While we now associate “guerrilla marketing” with the internet, entrepreneurs have long been trying different low-cost ways to bring attention to their businesses without spending the cash. Even before Conrad Jay Levinson popularized the term in 1984 with his seminal book Guerrilla Marketing, business owners and managers have long struggled with making limited marketing budgets go further.

Novel ideas ranging from viral videos and one-off pop culture events to cheap custom wristbands and sidewalk ads drawn with chalk have managed to score big marketing wins without the multimillion-dollar expenses associated with television and other mass marketing techniques.

Here are just a few guerrilla marketing methods that have been successfully tried that can still be a potent tool for your small business.…