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"Guerrilla Marketing," was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his popular 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing, as an unconventional system of promotions on a very low budget, by relying on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary to also describe aggressive, unconventional marketing methods generically.

Levinson's books include hundreds of "Guerrilla Marketing weapons," but they also encourage the guerrilla marketer to be creative and devise his own unconventional methods of promotion. The marketer uses all of his or her contacts, both professional and personal, and must examine his company and its products, looking for sources of publicity. Many forms of publicity can be very inexpensive, others are free.

Levinson says that when implementing guerrilla marketing tactics, small size is actually an advantage instead of a disadvantage. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are able to obtain publicity more easily than large companies; they are closer to their customers and considerably more agile.

Yet ultimately, according to Levinson, the Guerrilla Marketer must "deliver the goods". In The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, he states: "In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer. It must build trust and support. It must understand the customer's needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits."

Levinson identifies the following principles as the foundation of guerrilla marketing:

• Guerrilla Marketing is specifically geared for the small business and entrepreneur.
• It should be based on human psychology instead of experience, judgment, and guesswork.
• Instead of money, the primary investments of marketing should be time, energy, and imagination.
• The primary statistic to measure your business is the amount of profits, not sales.
• The marketer should also concentrate on how many new relationships are made each month.
• Create a standard of excellence with an acute focus instead of trying to diversify by offering too many diverse products and services.
• Instead of concentrating on getting new customers, aim for more referrals, more transactions with existing customers, and larger transactions.
• Forget about the competition and concentrate more on cooperating with other businesses.
• Guerrilla Marketers should always use a combination of marketing methods for a campaign.
• Use current technology as a tool to empower your marketing.

Guerrilla Marketing is the bestselling marketing brand in history, and includes dozens of books, an assocation, and a web site. The term is now often used more loosely as a descriptor for non-traditional media, such as:

• Viral marketing -- through social networks
• Ambient marketing
• Presence marketing
• Grassroots marketing
• Alternative marketing
• Buzz marketing -- word of mouth marketing
• Undercover marketing -- subtle product placement
• Astroturfing -- releasing company news to imitate grassroots popularity
• Experiential marketing -- interaction with product

Guerrilla marketing was initially used by small and medium size (SMEs) businesses, but it is now increasingly adopted by large businesses.

Main article: 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare

On January 31, 2007, several guerrilla-marketing magnetic light displays in and around the city of Boston, Massachusetts, were mistaken for possible explosive devices. Several subway stations, bridges, and a portion of Interstate 93 were closed as police examined, removed, and in some cases, destroyed the devices. The suspicious objects were revealed to be ads depicting the Mooninites, Ignignokt and Err, characters from the Cartoon Network's latenight Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

• Marketing
• Guerrilla marketing warfare strategies
• Marketing strategies
• Publicity
• Small business
• Viral marketing
• Undercover marketing

• Levinson, Jay Conrad. Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984. ISBN 0-395-35350-5
• Levinson, Jay Conrad. Mastering Guerrilla Marketing. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. ISBN 0-395-90875-2
• Levinson, Jay Conrad. The Way of the Guerrilla. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. ISBN 0-395-77018-1
• Levinson, Jay Conrad and McLaughlin, Michael W. Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-471-61873-X
• Pfarrer, Don. Guerrilla Persuasion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. ISBN 0-395-88168-4
• Levinson, Jay Conrad and Goodin, Seth. The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ISBN 0-395-70113-2

• CNN.com news
• Wired.com article
• WebUrbanist.com images
• MarketingGorillas.net Video Clip
• Bloguerrilla