Guerrilla Marketing Isn't Just Monkey Business

Your marketing budget is tight, maybe minuscule. What to do? Guerrilla marketing may be the answer. With imagination, sweat equity and time, you can give your competitors a run for their money without breaking the bank. But guerrilla marketing is more than a quirky slogan, a controversial ad or a low-budget flyer. Here are a dozen things to keep in mind when going guerrilla:

Be creative and fun

The essence of a guerrilla campaign is that it's witty, has a lot of personality and strikes a chord. Meanwhile, the message -- to buy your product or service -- is so subtle, viewers or readers don't feel they're being pressured to make a purchase. For example, 1-800-FLOWERS launched Boykame.com, a virtual way to send flowers to others. "It was a fun way of doing something," recalls Jordan Glogau, founder of Haiku Marketing. "Now, we're brainstorming how can we get more people to use it? How to monetize it?"

Take a risk

Don't be afraid to push the envelope a little if that's where your audience is. For example, John Palumbo, author of "What's Your Sales DNA?" (Sterling Learning Group), encouraged a real-estate client to send out postcards that may offend. Rather than highlighting the property's beautiful views and serenity, he suggested the postcards say, "You have to be crazy to buy real estate right now, unless you know what you're doing." Another postcard would say, "Bet you know a lot of losers who bought real estate a couple of years ago. Aren't you glad you waited?"