Halloween is a Great Opportunity for Guerilla Marketing

Halloween is fast becoming a major event in North America. The ‘why’ in the holiday escapes me other than it was a lot of fun when my kids were younger. Now though, I don’t see the fascination with dressing up as one’s favorite alter-ego?

I do, however, see the marketing opportunities that are presented with Halloween, one of my favourite techniques, Guerilla Marketing.

Halloween Offers Guerilla Marketing Opportunities

Guerilla Marketing was first made famous in Jay Conrad’s book by the same name in 1983 and now in its 4^th edition. It’s a marketing strategy or approach used by businesses in an unconventional way with limited budget.

Guerilla Marketing involves high energy activity that is designed to be very personal or memorable. The main point of guerrilla marketing is it’s activity done exclusively on the streets or other public places, such as shopping centers, parks or beaches to attract a bigger audience.

Guerilla Marketing is extremely effective for small businesses and entrepreneurs as it can be done inexpensively and personally.

Types of Guerilla Marketing

There is a long list of tactics that can be used to get your message out there in a very memorable way. Here are just a few:

1. Ambush Marketing. This is used by a business that wants to capitalize on the hype surrounding an event yet they have no association with the gathering. During the 2012 London Olympics, Nike – who were not sponsors – did a series of commercials titled, “find your greatness” featuring athletes doing various activities in locations called “London” but not actually in London, England. This built a very strong affiliation with the Nike and the games.
2. Stealth Marketing. This type of marketing involves silently moving into a market and not marketing at all, but letting the product create a ‘buzz’ on its own. The reinvention of the ‘Hush Puppy’ brand did this when they had influential people wear their shoes without making any noise at all about it. Next thing we knew, Hush Puppy shoes were exploding in sales.
3. Viral Marketing. This uses the power of Social Media to spread a message because of the creative involved, not the product. The “You Got to See This” factor drives views or shares. Awareness blooms and sales boom.
4. Grassroots Marketing. This is all about winning awareness and business one person at a time. Professional Service solopreneurs do this all the time by having a ‘Touch System’ for their prospects and customers. They have systems of habits for looking for valuable pieces of data that they can share with prospects or clients. Christmas, birthday, other holiday cards. “I saw this and thought of you” newspaper clippings, etc.
5. Wild Posting Marketing. This is an old-school, feet on the street approach, where entrepreneurs or students will pass out brochures or leaflets, stick up posters on street poles, create fridge magnets, stickers, labels etc.
6. Street Marketing. This type of marketing is best recognized by someone (usually a starving student) dressed in some strange costume, holding a sign directing traffic to a particular location. The figure is usually dancing.

These are just a few examples of Guerilla Marketing. The point is that Guerilla Marketing can be incredibly effective, fast and inexpensive. The more creative you can be, often the more successful you can be. It is all about being memorable!

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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