Guerrilla marketing for information services?

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -"Guerrilla marketing" describes unconventional marketing strategies with which to achieve significant effects -with a fraction of the budget of "traditional" marketing campaigns. This article aims to give an introduction to "guerrilla marketing" principles and discuss suitability of this marketing approach for information services. Design/methodology/approach -Whether guerrilla marketing strategies may be suitable for introducing information services and the necessary prerequisites for that are explored based on applying cross-case analysis findings from industry examples to information services. This is based on a conceptual framework illustrating differentiating and positioning hypotheses for information services. Findings -It is argued, that guerrilla marketing strategies may be applied for information services whenever a product-like representation for such a service can be developed and a link to emotional values be established. Furthermore, for the product-like representation there must be coherent target groups to be identified and relevant user scenarios be created for them. Originality/value -This article provides a conceptual framework related to the question of how to increase acceptance and degree of utilization of information services in their relevant target groups. By discussing the possibilities of marketing strategies with limited resources, this article provides alternative ways of thinking and acting for information services mediators such as, for example, librarians. This is of particular relevance for this community, as information services mediators generally need marketing efforts to gain spread for their information services offer -but usually are faced with strictly limited marketing budgets.

Marketing of Library Resources and Services: A Structured Literature Review

“…Ries & Trout 56 explained the term in a book as 'Marketing Wafare' and depicted marketing activities as a combat to surmount the user's mind. The basic principles of this marketing, Mao-Tse Tung's guerrilla warfare, have seven rules that describe the principles of this technique [57][58][59] as:…”

The Effects of Guerilla Marketing on Gen Y’s Purchase Intention — A Study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

“…Although definitions of guerrilla marketing are various, its core concept lies in the unconventional methods, unconventional locations that it facilitates to attack the right customers at unpredictable moment in an original but relevant way so that the impact will be long-lasting and unforgettable [18]. In this study, the effects of guerrilla marketing and its medium, guerrilla advertising, are incorporated into the model.…”

Influence of Guerrilla Skills on Micro and Small Enterprise Survival in Wakiso District, Uganda

“…Guerrilla marketing appears in unconventional (unusual) places through unconventional media, where it intends to create surprise and diffusion effect -expansion effect (Baltes, & Leibing, 2008). It uses a smaller budget than traditional marketing strategies.…”