The Essentials of Guerrilla Marketing Implement these building blocks to create a successful campaign.
By Jay Conrad Levinson •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As marketing continues to change, the secrets of guerrilla marketing continue to change. There are 18 guerrilla marketing secrets, and they guarantee you will exceed your most optimistic projections.
Memorize these words, then live by them. I'm giving you a memory crutch so that you'll never forget these major guerrilla marketing secrets. All these words end in "-ent." Run your business by the guerrilla concepts they represent and reap the rewards.
Commitment
You should know that a mediocre marketing program with commitment will always prove more profitable than a brilliant marketing program without commitment. Commitment makes it happen.
Investment
Marketing is not an expense, but an investment--the best investment available in business if you do it right. With the 18 secrets of guerrilla marketing to guide you, you'll be doing it right.
Consistent
It takes awhile for prospects to trust you. If you change your marketing, media and identity, you're hard to trust. Restraint and repetition are two great allies of the guerrilla.
Confident
In a nationwide test to determine why people buy, price came in fifth, selection fourth, service third, quality second, and, in first place, people said they patronize businesses in which they have confidence.
Patient
Unless the person running your marketing is patient, it will be difficult to practice commitment, view marketing as an investment, be consistent, and make prospects confident. Patience is a guerrilla virtue.
Assortment
Guerrillas know that individual marketing weapons rarely work on their own, but marketing combinations do work. A wide assortment of marketing tools is required to woo and win customers.
Convenient
People know that time is not money--it's far more valuable than money. Respect this by being easy to do business with and running your company for the convenience of your customers, not yourself.
Subsequent
The real profits come after you've made the sale, in the form of repeat and referral business. Non-guerrillas think marketing ends when they've made the sale. Guerrillas know that's when marketing begins.
Amazement
There are elements of your business that you take for granted, but prospects would be amazed if they knew the details. Be sure your marketing reflects that amazement.
Measurement
You can potentially double your profits by measuring the results of your marketing. Some weapons hit bull's-eyes. Others miss the target. Unless you measure, you won't know which is which.
Involvement
This describes the relationship between you and your customers--and it is a relationship. You prove your involvement by following up; they prove theirs by patronizing and recommending you.
Dependent
The guerrilla's job is not to compete but to cooperate with other businesses. Market them in return for them marketing you. Set up tie-ins with others. Become dependent to market more and invest less.
Armament
Armament is defined as "the equipment necessary to wage and win battles." The armament of guerrillas is technology: computers, current software, cell phones, pagers, fax machines. If you're technophobic, see a techno-shrink.
Consent
In an era of non-stop interruption marketing, the key to success is first to gain consent for your marketing materials and market only to those who have given you that consent.
Augment
To succeed online, augment your website with offline and online promotion along with constant maintenance of your site.
Content
Don't believe that old adage, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Sophisticated consumers these days know the sizzle from the steak and prefer the steak every time. Your substance, not your style, will carry the day for you.
Implement
It's not enough for you to know these 18 secrets. The key is to take action on them, all of them.
Congruent
Be certain that all your marketing is saying the same thing and pulling in the same direction. Don't undermine what you do with marketing that marches to the beat of a different strategist.
These concepts are the reason many startup guerrillas now run highly successful companies. They are the cornerstone of guerrilla marketing. They might look like just words, but each one is nuclear-powered and capable of propelling you into the land of your dreams.
