The concept of marketing, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is defined as the business activity of selling services & products, using advertising and market research. The objective of marketing is to place a product or service in front of potential customers with the intent to get them to buy. Marketing lingo refers to this consumer ‘nudge’ as a Call to Action.
Marketing strategies began with the use of signage, cold calling, and mailers, to name a few. When AM/FM radio and television exploded on the scene and became a significant part of the 20th Century’s cultural tapestry, marketing strategists recognized how these media platforms had the potential to reach thousands of consumers. This was a true game-changer.
Modern Marketing
Modern marketing still resembles its humble beginnings, as its fundamental objective remains the same. However, powerful software programs and marketplace data (now easily accessible & affordable) provide nifty digital tools to improve future marketing initiatives. Marketing gurus quickly recognized the benefits offered by these cutting-edge digital tools. Modern marketing efforts could now focus directly on their target market, rather than settling for a random consumer who happened to glance at the local newspaper.
Modern marketing takes full advantage of oodles of economic and market data; information that offers valuable insight into how to improve current marketing efforts. However, independent of these technological data-rich technological advancements, marketing requires creativity.
Economic and Market Research helps a marketer –
- Define their target market.
- Know where to find their target market.
- Design marketing plans that are more appealing to a target market.
- Maintain marketing statistics to help refine future marketing initiatives.
Real Estate Guerrilla Marketing Ideas — The Definition
Guerilla Marketing seeks to accomplish the same objectives as any other marketing strategy — to provide an advertisement (most often a visual or audible cue) that encourages the purchase of a company’s service or product. Guerilla Marketing differs in that this tactic employs an unconventional marketing campaign on a low-cost budget.
Real Estate Guerrilla Marketing Ideas — The Characteristics
Real Estate Guerrilla marketing is designed to offer an unexpected (and potentially powerful) marketing experience. Real Estate Guerilla Marketing characteristics include one or more of the following –
- They are cost effective.
- They are designed to create market chatter. They do not replace routine business advertising.
- They rely on the element of surprise and precision timing. There are no do-overs in guerrilla marketing.
- They must be original and unconventional.
- They touch consumers’ emotions.
- They are a great marketing technique for startups (i.e. low budget).
- They challenge the target market’s established brand view.
5 Modern Real Estate Guerilla Marketing Ideas
As you plan a real estate guerrilla marketing campaign, remember that guerrilla marketing encourages the campaign to ‘color outside the lines’, and to do so with imagination and creativity.
Outdoor Marketing
Outdoor real estate guerrilla marketing ideas (aka street marketing) offer countless opportunities to apply unconventional and surprising marketing campaigns. Outdoor marketing is often playfully creative but typically includes existing, familiar objects. Consider using a park bench, a tree, a manhole cover, or a building. Remember, guerrilla marketing seeks to trigger a consumer to pause and take notice as to how clever or funny the message really is.
Ambient Marketing
Ambient marketing is a technique in which advertisements are placed in unusual places, either indoors or outdoors. Ambient marketing is most successful when an effective message is paired with an unexpected media format. One example includes the placement of a realistic arm that covers the back windshield wiper. When the wiper is on, it becomes a waving arm and attracts onlookers to pause just enough for the company’s name to be seen or heard.
Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing’s objective is to provide an immersive marketing experience to the product or service’s potential target market. This guerrilla marketing campaign typically offers an interactive, random experience where customers experience the product or service before buying. Experiential marketing attempts to give consumers something to talk about! This technique is designed to elicit an emotional reaction. Many professional marketers say that a five-minute, in-person contact offers the same effectiveness of 500 social media posts.
Authenticity & Humor in Marketing
Real Estate Guerilla marketing ideas open up endless marketing campaign options; limited only by one’s imagination and creativity. Remember to include the element of surprise.
Offer a Random Act of Kindness
A random act of kindness often causes the recipient to pause, and take notice. Consider paying for the toll for the car behind you, and ask the collector to tell them it has been paid while giving them your business card. You can also create a free tour for first-time buyers that highlights the area’s neighborhoods, historical perspectives, and current real estate market conditions.
Organize a cleanup effort in the neighborhood
Order trash bags with your company’s name and logo imprinted and pass them out to volunteers.
Send marketing materials in unconventional envelopes
If a potential client receives four real estate flyers or marketing material on the same day, which piece of mail do you think they will open first?
Partner with the Red Cross and a local movie theater
Organize a blood drive for the town/neighborhood. Those willing to donate blood are offered free movie tickets, and/or a coupon for a free Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).
Social Media Marketing
In its heyday, the social media platform proved itself to be a classic guerrilla marketing technique. Its success was legendary, however, its use became so pervasive that marketing fundamentalists continue to debate whether it is a guerrilla-marketing tool. Despite this purist elite discussion, social media remains an affordable option for many industry professionals. For those interested in a challenge, the recent dilution to social media marketing’s effectiveness creates an opportunity for serious guerrilla marketing professionals to create the viral marketing campaigns of the future. Social media works best when an unconventional marketing campaign is applied.
Consult with Marketing Experts
The reality is not every individual has the skill or desire to become a marketing professional. Fortunately, there are marketing professionals available to help with a variety of marketing skills. Consider SmallBiz (Powered by LegalShield and GoSmallBiz) which offers these marketing services— without a contract — starting at only $39 monthly. This fee includes –
- Unlimited marketing consultations with marketing and legal professionals.
- A custom, digital dashboard that offers valuable insight into a marketing campaign’s performance using Google Analytics.
- Online courses.
- Website construction.
- CRM with Email marketing planning.
- Business document and forms creator.
The Take-Away
Marketing is an art form, which manifests in countless ways. Guerilla marketing is specifically designed as an ancillary marketing strategy used to generate attention to your product or service, — on a shoestring budget. Guerilla marketing relies heavily on the element of surprise and the focused application of creativity and imagination. Imagine the possibilities!
