In today's consumer driven world, it can be immensely difficult to connect with customers. While there are a number of tried and true marketing techniques, many consumers are immune or oblivious to them. It is time for new strategies, and YouTube presents a fantastic opportunity to market to potential customers in a new way.

Guerrilla marketing strategies are essentially strategies that entail marketing without the knowledge of the customer. These can often be much more effective than traditional strategies, because customers are not used to avoiding them. Anyone can use YouTube, and it is free to upload videos. As such, there are a huge number of users, and potential customers. To have an effective guerrilla marketing strategy on YouTube, it must not look as if you are marketing at all.

Some great examples of this type of strategy is to hold a video competition of videos including people using your products or incorporating your products somehow, then posting the entries on YouTube. Another strategy is to work with filmmakers to create videos of your product or testimonials that appear to be done by independent consumers, not by your company. The effect of these strategies is much like a traditional word of mouth campaign. The total cost will be very small, yet the potential benefit is huge. If a consumer sees a commercial for your product on television, it will have some effect, but they will likely ignore it. However, if that same consumer sees a YouTube video independently promoting or recommending or even just using your product, they are more likely to consider it. It is the same thing as word of mouth advertising.

If a telemarketer calls someone to recommend a brand of coffee, for example, the consumers they speak to will almost all ignore the telemarketer. However, if a coworker recommends the coffee to them at work, they are much more likely to try it. There are a number of creative ways to organize a short YouTube video so your product is promoted, but not in an overt way like traditional advertising. Today, better results are likely to be achieved by covert, guerrilla marketing strategies. Using this less than obvious strategies will have a great impact on potential customers, and will make it more likely that they will try your product. If it doesn't have the desired effect, using YouTube is free, so there will not be a great deal lost.