I heard it through the grapevine: B2B guerrilla marketing ideas

Guerrilla marketing is a tool that is usually used by businesses to attract clients through creating an element of surprise. It is a tactic in marketing that generates buzz around an unconventional form of advertising, with which both small and large businesses can better appeal to a target audience. Guerrilla marketing is most frequently used in B2C settings, but some contemporary companies have shown they possess the potential to effectively utilize it in a B2B setting. The strategy is often implemented via an astonishing and immersive experience that aims to influence the target audience into a particular stream of thought.

 

B2B guerrilla marketing ideas typically require a large amount of creativity to transform into innovative and desirable campaigns. The selling point for marketers themselves is that guerrilla marketing is an open playbook, there are no real set rules, just defining features. One of these features is that B2B guerrilla marketing is a cost-effective instrument that has a dramatic effect on those who experience it. Moreover, this form of marketing magnifies the brand presence surrounding the campaign as the audience becomes engaged with it emotionally, leading to a word-of-mouth campaign that is free of charge.

See why advertisers want to use guerrilla marketing.

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Guerrilla marketing plays a major role in businesses and their advancement of a product or service through its initiative in looking beyond the mainstream media to reach a wider audience. For a B2B guerrilla marketing idea to be effective it must be able to reach its target audience – and surprise them. Something that purposely intercepts viewers’ attention can leverage a B2B guerrilla marketing idea into an emotionally engaging campaign that connects with the target audience in more than one way. B2B guerrilla marketing ideas are almost limitless in their desired form; the marketer just needs to have a good understanding of who their target audience is and to approach the task with creative flair. Lush, a lawn management company, utilized a simple business card with a unique twist: it contained seeds people could grow. The subtle campaign allowed for potential customers to try out the product first-hand before committing to it.

 

 

Though there are no real concrete definitions of guerrilla marketing, it is integral to a project that the marketers “walk the walk” their target audiences are going to take. Look at the Dubai Expo for example – an event that runs for three months, its huge space of around 190 separate pavilions enables countries all around the world to come together and display what each has to offer. This is the perfect arena for a B2B guerrilla marketing idea to flourish, as it becomes possible to advertise to representatives from the entire world. A solid B2B guerrilla marketing idea would require those working on the project to understand the path each visitor would take, and what they would see from hotel to the highway all the way to the actual event space. In this context, an understanding of the right B2B guerrilla marketing idea can better facilitate the desired experience: one that will send the viewer on a journey where the destination is carefully presented. Sweden took over the digital space by presenting a campaign Dream for Earth where people from all over were asked to share their visions on different topics such as climate change, while focusing on different continents.

Read more about eco-friendly guerrilla marketing.

 

 In fact, perfect B2B guerrilla marketing ideas are carefully constructed with tactics from their namesake guerrilla warfare: ambush marketing, surprise advertising, product raiding, all to encompass the creation of a viral marketing campaign. In practice, B2B guerrilla marketing ideas are generally more directed than B2C ones, which are tailored to increase companies’ product outreach and in turn their sales. 

More on the types of street and guerrilla marketing here.

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In its essence, B2B guerrilla marketing serves as an extension of the target audience's immediate (business) desires. It operates to repurpose environments, projecting these desires through different segments and mediums. B2B guerrilla marketing ideas are often found through the directive of a creative team. These marketing teams, after giving birth to an idea, are able to utilize detailed research, sentiment analysis and data analytics to refine their understanding of which strategy is best to pursue. Freelance platform Upwork developed a unique strategy including billboards – part of traditional marketing models – that they creatively transposed into a B2B guerrilla marketing idea that linked to videos, radio and other media outlets. One of the videos directly addressed “Hey Elon Musk” and advertised the different freelance workers that could help a CEO figure. Instead of targeting Musk himself, the campaign ambushes other businesses by invoking the brand of “Elon Musk”.

 Well-executed B2B guerrilla marketing ideas cut out everything irrelevant and make their mark through ensuring the campaign is more than just a singular eventful moment. They stay in the viewer’s mind for longer, perhaps using more than one media outlet to do so. It is important that the campaign can track the thought journey of the consumer; what headlines it creates, what photos and videos are taken of it, and what comments are made about it. Campaigns such as Burger King’s Twitter post that actually asked people to order from other fast food franchises was a great success. They mixed a social appeal with ambush marketing to create a situation that benefits all the fast food chains and reaches people with different preferences.   

B2B guerrilla marketing ideas are abundant in their form and execution. This type of marketing is a creative outlet that can be used to produce large campaigns which drive sales and awareness. The important part is that there are absolutely no rules to follow, just guidelines that help make the campaign relatable to a wide range of different businesses across various industries. Both large and small companies can use B2B guerrilla marketing ideas to find success with dynamic campaigns that employ tactics to garner attention, going beyond adverts into understanding B2B needs and fulfilling these requirements.