Guerrilla marketing, embedded marketing, and native advertising are three forms of Internet marketing, but what is the difference and what is best for you?
Guerrilla Marketing
I first heard this term used when I worked for Sony, back in 1984. Morrita, the chairman and founder of Sony, had probably read the book, Guerrilla Marketing, by Jay Conrad Levinson.
Guerilla marketing is an advertising strategy that is best for any business with limited advertising budgets. In general, it is an innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing technique aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product. Morrita suggested that the small marketing groups in Sony, get their dealers to do most of the marketing.
More recently, guerilla marketing is associated with the use of social media. If you can somehow create social “buzz”, or “viral” marketing you can win in a big way. The more you can get your audience engaged in the social discussion, the more you can succeed in guerrilla marketing.
Pros: This is an excellent strategy if you can achieve marketing awareness through social media, or have dealers who are willing to do the marketing.
Cons: Social media marketing takes time and effort as well as inventiveness to create viral results.
Embedded Marketing
Embedded marketing is often described as placing products in movies, music videos, television shows, sports, or even news programs. This type of advertising has been popular for many years. For example, in the movie, “9 to 5” Sony embedded their dictation machines in the scene where Franklin M. Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman) shot them all to pieces. You have probably also seen the Audi, in the Iron Man movie, or the Aston Martin cars in Bond movies. And most recently you may have seen the Rolex commercial played during the 2017 Academy Awards that highlights the surprising number of actors who wore Rolex watches in famous films. This is all great marketing because you don’t even realize that this is advertising. It’s all part of the movie.
Embedded marketing can also occur on the Internet. For example, if a manufacturer mentions one of its dealers in a blog article, they are providing a similar type of embedded marketing. Or, the article may be written as part of the editorial of a regular publication but include mentions of specific products or services. In either of these cases, there may be business terms connected to the addition of this information to the article.
Pros: This is an excellent marketing tactic since people don’t even realize that you are advertising. The products or services appear to be endorsed by the publication in which they occur.
Cons: This requires a lot of work and coordination with writers and publications. Certain products and services don’t lend themselves to this strategy.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is defined as placing material in an online publication which resembles the publication’s editorial content but is paid for by an advertiser and intended to promote the advertiser’s product or services. Some people have compared this methodology to “content marketing”, but in most cases Native Advertising is really an essential part of a full content marketing program.
The Federal Trade Commission has recommended that any native advertising be labeled as such to avoid confusing readers, but even though there is a label, the reader is happy to read content that provides information that helps them understand the product value.
Pros: Native advertising provides a very easy way to bring attention to your product or service. It has been shown to get more attention than search ads and banner ads.
Cons: It takes some work to create an informative article. The value of the content is determined by how well it speaks to the audience.