Guerrilla Advertising Strategy

From China to Cuba to Vietnaam, history teaches the power of a guerrilla movement. In business, too, a guerrilla has a reservoir of tactical advantages that allows the small company to flourish in the land of the giants.

Size, of course, is relative. The smallest automobile company (American Motors) is considerably larger than the largest shaving company (Gillette). Yet American Motors should fight a guerrilla war and, Gillette should fight a defensive war.

What’s more important than your own size is the size of your competition. The key to marketing warfare is to tailor your tactics to your competition, not to your own company.

Guerrilla Principle #.1

“Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.”

It could be small geographically. Or in volume. Or in some other aspect difficult for a larger company to attack.

A Guerrilla strategy doesn’t change the mathematics of marketing. (Big company still beats the small company.) Rather a Guerrilla tries to reduce the size of the battleground in order to achieve a superiority of force. In other words, tries to become a big fish in the small pond.

Guerrilla Principle #.2

“No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader.”

The day the guerrilla company orders its first Cadillac limousine for the chairman of the board is the day the guerrilla company starts to go downhill.

The Americans would have won the war in Vietnam if they could have persuaded the Vietcong to send their officers to West Point to learn how to fight like we do.

And most guerrilla companies are lucky their leaders didn’t go to the Harvard Business School to learn how to market like General Motors, General Electric, and General Dynamics.

That’s not to say that the business schools of this world don’t produce excellent leaders. They do, for the big companies whose case histories make up the core of their curriculum. But the essence of guerrilla strategy and tactics is the opposite of what’s right for the Fortune 500 crowd.

Successful guerrillas operate with a different organization and a different timetable.

They went to Vietnam with thousands of cooks, bakers, clerks, chauffeurs, chaplains, public relation officers. The enemy had none of these. Enemy soldiers had a gun, which they used against them. A large amount of solider where used, in managing, supplying, and servicing the needs of fighting men.

Guerrilla Principle #.3

“Be prepared to bug out at a moment’s notice.”

A guerrilla also can take advantage of its small size to make quick decisions. This can be a precious asset when competing with the big national companies to whom a quick decision means 6 weeks of staff work instead of the usual 6 months.

A company that runs away lives again to fight another day. This advice is right out of the pages of Che Guevara. Don’t hesitate to abandon a position or a product if the battle turns against you. A guerrilla doesn’t have the resources to waste on a lost cause. A guerrilla should be quick to give up and move on.

Here’s where the advantage of flexibility and a lean organization really pays off. A guerrilla can often take up a new position without the internal pain and stress that a big company goes through.

The lack of titles and staff can also be a big benefit. If you’re the executive vice president of Latin America and your company tries to give up on the Latin American market, you’re going to fight tooth and nail to hold on to your position. A lot of infighting has to take place before things get changed in a big company.

A small company can change things around without making internal waves.

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Related posts:

1. What is Advertising?
2. Online Advertising Models
3. Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix
4. Advertising Types
5. Planning and Marketing Strategy

Tags: 500 Fortune Company, Automobile Company, China, General Motors, Gillette, Guerrilla Advertising Strategy, Harvard Business School, Limousine, Market, Marketing, Principle, Segment, Vietnaam