through to those with ambitions to grow quickly.

No budget:
If you have no money for marketing do not despair, fortunately for you, we now have the internet, which affords huge marketing opportunities for those that are willing to invest their time:

1. SEO: if you have a website, but no budget for paying a professional SEO company to get your site on the front pages of Google, why not consider DIY SEO. You might be surprised at what a little research, keyword analysis tools and some link building will achieve. Oh, and don’t forget to update your content regularly either.
2. Social Media & blogging: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, online forums etc. There is no end to the different platforms you can utilise to engage with potential customers, enhance your credibility and grow your brand recognition. You’ve got no excuses either. It is free and all it requires is an investment of your time.
3. Networking: whilst online networking is expanding rapidly, face-to-face networking is still a vital tool for SMEs to get out there and meet potential customers, partners and suppliers. There are an increasing number of free events but choose them wisely, you often get what you pay for.

Tight budget:
If you’ve set aside a marketing budget but have to be extremely careful as to how you spend it (like most of us) then the internet is a blessing to you too. As well as the 3 tips above, consider:

1.  Email marketing: this is an incredibly cost-effective medium for communicating with large numbers of people. The bit we like and are constantly raving about is that it is the marketing medium that just keeps giving. Not only does it communicate your message to your target audience but it then tells you who was listening and what they are interested in, incredibly useful when managing a tight budget.
2. Adwords: we feel that advertising is often an ineffective medium for many SMEs. However, adwords is a big exception. Managed correctly, it is an incredibly effective means of communicating with your target audience. Only pay for those people you want to visit your landing page and again, it is entirely measurable, so there is no need for elaborate guess work when deciding if an advert is working.
3. Telemarketing: love it or hate it, for many businesses this should be a vital tool in your marketing mix. If you can’t stand the constant rejection, get the professionals in. For those B2B businesses out there telemarketing is often a lead generation winner.

Ambitious budget:
For those businesses that really want to make their mark and grow this year, getting the biggest bang for your buck is still important. Including the different media above in your marketing mix is still important, however, to increase impact consider:

1. Direct Mail: the age of mass marketing has come to an end. With all the customer information available to businesses now, you can target your ideal customers more efficiently. Having built a list of interested prospects through email marketing and adwords, you still can’t beat an engaging and quirky direct mail piece to get them hooked.
2. Events: they can be hard work and often costly but organising an event for customers, prospects and partners can be a very effective way of generating new business, PR and awareness. To reduce the cost and workload and expand your reach, consider a joint event with a complimentary business partner. Two heads are always better than one.
3. Advertising: we would caution any SME about taking out adverts in magazines and newspapers without having considered it thoroughly. If you are going to advertise make sure your advert has a clear call to action, a means of measuring its effectiveness (like a quotable promo code) and is not a one-off but instead run as part of a series of multiple issues. If done correctly, advertising is still an incredibly effective means of generating new business. But we stress the words ‘if done correctly’. If not, it is an incredibly efficient way of wasting money quickly!

We hope this has given you some food for thought. There are many more activities you can include in your marketing mix. This is just a taster. So be sure to consider the plethora of activities and opportunities available to your business when putting together your next budget.

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