Guerrilla Marketing Arsenal

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MARKETING EXPRESSES YOUR COMPANY’S ATTITUDE

Although it seems like an oversimplification, the truth still is that 90 percent of life is attitude. Two people may have a lot in common, but one is always miserable and other always upbeat. The usual reason: attitude. Two companies may be similar in every way but one has a constant parade of new customers and the other is hurting for customers. Attitude is why.

You might offer award-winning quality and superlative service, but if your company is hesitant about marketing, your attitude may not be conveying your excellence. Since your attitude is the probably the first way you’ll be noticed, it’s crucial to have one and to let it sing out about you, loud and clear. It’s great that you have an attitude, but do your customers know it?

By far and away, your most potent method of communicating your attitude is through your marketing. If you don’t do much marketing, people will be unaware of your attitude no matter what it is. A private attitude is not going to make you profitable. You’ve got to go public with your attitude.

Begin by putting into writing your company’s identity — who you really are and what you really stand for. Even if you do a first-rate job of that, you’ve still got to let your public sense that attitude. They’ll sense it through your aggressiveness in the marketing arena. They’ll pick up on the fact that you’re proud of your company, that you really mean business, that you’re trying hard and that you’re a key player in your field.

That aggressive attitude will be clearly communicated through the visibility you gain with your marketing — in the mass media, in the direct media and online. If people see or hear of you all over the place, they can’t help but notice you and be aware of your attitude. When it’s time to make a purchase, they’ll be drawn to companies with an attitude far more than invisible companies that don’t express theirs.

Your attitude is also expressed by the professionalism of your marketing materials. If they look shabby, that shabbiness will become part of your attitude. If they look exciting and inspire confidence, that too will become part of your attitude. Each marketing weapon you employ will either contribute to or detract from that attitude. None are too insignificant to take anything but seriously.

The reach of your marketing also reflects your attitude. And so does the frequency. Your commitment to your marketing program also conveys your attitude. Your consistency does, too. If you keep switching around your media and your message, people will be unclear about your attitude other than thinking that you’re not sure of yourself. If you are consistent with your format and your identity, people will figure that you know what you’re all about — and that generates confidence. All guerrillas know that confidence in a seller influences a buyer more than any other factor.

Your attitude comes across by means of your offers, headlines, copy, graphics, typestyle, media selection and the execution of your marketing strategy. If people continue seeing and hearing about you, they well know your attitude. If you fade into the woodwork because you’re pulling back on your marketing, they forget your attitude. People forget marketing lightning fast and if you don’t stay at the forefront of their minds, somebody else will — somebody who realizes the power of attitude.

There are a large number of movie stars and rock stars who lack the sheer talent to succeed, but have the attitude. Madonna comes to mind. Bette Midler comes to mind. Bruce Willis comes to mind. Brooke Shields comes to mind. John Wayne sure had far more attitude than talent. And a lot more will come to your mind, especially politicians. These people have created, then capitalized upon their attitude so much that millions of folks think they also have an immense talent.

You sure can’t succeed on attitude only. You’ve also got to have something to back it up. But you certainly don’t always have to be the best. Marlboro may not be the best-tasting cigarette, but it certainly has the best attitude. Budweiser doesn’t win all the beer taste tests. But everybody knows its attitude. Many product category leaders succeed with attitude more than excellence, with attitude more than low price, with attitude more than lavish spending. All automobiles can get you from point A to point B, but some do it with a more stylish attitude.

Your attitude must come shining through in all of your marketing. And the attitude you express should be consistent from one medium to another. Cohesion is an ally of the guerrilla. That means all marketing weapons should be pulling in the same direction, expressing the same attitude, conveying the same identity.

Your attitude comes across by what you say, how you say it, where you say it and how frequently you say it. Even the world’s best attitude will lead to little but frustration if you aren’t out there communicating it. That’s why guerrillas rarely are out of their public’s eye. They go for impact with their marketing, but they also go for awareness. They know good and well that a share of mind leads to a share of market. They make up in a big attitude what they lack in a big marketing budget. And they are aware that the more they market, the better they are conveying their attitude.

A few questions for you to ask to yourself are:

What is my company’s attitude?
Does that attitude come across on a regular basis?
It that attitude different from my competitors?
Does that attitude accurately reflect my honest identity?
Are my customers aware of my attitude?

Just remember that most of life and all of marketing is attitude.

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies, Sales Startegy | 0 Comments »

LET YOUR PROSPECTS FEEL LIKE YOUR CUSTOMERS

This is the time to think freely. This is the time to think as hard as you can of what you can give away to your prospects for free. If you can possibly give away your product or service for a limited time, you have a good chance to habituate your prospects to your offering and a great chance to prove your service superiority. The idea behind this strategy is:

GIVE PROSPECTS AN OWNERSHIP EXPERIENCE FOR FREE.

You’re in business because you offer a product or service that delivers desirable benefits. You’re in business because you’re better than many of your competitors. You’re in business because you want to earn hefty profits consistently.

As a guerrilla, you are able to surpass customer satisfaction and allow those who patronize your business to experience customer bliss. They can tell how conscientious you are by means of your follow-up, by the way you pay attention to details in their life and business. Customers of guerrillas are as contented as customers can get.

That’s why you must give serious consideration to transforming all of your prospects into customers. If they won’t do it by purchasing what you have to offer, regardless of your investment in marketing, perhaps they’ll purchase what you have to offer if they first can try it at absolutely no cost.

If they have the experience of owning what you offer, they’ll understand the advantages of being your customer. And then, they’ll be far more likely to actually make the purchase.

This means that a prime marketing investment will be your freebie. It will be a limited time use of your product or a limited time use of your service. You’ll be giving those valuable things away for free, risking that you’ll get nothing in return. But if you’re truly confident in your quality and service, that risk is dramatically minimized.

Here is what guerrillas give away for free:

1. They give gift certificates to their own business, whether the certificates are for products or services.

2. They give printed brochures to anybody who requests one.

3. They give electronic brochures, on audio and video, once again to people who ask for them. And they are quick to offer their free brochures in their other marketing.

4. They give money to worthy causes and let their prospects and customers know that they support a noble cause, enabling these people to support the same endeavor.

5. They give free consultations and never make them seem like sales presentations. They truly try to help their prospects.

6. They give free seminars and clinics because they realize that if their information is worthwhile, it will attract the right kind of people to them.

7. They give free demonstrations to prove without words the efficacy of their offerings.

8. They give tours of their facilities or of work they’ve accomplished elsewhere, again transcending standard marketing tools they might employ.

9. They give free samples because they know that such generosity is the equivalent of purchasing a new customer at a very low price.

10. They give invaluable information on their website, realizing that such data will bring their customers and prospects back for more, thereby intensifying their relationships.

In addition to these, guerrillas are creative in dreaming up what they might give for free. Of course, many advertising specialties such as calendars and scratchpads, mouse-pads and ballpoint pens are emblazoned with their names and theme lines, but guerrillas exercise extra creativity as well.

The highest form of that creativity is displayed when they give for free what they ordinarily sell. HotMail attracted more than ten million customers for its free email service. Now, that service is supported by advertising. By ending each free email from the sender with an offer for free email for the recipient, MSN’s Hotmail uses word-of-mouse to the ultimate.

The investment of your free product or service for a limited time must be measured against your current marketing investment. But if you’re a guerrilla, your quality and service will prove more than anything you can ever say in a marketing context. Your customers truly enjoy being your customers. Now, they know why you are so confident in your offering. Nothing can substitute for an actual ownership experience.

I realize that all companies cannot give what they sell for free, not even for a limited time. But if you can see daylight in giving your offering for free, you might lift your marketing to the highest level while forming bonds that might otherwise have never been established.

Advertising, Guerrilla Marketing Strategies | 0 Comments »

Guerrilla Phone Tips

What to do when voice mail answers the phone instead of your prospect: Do not give your sales pitch because that needs live contact; do leave your number and first name only because calls are returned in inverse proportion to the amount of data left by the caller; be fun but be clean; remind the person where you met; leave a half-message such as “Your name came up in a conversation with Sally” and you can be sure the prospect will return your call to see what Sally said.

What to do when you can’t get through to your prospect: Fax your datebook with open dates and time circled; fax a joke or cartoon; fax a certificate for a free lunch with you; fax a referral letter from a satisfied customer; fax a request to repair the prospect’s voice mail, saying you’ve been trying to get through and can’t, so it must be the voice mail at fault.

© Jay Conrad Levinson and Guerrilla Marketing International.

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies | 0 Comments »

Guerrilla Video Series

There is just under six months left in 2011. Now it’s time to turn up the heat and make the rest of the year even more profitable then the first half.

One thing guerrilla marketers know is that when times are tough, that is the best time to start marketing more, harder and faster. Think about it; TV spots are 1/10th the price they were a few years ago, social media is sending traffic and business instantly, and traditional ads can be purchased for pennies on the dollar. Why wouldn’t you want to turn up the heat right now and blow your competitors out of the water?

To help you out, we have put together a series of four videos that are full of usable content that can be deployed immediately.

Here’s the link:

http://gmarketingtraining.com/goals/

To increasing your profits,
The Guerrilla Marketing Team