Guerrilla (ge’rilə) marketing; an unconventional way of promotional marketing activities on a low-budget level. This aggressive marketing approach is characterised by creative and legal attacks targeted on competitors in order to maintain or increase awareness and impact to the customer. Guerrilla marketing stands for focusing on conventional goals such as profit or growth, but doing it by using exceptional promotional approaches, like advertising in yellow pages, wild postings or non-traditional outdoor advertising media vehicles. Customers are confronted with an increasing amount of advertising messages per day and therefore organisations have to develop advertising approaches to stand out in today’s media fragmentation. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises are having greater internal limitations regarding a restricted budget for marketing communications and facing bigger external uncertainties than large organisation. Thus, marketing campaigns have to become profitable for an enterprise. The low-cost communication effort is one of the major issues for guerrilla marketers. It is particular relevant for a small company to apply a differentiated set of promotional methods to diversify itself from competition, but guerrilla marketing is also becoming more adopted by large enterprises. This dissertation aims to give the reader a complementary insight of guerrilla marketing and investigates its relevance for a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in terms of generating profit. The purpose of this study is to identify how relevant this approach is to guerrilla entrepreneurs in small organisations, regarding profitability and flexibility in respect of strategy execution. The first section of this dissertation is concerned with the literal meaning and theory of guerrilla marketing, and its suitability for small and medium-scaled organisations. The second part focuses on the conduction of the survey which has been carried out in order to underline this research with qualitative and quantitative findings. Those findings are visualised and analysed in part three. The fourth part of this research study forms the implications of findings part, in which the results will be evaluated regarding the relevance of guerrilla marketing to small companies. The conclusion of this dissertation combined with a comparison between theory and practice highlight the last section of this research study.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1 Marketing Warfare Strategy
2.2 The Term ‘Guerrilla’
2.3 Guerrilla Marketing
2.3.1 Guerrilla Marketing Benefits
2.3.2 Guerrilla Marketing Principles
2.3.3 Non-traditional Guerrilla Advertising Methods
2.3.4 Word-of-mouth Communication
2.4 SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise)
2.5 Guerrilla Marketing Relevance to SMEs
2.5.1 Relevance of E-marketplace Guerrilla Marketing to SMEs
2.6 Examples of Guerrilla Campaigns
2.7 Conclusion of Literature Review
3. Methodology
3.1 The Research Process
3.2 Problem Definition
3.3 Research Design
3.3.1 Survey
3.3.2 Self-administered Questionnaire
3.3.3 Internet Questionnaire
3.3.4 Question Design
3.3.5 Critique
3.4 Sampling Unit
3.5 Data Collection
3.6 Data Analysis
3.7 Limitations of Methodology
4. Findings and Analysis
5. Implications of Findings and Analysis
6. Comparison between Theory and Practice
7. Conclusion
8. Further Areas of Research
9. References
10. Bibliography
11. Appendix
Research Objectives and Themes
This study investigates the relevance of guerrilla marketing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), specifically focusing on how this aggressive and low-cost marketing approach impacts profitability and organizational flexibility.
- Strategic application of guerrilla marketing in SMEs
- The relationship between low-budget tactics and profit generation
- The role of organizational flexibility and lean structures
- Implementation of unconventional and digital marketing methods
- Comparative analysis of theoretical concepts versus practical application
Excerpt from the Book
2.3 Guerrilla Marketing
The unprecedented fragmentation in the traditional media challenge organisations to implement the utilisation of unexpected, creative and in-your-face messaging guerrilla marketing tactics to gain high impact at a low-cost level (www.warc.com).
In the 1970s, in order to promote his new film ‘Frenzy’, Alfred Hitchcock floated a dummy of himself down London’s Thames River. This was an unusual promoting activity which can be seen as one of the first guerrilla marketing pushes into the markets, by creating buzz around the movie (www.economist.com). Guerrilla marketing matters more than before to small organisations but it is as well, more and more adopted in larger companies to create buzz.
The marketing theorists Al Ries & Jack Trout (1986) defined guerrilla marketing as a constructive marketing strategy of SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) competing with large organisations.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the definition of guerrilla marketing as an unconventional, low-budget approach and establishes the study's goal to investigate its relevance for SMEs.
2. Literature Review: Examines marketing warfare strategies, the origins of the term 'guerrilla', and specific benefits and methods relevant to SMEs, including digital and word-of-mouth techniques.
3. Methodology: Describes the systematic research process, focusing on the use of a self-administered internet questionnaire distributed to 65 German SMEs to gather primary data.
4. Findings and Analysis: Presents the empirical results from the survey, detailing the demographics, operational turnover, and experiences of the participating SMEs with guerrilla tactics.
5. Implications of Findings and Analysis: Interprets the survey results, highlighting the correlation between lean organizational structures and the ability to execute flexible, profitable guerrilla marketing strategies.
6. Comparison between Theory and Practice: Evaluates the alignment between academic literature and practical industry application, noting that guerrilla marketing is particularly attractive to younger SME entrepreneurs.
7. Conclusion: Summarizes that guerrilla marketing is a vital, cost-efficient tool for SMEs to gain awareness, provided it is aligned with the company's core values and target audience.
8. Further Areas of Research: Suggests future investigations into whether guerrilla marketing is a lasting competitive concept or a passing fad, and calls for deeper analysis of short-term versus long-term campaign effects.
Keywords
Guerrilla Marketing, SME, Profitability, Flexibility, Marketing Strategy, Low-budget, Advertising, Word-of-mouth, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Market Segment, Innovation, Competitive Advantage, Entrepreneurship
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this dissertation?
The dissertation investigates the relevance of guerrilla marketing as a strategy for SMEs, specifically examining how it impacts profitability and organizational flexibility.
What are the primary themes addressed?
Key themes include the adaptation of guerrilla tactics for low-budget environments, the importance of lean management for flexibility, and the use of unconventional advertising to cut through media fragmentation.
What is the central research question?
The primary research question is: "How relevant is guerrilla marketing to an SME in terms of profitability and flexibility?"
What research methodology was employed?
The study used a combination of literature review and an empirical internet-based survey conducted among 65 SMEs in the German market.
What does the main body of the work cover?
The main body covers the theoretical foundation of guerrilla marketing, an in-depth analysis of SMEs, the research design process, and a comprehensive analysis of the survey findings.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include Guerrilla Marketing, SME, Profitability, Flexibility, Low-budget, and Competitive Advantage.
How does guerrilla marketing benefit the organizational structure of an SME?
Because SMEs often have lean management structures, guerrilla marketing allows them to execute and adjust strategies rapidly, providing the flexibility needed to respond to market shifts without complex hierarchies.
What role does the internet play in modern guerrilla marketing?
The internet serves as a low-cost platform that allows SMEs to reach specific target groups, spread buzz through digital channels, and compete more effectively with larger organizations.
- Quote paper
- MSc International Marketing Strategy Benjamin Bach (Author), 2006, An investigaton into the relevance of Guerrilla Marketing to small and medium-sized enterprises, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/83724
