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Guerrilla Marketing: Innovative (And Cheap!) Ways to Get the Word Out

Transcript Now Available!

If you are like most nonprofits, your marketing budget is not just meager, it’s probably non-existent.

Despite the fact that you lack the resources to really “do marketing,” your organization needs to get the word out about your mission and the resources you need to deliver on that mission to the people that you serve. In the 1990s, Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term, “guerrilla marketing,” which simply put, means using unconventional and unorthodox means to get the word out. He since turned the idea into an industry unto itself, and even wrote a book specific to the challenges faced by nonprofits.

If you and your organization are struggling with how best to get the word out with a limited budget, join the #fundchat community on Wednesday, May 16 at 12 p.m. EDT to discuss, “Guerrilla Marketing: Innovative (And Cheap!) Ways to Get the Word Out.”

Share your experience with guerrilla tactics, get tips about planning and execution, and find out what hasn’t worked and what ended up being a homerun for a fellow nonprofit organization.

Here’s what to do:

  • Submit specific questions you’d like to see covered during the conversation in the comments section below. We typically try to post the final line-up of questions before the chat, so bookmark this post!
  • Retweet and share this post with your followers and other social networks.
  • Join the conversation on Wednesday, May 16 from 12 pm – 1 pm.
  • Use our new live discussion page or follow the conversation using the#fundchat hashtag and your favorite Twitter client.

#fundchat is a weekly conversation on Twitter where experts from across the U.S. (and even the world) share, advise, and even consult on topics related to nonprofit fundraising and marketing. Joining #fundchat is a snap. Just use our live discussion page to follow the conversation. When you want to offer a comment or question, the form will auto-fill the hashtag for you. Alternatively, you can use your favorite Twitter client to follow the hashtag (#fundchat!) during 12 – 1 pm EDT to see the conversation in action. When chiming in, be sure to include the hashtag in your tweet. If you are new, you should also check out our participation guidelines.

  • BrendanKinney

    @Avigail tweeted the following question: “I’d love to hear about how to sell the concept of longer-term ROI to non-fundraisers.”

    • http://www.diversa.ca lpena

       @BrendanKinney  @Avigail Peter aka @SeattleDrury has a great tool for that and it makes so much sense than the traditional ROI report for boards. Ask him to email it to you.

      • sldoolittle

         
        @avigail Here’s the link to seattledrury’s beyond cash dashboard. Like @lpena said, it’s gold!  http://bit.ly/aLZKIG

        • BrendanKinney

           @sldoolittle  seattledrury  @lpena  @avigail Thanks for sharing this…great resource! Will be sure to throw it out during tomorrow’s #fundchat!

  • http://www.diversa.ca lpena

    1) How does your communications department integrate guerilla marketing in its strategies?
    2) What have guerilla tactics has your org tried?
    3) What worked, what didn’t?
    4) Are there ethical/legal issues you need to keep in mind?
    5) How have you evaluated your guerilla tactics?
     
    How’s that Brendan? Wish I could join you but I am completely booked in meetings all day long. I look forward to reading the transcript.
     
    (hugs) L

  • rjbvermont

    I think Ligia’s questions will frame a great discussion. If you want to swim upstream a bit, you might try something like this: “Marketing” can be a fuzzy concept at a
    non-profit (some of which are awash in customers). How does your organization define it, and does the concept require some internal guerrilla marketing itself?

    Not sure I’ll be able to join the chat tomorrow, but will try.

  • sldoolittle

    Picturing myself reading the transcript and finding inspiration in people’s answers to: What low-cost marketing technique most surprised you and why? And if there is time and it fits with the conversation, how do you use marketing campaigns to improve fundraising results?

  • BrendanKinney

    Thanks so much for all of your feedback. How does this sound for a #fundchat line-up:
     
    Q1 Has your organization experimented with “guerrilla marketing?” Why or why not?
    Q2 What kinds of guerrilla tactics have worked for your organization (or didn’t)? Or share those you admire…
    Q3 Guerrilla marketing ROI can be even harder to quantify than standard tactics. How do you justify these within your org?
    Q4 How does your organization integrate guerrilla marketing in its more traditional communications strategies?
    Q5 How can organizations use guerrilla marketing to improve fundraising?

  • http://www.seattledrury.com seattledrury

    Why thank you all! @sldoolittle  @lpena @BrendanKinney Kind of you to mention me. You can dowload the most current version here: http://claxonmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/PeterDrury_FundraisingDashboard2011x.pdf

    • BrendanKinney

       @seattledrury  @sldoolittle  @lpena Thanks so much for sharing this tool. It’s brilliant. I’m not kidding.

    • rjbvermont

      @seattledrury @sldoolittle @lpena @BrendanKinney Just adding my praise: Peter shared this a while back and I love it’s creativity and thoroughness (I love the integration of context & even instructions)