Guerrilla marketing takes its name from guerrilla warfare. Unlike wars fought in earlier times where whole battalions of soldiers would face each other and fight, today's wars are fought by small groups of soldiers making surprise attacks on all sorts of targets. Wars today are won one small victory at a time, rather than with one huge battle.

The reason small factions are so successful fighting battles around the globe is because of their size and use of unconventional tactics. Small businesses, by definition, are nimble. Unlike a Fortune 500 company with many layers of management, multiple divisions, and thousands of employees, small firms have the capacity to react quickly.

Out of necessity, small firms tend to rely on unconventional tactics because they can't afford traditional tools. Unconventional tools are cheaper, and by definition, newer and untested. Such guerrilla tools can have a very effective impact and can indeed compete with larger, more traditional marketing weapons.

So, like guerrilla warriors, today's savvy small-business marketers deliver a series of highly targeted messages to specific, small groups of potential customers, rather than spending their whole marketing budgets on one big advertising campaign. Guerrilla marketing uses free or low-cost tools to disseminate the marketing message.