Marketing encompasses everything you do or say that customers
and prospects see or hear. That includes the way your proposals
look and how they're presented, your signs, your voice-mail
messages and any traditional marketing that you use. Considering
all this, it's clear marketing is made up of many things all
working together and supporting each other.
The key to your marketing is to choose the weapons that work for
you, that are applicable to your markets and customers, and that
you can afford mentally and financially. You can't do it all;
you can't launch and implement every single marketing weapon
there is. In some cases, there will be financial considerations
that might not be affordable. In other cases, there will be time
considerations. Don't let this overwhelm you. If your list of
weapons is intimidating to you, shorten it and prioritize.
Different combinations of marketing weapons work for different
businesses and different people. Jay Conrad Levinson, the father of
guerrilla marketing, states that his top 10 marketing weapons
are:
- Marketing plan
- Benefits list
- Passion
- Community involvement
- Fusion marketing (strategic alliances)
- Follow-up
- Customer research
- Online marketing
- A designated guerrilla marketer
- Customer satisfaction
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The good thing about Levinson's list is that most or all are
no- or low-cost.
Other successful marketers use different combinations.
Successful marketer A might use direct mail, a recorded message,
classified ads, testimonials and display ads. Successful marketer B
might use PR, networking referral strategies, direct mail and
fusion marketing. Successful marketer C might use telemarketing,
e-mail auto-responders, special offers and phone call
follow-up.
Notice that high-cost marketing vehicles (like magazine
advertising, radio and TV) are nowhere in these lists. They might
be later, but guerrilla marketing substitutes time, energy,
imagination, knowledge and information for large expenditures.
The key to identifying your marketing weapons list is to
determine what your target markets react to and what benefits they
respond to. Here are the key action steps you need to take:
- Brainstorm weapons that might be applicable to your markets and
business.
- Cost them out.
- Prioritize.
- Determine what you can afford emotionally and financially.
- Launch what you can launch properly.
Plan your marketing arsenal, put everything in a marketing
calendar, evaluate what works and what doesn't, and adjust
accordingly. Repeat what works, fix what doesn't and eliminate
when necessary. Make your marketing continuous, dynamic and always
driven by what your prospects and customers want.
Guerrilla marketing is simple yet effective. Planning your
weapons is a key aspect of your marketing. Some refer to this part
of marketing as marketing tactics. That's true. It's
whatever you're going to implement marketing-wise. Remember,
your goal is to communicate your marketing messages to your
prospects and customers. Since marketing is everything your
prospects see or hear from you, marketing weapons are the
"everything" in this statement. Plan them carefully. Make
them work for you and understand how many you can implement with no
or little cost. You want to be an effective marketer-and make a
profit, too.