Social eCommerce

Chapter 7. Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing means using low-cost, unexpected, and/or unorthodox promotional strategies to market a product or service. Guerrilla marketing isn’t usually something you can pay for, so it typically substitutes an ad budget for an investment of time, energy, and creativity. It requires a high level of engagement, excitement, and innovation.

This may be your best shot at success in ecommerce through social media if you’re not prepared to invest a ton of money and a ton of risk. There’s an ethical line, though, and you don’t want to cross it. Creating a bizarre ad that attracts a lot of clicks is one thing, but creating a knowingly misleading ad in order to trick people into buying from you is never a good idea.

You have to be careful here, because it’s easy to upset people and cross the line into black hat territory. If you stay on the straight and narrow, it’s boring; if you go too far off the road, it’s offensive.

The main concept to remember here is: be original and creative and address the trends, but don’t use things for unintended purposes. Don’t exploit any bugs or loopholes, and don’t game the system. If you do, you’ll be discovered and punished eventually, and that can erase all of the gains you’ve made—maybe more. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some unique, niche tactics that you can add to your marketing strategy.

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