I am facing a David vs Goliath marketing situation. My friend lives in a retirement facility, and after watching people struggle with where to stow their canes in the dining room, he developed a new cane holder. There are several cane holders on the market but they are metal or hard plastic. My friend has found a way to make cane holders out of soft but durable material. Soft so you won't smash your knee on them when getting up or sitting down. Durable so they can endure repeated use. They can easily be wiped clean. They are small enough to conceal under the table cloth (for those who are shy about using a cane). There appears to be no other cane holder like his on the market right now. His model is unique in the way it solves problems that other cane holders can't, and the people who have tried his cane holder rave about it.

However, this is a very small start up and he is having difficulty reaching his market, which is retirement facility managers and dining room managers in general. The other cane holder manufacturers have budgets for advertising and sales people with professional marketing collateral, etc. He needs to find an inexpensive, effective, ethical way to compete with these companies and get the attention of his market. Can anyone suggest some guerilla marketing techniques?