Guerrilla Marketing - Why it IS sometimes also about Monkeys!

Getting noticed with marketing efforts is the goal of any marketer, business owner, or entrepreneur, and turning to monkeys for help can sometimes give that message an old-fashioned laugh or extra ounce of humor!

According to the Wikipedia entry for Guerrilla Marketing, the definition is: "an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places or ideas, which can make the idea that's being marketed memorable, generate buzz, and even spread virally."

To me the true definition today needs to focus on the web generation of marketing tactics (social media is a fun and effective promotional channel). Real Guerrilla Marketing involves interesting and out of the box approaches either online or offline (or both), depending on your target audience (are you local/regional/or national?) and what your "call-to-action" may be for your customers.

Giving away ice-cream at a batting cage, or an innovative street giveaway, zany stunts designed to generate great results from minimal investments is a great locally based business objective. If you are trying to promote a website or online store, turning to tactics focused online is a good place to get creative and find something that can build your brand and get spread virally since it's much easier to get your potential customers to click than it is to drive to a store.

Here are a few of the creative approaches to guerrilla marketing that have been successfully employed that I share with students in strategic marketing lectures.

"Fake Arm Sticking Out of a NYC Cab for 'Soprano's' TV Show" stunt, where literally, there was a fake arm sticking out of a cabbie trunck, where pedestrians and fellow drivers took a second shocked glance and then noticed the clever markting tactic advertising the upcoming season of the Soprano's.

"Monk-e-mail" One of my favorite web generation guerrilla marketing moves also turned viral marketing was from CareerBuilder.com, by Oddcast, called Monk-e-mail, where visitors were encouraged to develop a message to send to someone while choosing between which monkey character, voice, accessories, and background they should create as the message sender. If you haven't ever sent a Monk-e-mail, I would suggest indulging, as a "marketing lesson" or for just plain fun.

(now they have woven in the use of social media marketing with a twitter profile, as a dedicated place to broadcast the messages for fun! www.twitter.com/monkemail)

"Trunk Monkey" Another great monkey marketing creative campaign concept that was produced for Suburban Auto Group in 2003, which featured a string of regional television advertisements for car dealerships in Oregon, starring a new auto feature the "Trunk Monkey" which was incredibly humorous and went viral on YouTube with about a million views from all the video clips that went online (they even have a page on Wikipedia). Watch the ad campaign compilation on YouTube and see if you think having a monkey in their ads was a good move. (Post campaign, a viral Trunk Monkey following truly began online!) The series of commercials has since been licensed from the advertising agency to at least 45 car dealerships around the United States as well as New Zealand.

The bottom line is simply this: create a compelling message that hits your target audience in a place where they will hear, see or listen to it and then hopefully be so intrigued by it they share it for you (this is eWOM is cyber world, e-word-of-mouth marketing which is the best kind of endorsement you can hope for)!

Maybe your message even includes the use of funny-faced monkeys. Get creative, be funny, share value and watch as your success rolls in!

Yours Socially,
Amber
@AllStagesMktg

Amber Sims Hinterplattner
All Stages Marketing
www.AllStagesMarketing.com
www.twitter.com/AllStagesMktg