Week 3 - Guerilla Marketing

 I’m very intrigued by Guerilla Marketing, much more-so than the other readings in my current marketing coursework.  I feel like this book really nails what I expected to study in a marketing and advertisement management course, while also riding the “cutting edge” of future marketing strategy.  I did have a bit of an issue absorbing the points this week, however.  Partly because I’m in the middle of a role transition in my job, and partly because the material seemed overly complicated.  Not necessarily irrelevant, but I think several items could be consolidated, since the concepts are interconnected.  I found a great article from Marcus Miller (link here) that simplified the principles.  This is also where I found the excellent visual below!

 


The chapter described the 16 secrets to success in guerilla marketing. The first five revolve around dedication; commitment to the program/plan, investment to meet program resourcing needs, consistency and confidence in execution, and patience when evaluating results.  These all describe operational requirements from your organization and staff.

The next set ensures appropriate planning actions.  Your advertisement strategy needs to include assortment (variety of venues, platforms and approaches), convenience for customers and clients, a “WOW” factor (amazement), involvement or interaction with the served population, and a focus on content-based material (in lieu of pure stylistic approaches).  Dependence, as described in the book, could probably be outlined as external collaboration.  Integrating marketing venues and other businesses can only enhance your reach. Armament is another term that the book used which I think would be better represented by “arsenal” and is closely linked to assortment.  It specifically describes a multi-platform approach (your different marketing “weapons”)

While out of order in terms of the book’s definitions, the last of the 16 outlines program evaluation and feedback mechanisms that need to be emplaced.  Measurement is needed to assess the effectiveness of both the reach and interest-producing output of your marketing program.  The plan should involve subsequent milestones, where you shift focuses or adjust strategy based on the status of results.  Consent fits somewhere between planning and assessment, since predictive strategy only goes so far here.  You need to react to customer feedback, and consent describes this alignment. Last, you need to remember to augment, or react, adjust and improve your program based on your assessment system!

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