The term “guerrilla marketing” was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in 1984, the same year he released a book with the same title.  The term refers to performing marketing and promotional activities on a low budget.  The unconventional tactics are designed to provide maximum impact while using the most minimal of resources.

Guerilla marketing can take many forms.  You can apply these tactics to promote your business both online and offline.  This type of marketing can take the form of things you are already doing and are familiar with, as well as things you may never have thought of or are too uncomfortable to try.

With guerilla marketing, you will want to think outside the box and try new things (that don’t cost a lot of money).  For instance, you can print flyers and start hanging them all over town.

Another cost-effective strategy is to create something of value and to give it away in order to attract more customers.  Have you ever walked into a restaurant or store that had a box or fishbowl sitting by the register, and people could drop in a piece of paper with their name and phone number in hopes of winning a prize?




Try doing this online by approaching websites that offer a complimentary product or service to yours and asking if you can team up with them on a contest.  Offer to give away one of your products or services to a lucky winner from their mailing list.  The owners of the complimentary website will email their mailing list about your contest and provide a link to a page on your website that includes a form where people can enter your contest.  In exchange, you can offer to give them some type of promotion on your website or through a mailing to your list.

Another topic featured in guerilla marketing is public speaking.  This is something that many people do not care for.  However, if you can get over that fear you can gain a lot of publicity this way.  You can do this online by holding free seminars on whichever topics you have branded yourself as an expert in.

Doing this is very easy.  You can search online for companies that offer free access to telephone conference lines or web conference rooms.  Once you have the date, place, and time of your seminar set, you will want to start promoting it.

You can start the publicity process by emailing your list, putting a banner up on your website, and including a link to your seminar landing page in all of your signature lines. The trick is to promote the fact that you are giving the seminar.  You can freely give out the information of the date and time.  However, make people sign up for your list before you give out the phone number to dial into or the link to the conference room.

By using some of the guerilla marketing tactics, you will be able to grow your business without spending too much money.