Advantages and Weaknesses of Guerrilla Marketing

This article discusses the advantages and weaknesses of guerrilla marketing, a low-cost and unconventional advertising strategy. It explores the benefits of low costs, enhanced creativity, and innovation, as well as the challenges of measuring ROI and potential misconceptions.

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Table of Contents
Advantages and Weaknesses of Guerrilla Marketing................................................................2
Success Story of Walmart from Inception to Global Dominance..............................................3
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Advantages and Weaknesses of Guerrilla Marketing
Guerilla Marketing is the advertising strategy which mainly focuses on the low-cost
unconventional marketing aspect and tactics which will help yield the maximum results
appropriately. The significant advantages of Guerrilla Marketing are inclusive of the
following elements:
Low Costs- It is the kind of marketing which is cheaper to execute in comparison to
the traditional type of marketing. Moreover, with the help of Guerrilla Marketing, it helps
enhance the performance, customer base and gaining competitive advantage in the market as
well (Dinh and Mai 2016). The different Guerrilla marketers in the entire world have seen
more than 90% reductions in the various advertisements due to the unconventional approach.
Enhancement of Creativity- It is the other aspect wherein the respective method
relies on creativity than the amount of money which is being spent. It helps create a
memorable experience for the different customers and supports the brands in going viral in
the market as well (Gökerik et al. 2018).
Innovation and Authenticity- It is the last aspect of the Guerrilla Marketing in which
it associates the brand with proper innovation that will be attractive. For example- Coca Cola
is not a small company; it is one of the million-billion-dollar conglomerates, however, the
company has been able to gain more customer base from the usage of Guerrilla Marketing
(Gökerik et al. 2018). The Coke Happiness Machine is the campaign which went viral was
the sheer genuineness of the different reactions of the students.
Disadvantages of Guerrilla Marketing
No method to measure the ROI- In Guerrilla marketing, the viral content is not easy
to track outside of the few locations along with time frame. Moreover, there are issues in

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determining conversion rate along with cost per response as there is no such inclusion of a
pre-determined number of the consumers (Gupta and Singh 2017).
The misconception of the Campaign- It is the other issue wherein there can be the
inclusion of fake products which is showcased by the companies and it will create a negative
impact on the perceptions of the customers (Gökerik et al. 2018). There can be a different
personal judgment of the various individuals that affect the overall effectiveness of the
advertisement.
Success Story of Walmart from Inception to Global Dominance
One of the best and suitable examples of the power of the explicit along with
systematic process is to analyse the complex set of various factors which is included in
becoming the most appropriate global player is Wal-Mart Inc (Corporate.Walmart.com
2019). It is the largest retailer in the entire world wherein the company first opened their
international store in Mexico in the year 1991 and the present scenario, the company is
operating in more than 50 states such as Canada, China, Brazil, Britain, South Korea and
Puerto Rico.
Moreover, Wal-Mart has pursued the strategy related to globalisation aggressively
since its first move across the border in 1991. By the year 1998, Wal-Mart had grown to 18%,
and between 1995 and 1998, more than 5% of the growth of the company was in sales, and
more than 4% of the profits came from the different international operations
(Businessinsider.com 2019). The growth was essential for Wal-Mart as the organization
required to show the increase in profits and sales as to satisfy the expectations of the capital
market.

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In undertaking the global expansion aspect, Wal-Mart had the accurate capacity to leverage
the two significant resources developed initially in the United States. Moreover, the company
was able to leverage sales generating or the ideas related to cost reduction which was learned
by them in the international outlets to benefit the 3000 United States stores
(Businessinsider.com 2019). The other success story of the global expansion of Wal-Mart
was the Local Adaption wherein the organization was able to establish their local presence,
and they tried to understand the unique local market and established the business model as
per the local adaption. Besides, Walmart took six years to reach $7.5 billion in international
sales (Corporate.Walmart.com 2019). Lastly, the dedicated workforce of Wal-Mart has been
able to build large discount stores in different and small rural towns.

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References
Businessinsider.com 2019 The Incredible Story Of Walmart's Expansion From Five & Dime
To Global Megacorp (online) Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/the-
incredible-story-of-walmarts-expansion-from-five-and-dime-to-global-megacorp-2011-7
[Accessed on 8th April 2019]
Corporate.Walmart.com 2019 our-story/our-history - Walmart Corporate (online) Retrieved
from https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-history [Accessed on 8th April 2019]
Dinh, T.D. and Mai, K.N., 2016. Guerrilla marketing’s effects on Gen Y’s word-of-mouth
intention–a mediation of credibility. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 28(1),
pp.4-22.
Gökerik, M., Gürbüz, A., Erkan, I., Mogaji, E. and Sap, S., 2018. Surprise me with your ads!
The impacts of guerrilla marketing in social media on brand image. Asia Pacific Journal of
Marketing and Logistics, 30(5), pp.1222-1238.
Gupta, H. and Singh, S., 2017. Sustainable practices through green guerrilla marketing–an
innovative approach. Journal on Innovation and Sustainability. RISUS ISSN 2179-3565, 8(2),
pp.61-78.