In this article you will read how to use unconventional PR as a power channel for your real customers, and which mistakes should be avoided.
Recently, I’ve seen another wild guerrilla action. So I thought to myself, with such simple means and not at all made so expensive. Can anyone do that? Can we possibly do that too?
I want to know what this guerilla marketing is, what I can do with unconventional PR and PR stunts. Why do I need it and how does it work?
PR stunts are planned actions, events and occurrences that are rather unusual for the viewer, often inexpensive and easy to implement, and which aim to attract media attention. Unconventional PR actions can either be organized professionally or spontaneously at a suitable time.
Why such guerrilla marketing tactics make sense? With relatively small employment of means a comparatively high effectiveness exists on media and the target group.
The idea of using unconventional measures comparable to guerrilla tactics in warfare goes back to the marketing professional Jay C. Levinson.
Levinson developed the basic concept in the 1980s and published it for the first time in his book of the same name.
Pictures speak louder than words, so here is a great example of Daily Quenchers.
According to a survey by Statista, more than a quarter of the marketing decision-makers surveyed in the German economy use unconventional marketing to profile the brand.
Unconventional PR allows monetary savings of up to 90% of the original marketing budget (source: Workzone).
The colleagues from Statista also found out in the survey that the marketing decision-makers then rely on guerrilla actions when it is effective for the media.
You don’t think enough about your choice of words
Use words and statements very carefully in your guerrilla actions and let outsiders check the wording again. Otherwise, the shot will quickly backfire.
Your action is so complicated that nobody understands it
When people don’t like something, it’s boring or incomprehensible actions in marketing. Especially the latter has to be considered with guerrilla marketing measures. Does an uninvolved person understand the joke or the message behind it?
Actions without strategy
You perform untruthful PR stunts without any context or involvement in any strategy. This usually only leads to small straw fires that quickly extinguish and have no effect.
Pure self-advertising without a message
Skilful examples of guerrilla marketing convey a message to the viewer. Typically, a pure advertising slogan is not enough.
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Throughout Marketing Funnel, the activities you do with Unconventional PR are located between Top of the Funnel and the middle range.
The focus here is on measures that (potential) customers first become aware of you and your solutions and want to learn more about you.
Unconventional public relations take time and, compared to sales, for example, do not have a strong immediate impulse to encourage purchase.
The reverberation, however, is especially present when the PR stunts are embedded in a strategy.
When you compile your portfolio of channels and actions, the actions of guerrilla marketing will typically have the function of acting as seeds in the minds of potential customers.
So this channel works best in combination with the extremely targeted spears and the nets to be ejected.
Make sure you have a Call to Action
The call to action in the guerilla marketing campaign is your first step towards your customer’s heart. It can be a give-away, a coupon or a link with some special information that would entice people to search and find something for themselves.
Focus on smaller groups
It is easier to establish relationships with smaller active and enthusiastic groups and gradually go up winning more customer segments than to attempt to drop on people’s heads right out of nowhere trying to conquer the place among their favorites. Such an approach gives you the chance to leave a more lasting imprint of yourself and develop a team of advocates of your product and brand among consumers.
Entertain, startle and surprise
A successful guerilla marketing campaign creates a wow effect, for it is designed to entertain, jolt you and surprise you. An awesome example here is the now famous Dollar Shave Club Video commercial by Michael Dubin that has become an alternative to the threadbare razor commercials: it makes you smile while offering some cool and unusually simple offer of cheap and cheerful razor set boxes mail delivery.
Do not concentrate on going viral
Virality is sure not something you have to concentrate most, though if you do, that may turn out to lead to an anticipated disenchantment, like a deflated balloon after a loud party. Your key direction is to bring in some value into the lives of your customers, and you are using PR stunts to make this value entrance colorful and memorable.
Response Rate
The same as with the conventional marketing, the net response rate can be measured. Your Call to Action enables you to more accurately track the impact of your guerilla marketing campaign on the target group.
Cross-Sells
Yes, exactly guerilla actions can trigger your increased cross-selling potential with cross sales of more expensive products of yours, so that your customers buy more.
Positive Feedback
Whether it is private or published feedback, quick feedbacks from your buyers indeed helps you to sharpen your guerilla tactics and the entire marketing campaign. So, stay responsive and take action.
Referrals
Find out exactly where your customers come from and what encourages them to take action. For instance, a smartly positioned Call to Action can really make a difference.
Unconventional public relations only really become sustainable when they are packaged into an overall marketing strategy and in a larger context including a storyline. In the marketing funnel, publicity is in the Top of the Funnel area, i.e. at the very beginning.
If you don’t start with the expectation of virality, but start with a smaller and defined target group, then this is the best way to win and retain customers through PR stunts.
And now: Let yourself be inspired by already performed stunts, but please don’t just copy blindly.
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