Business Coaching

Marketing Plan In Seven Sentences

I want to share with you one of the key fundamentals of Guerrilla Marketing, the small business marketing ideas that create high impact results from low and no cost marketing weapons.

Why You Need A Marketing Plan

You need a marketing plan to help you to coordinate the most important function of your business - how you attract and satisfy your customers so successfully that they come back for more.

It helps you to gain clarity of what you want and what needs to be done.

There is a saying "proper preparation prevents particularly poor performance" and the proper preparation means putting your plan together, thinking through what you want to want to happen and the actions you need to be taking.          

What You Don't Need From A Marketing Plan

You don't want a marketing plan that takes days to produce and is never used.

You don't want a marketing plan that costs you a fortune but never produces any benefits.

You don't want a 200 page marketing plan that takes hours to review.

You want a marketing plan that is to the point, quick to write, clear on what needs to be done and is quick to review.

What you need is:

The Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan

I will introduce the idea and then look at each sentence in more detail.

1. The purpose of marketing
    
   
2. How you will achieve this purpose – your competitive advantage and benefits of your service
    
3. Your target markets
    
4. The marketing weapons you will use
    
5. Your niche or position
    
6. The identity of your business
    
7. Your marketing budget
   

The beauty of the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan is that the idea works for:

1. Your entire business
    
   
2. Individual products
    
   
3. Individual product campaigns

You write to the level of detail you need to work with but the beauty is that you can build a hierarchy of marketing plans which each level up the hierarchy creating the boundaries or scope of the marketing project and each level further down presenting the clear detailed guidance on how success will be achieved in a particular campaign or using one of the two hundred guerrilla marketing weapons.

Used By Procter & Gamble

This is such a powerful technique that it has been adopted by many of the Silicon Valley IT success stories that Jay Conrad Levinson taught at the University of California but even more impressivelu, it is used by marketing giants Procter & Gamble - pwners of brands as well established as these listed in Wikipedia.

Example of Applying the Seven Step Guerrilla Marketing Plan

I will work through the plan and look at applying the example to the same firm of accountants as I used in Yellow Pages Advertising Mistakes.

The Purpose Of Your Marketing

The first sentence of the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan is:

What specific action do you want prospects to do and why.

In the example the accountant may say "I want people to call for a free 20 minute tax assessment and consultation."

This then becomes the focus of what we are selling in the marketing messages. The aim is not to rush to convert the prospect into a client but to give them an easy, low risk first step.

It is the same logic as dating and why men ask a girl out for lunch before moving on to dinner and eventually possibly leading to marriage. The first step is not threatening and therefore doesn't create the instant defensive reaction of "No thanks."

How You Will Achieve This Purpose

The second sentence of the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan is:

How will you achieve this purpose? How will you persuade prospective customers to act in the way you want?

This looks at why they should respond - this is the benefits they will receive from responding to your marketing message. It is the "if I do what you want, what's in it for me."

In the accountant's example the 20 minute assessment is a commitment but what small business owner has a spare twenty minutes. The truth is that they have to make time so you have to give them reasons.

Eg In the free tax assessment we will examine the opportunities available to benefit from ten proven ideas for reducing the overall tax paid by an owner-manager.

Your target markets

The third sentence in the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan tells you to define your target market.

Exactly what type of prospective clients will you be targeting your marketing towards. This is important for several reasons:

a) you probably can't afford to target everybody and even if you can, repetition is such a powerful multiplier of marketing results that you are better off sending the same basic message ten times to one tenth of the potential market than just telling them about it once.

I explained this in my detail in my common marketing mistake image advertising article by showing how attitudes gradually change to a market message.

b) you want to be choosey about who you allow to be clients. Michael Port talks about this in his red velvet rope policy.

So back to the example, the accountants may choose to target small business owners in the licensing trade within a ten mile radius of the centre of Birmingham. That is specific and it allows them to build up a speciality.

The Marketing Weapons To Use

The fourth sentence in the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan asks you to select your tactics.

Guerrilla Marketing talks about individual marketing weapons that you can use to promote your business so this is where you would choose what you will do for this promotion.

So back to the example of the accountants

Initial contact will be made by direct mail ( a series of five consecutive letters three weeks apart)

One to one telephone consultation for 20 minutes

Follow up through

a) Letter thanking them for the opportunity and outlining the ten tips

b) Second letter two months before the end of the tax year

c) Invitation to the "new employee tax rules teleseminar or presentation"

But the accountant need not stop there.

What about printing details of the free tax consultation on the back of the business card which is given out at networking events?

What about talking to their existing clients and agreeing an active referral system where the client can give their qualifying clients and friends the "free gift" of a 20 minute tax consultation?

Do you start seeing how powerful Guerrilla Marketing can be?

Your Niche and Position

The fifth sentence in the marketing plan asks you to clarify you niche position.

What is your place in the market and how would clients describe you to others and this will be consistent throughout the hierarchy of marketing plans.

So in the example, it would be a central Birmingham based firm of chartered accountants specialising in consumer service businesses.

The Identity Of Your Business

The penultimate sentence in the marketing plan asks you to clarify the promise your brand makes to prospective customers and keeps with regular customers.

Some marketing talks about creating an image, an illusion of what you want your customers to think.

Guerrilla marketing says that is nonsense. Because the aim is to create a long term customer you can't market that way. In Guerrilla Marketing image is seen as a false representation so the marketing plan asks you to specify your real identity that you will project? This again will be consistent throughout your marketing plans.

So for the accountant, the identity is a fast, responsive service committed to helping clients to minimise their tax bills legally.

That makes it clear that the accountant is not going to resort to any of the shady tricks which may cause big problems with the taxman and indicates that the accountant will have issues with any client who tries illegal tax evasion techniques.

Your Marketing Budget

The final sentence in the Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan is concerned with money.

How much are you going to spend to attract clients?

The pot of cash for marketing isn't unlimited so specify how much you will spend on marketing either as:

1. A fixed amount
    
   
2. A percentage of your sales
    
   
3. A target amount per lead generated
    
   
4. A target amount per client acquired

Each has its advantages.

The fixed amount marketing budget imposes a budgetary discipline and encourages you to search for the biggest "bang per buck". Knowing that you are only going to spend £10,000 on marketing, encourages you to weight up your options and decide whether that £800 for the Yellow Pages advertisement should be better spent on four series of letters to the 200 top prospects.

The percentage of target sales budget allows your marketing expenditure to continue to grow as the business grows which means that you can have a bigger, more extensive website, more expensive looking brochures, organise an event to thank customers and so many other ways to attract new customers and strengthen the relationship with existing customers. This is the version of the budget that I have heard Jay Levinson recommend although I am not so sure.

The target amount per lead generated is easy to calculate and forms a bridge between your marketing process inputs (whatever the activities are) and your results.

The target amount per new client is the next logical extension which also includes your ability to convert leads into clients and encourages you to focus your attention both on reducing cost per lead and increasing conversion rates.

The average cost of acquiring a client emphasises the importance of finding ways to increase your customer lifetime value.

So to return to my example for the accountant, the budget can be set at £10,000 with a target client acquisition cost of £150 including allowance for the 20 minute consultation. Alternatively the accountant could set a target result of £100,000 from the campaign and set the budget at 10%.

Conclusion - The Seven Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Plan

As you can see, the seven sentence guerrilla marketing plan is a thorough reflection on what you want to achieve with your marketing and how you are going to do it.

The beauty of it is that as you become more familiar, it is very quick to write because it doesn't include any of the superfluous information you could include and it is quick to review because it is so short and will fit on one page.

Even better, it works because it is so focused on what you want, why customers will take action and how it all happens.

Learning More About Guerrilla Marketing

If you believe that you would benefit from one to one coaching and you are in the UK, then please contact me on 0121 554 4057. I am a certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach. You can find out more details on my local Marketing Coaching West Midlands page.

If you are outside the UK then please search for a certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach or contact Alexa Ronngren, the Global Guerrilla Marketing coach. Alexa specialises in adapting the Guerrilla marketing ideas across different cultures and is writing a series of articles on global marketing for this blog.

If you don't feel that you need a coach, then the Guerrilla Marketing Toolkit comes highly recommended. It is a joint venture between Jay Conrad Levinson and Mitch Meyerson, the creator of the Guerrilla Marketing Coaching Certification Program. It is excellent value for anyone wanting to implement the essentials of Guerrilla Marketing including the seven sentence Guerrilla Marketing plan.

The Guerrilla Marketing Association is also highly recommended.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach (and certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach)

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Guerrilla Marketing - A WebUrbanist View

I use the Google Alerts system extensively to help me keep up-to-date with what is happening on the web and as a certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach, one of the phrases I watch is Guerrilla Marketing.

A couple of weeks ago the WebUrbanist blog came to my attention as it was starting an eight part examination of Guerrilla Marketing. I wasn't sure where it was going so I have held back but as I write this, part 7 has now been published.

It seems that any wacky marketing campaign is being dismissed as Guerrilla Marketing and whilst the marketers may have been using their imagination, there is much more to Guerrilla Marketing than being unique, quirky or even strange. Some of these associations on the media with stupid ideas do not do the more serious Guerrilla Marketing practitioners any favours at all.

Fortunately WebUrbanist is doing a general review and has some great examples of some effective and not so effective Guerrilla Marketing campaigns.

Part 1 - The History of Guerrilla Marketing

Part 2 - The Origins & Evolution of Guerrilla Marketing

Part 3 - Major Corporations Go For Guerrilla Marketing 

Part 4 - Guerrilla Marketing versus Viral Marketing

Part 5 - Guerrilla Marketing for Social Causes

Part 6 - Ten Different Types of Guerrilla Marketing

Part 7 - Is Guerrilla Marketing Right For You

Part 8 - The Future of Guerrilla Marketing

So what did you think?

It's a great blog and so very bright, dramatic and colourful and Delana has put together a great series on Guerrilla Marketing.

As I mentioned in my comment on the last posting, the novel attention grabbing tactics are only the beginning although it is the most newsworthy. True Guerrilla Marketing focuses on consistent and regular follow-up to build long term, mutually beneficial relationships.

A Guerrilla Marketer knows that the opportunities can't be wasted. If it doesn't lead to a sale or only a one-time sale, a golden chance has been wasted so there is a much more practical side to Guerrilla Marketing.

To find out how to use Guerrilla Marketing to make more money you have to keep reading my blog or enroll yourself on a Guerrilla Marketing program. The Guerrilla Marketing Jumpstart is excellent.

The Guerrilla Marketing Association is also highly recommended.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times - 4.5 Stars

I bought  the ebook "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times: How To Steal Customers From Your Competitors In Tough Times" by Jay Conrad Levinson some time ago but it is becoming increasingly relevant as it is clear that the economies in the UK, the US and most of Europe will be in for some very tough times in the next year or two.

Take Advice From Those Who Have Experienced Recessions

The UK has recorded fifteen years of unbroken growth since the 1990-92 recession but only yesterday Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank said that the UK faces the most difficult challenges for twenty years.

I still don't think that people are facing up to just how bleak things could get as most economic forecasts are saying that UK growth will slow but not fall into recession. I fear they are wrong.

Many businesses have only known this golden period of growth and I know from bitter experience that they could be in for a bitter shock.

So it makes sense to take advice from someone who has experienced a few recessions so step forward seventy year old Jay Conrad Levinson.

Even more it makes sense to consult a man who has been advising small businesses on how to use low and no cost marketing weapons for the last twenty five years.

This is the very essence of Guerrilla Marketing which uses time, effort and imagination to replace money in the marketing of a business. I particularly like "imagination" since time and effort both have their downsides.

Guerrilla Marketing recognises that resources are scarce and it maximises its impact by tightly targeting the concentration of effort on where it matters most and emphasises the importance of consistency in everything you do.

Guerrilla Marketing has never been more relevant and the book "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times" is an essential purchase.

Let me explain why.

Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times - Contents

1. Chapter 1: Tough Times Don't Have To be As Tough As You Think
    
2. Chapter 2: The Importance of Stressing Value
    
3. Chapter 3: Using Consent Marketing Now More Than Ever
    
4. Chapter 4: Free and Almost Free Marketing
    
5. Chapter 5: Mining Your Customer List For Fun and Profit
    
6. Chapter 6: Community Involvement During Tough Times
    
7. Chapter 7: Attracting New Business During Tough Times
    
8. Chapter 8: The Importance of Service During Tough Times
    
9. Chapter 9: Making Yourself The Talk Of The Town
    
10. Chapter 10: Online Marketing In A Shaky Economy
     
11. Chapter 11: The Freebies That Lead To Serious Profit
     
12. Chapter 12: Getting Extra Mileage From Your Marketing and Email

The chapter titles nicely summarise what "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times" covers so I just want to pick up on a few themes that are covered in the book.

Tough Times Are A Poor Excuse

The easiest thing would be to use the difficult times ahead as a ready-made excuse for poor performance and a justification for not taking action.

Don't fall into this trap. It could be a very expensive mistake.

A guerrilla knows that opportunity lies in tough times.

When people have a problem, they need solutions.

When people have a big problem, they need big solutions and customers are more prepared to spend to cure a pain than to chase after a gain - see Using Pain To Sell.

The future prospects for your business depend on you taking the right actions, stripping out unnecessary activities and costs that don't add value (See Difficult Decisions Made Easier for more details) and focusing in on targeted opportunities.

There Is Gold In Your Customers

This is an idea that you will keep hearing from me but I know that there are big profit opportunities sitting in your existing customers (if you are like 90% of businesses).

It's so much more exciting chasing the new big deal but by focusing on improving your policies, systems and methods for re-selling, up-selling and cross-selling I am sure that you can make much more money concentrating on the prospects who already know and trust you.

Cheap Is Often Expensive

There will be pressure on you to reduce your prices, both from your customers, your competitors slashing their prices and your own desire to give your sales volumes a boost but I want you to remember this simple slogan:

Cheap is often expensive and in tough times, you can't afford to waste money.

You know it already.

Pay a low price and you often get cheap tat but pay more and buy quality and you get something that provides lasting value.

It doesn't always work but price is often a good guide to quality.

Take business advice for example.

Do you want an adviser who costs you $50 an hour or Jay Abraham at $5,000 per hour.

OK Jay may be a bit pricey but I know because he's told me, Scott Hallman's coaching work is booming at $1,250 per hour. Why? Because his clients make many times that money back from the ideas and clear implementation guides he gives them.

Permission Marketing Matters More Than Ever

During tough times, people will concentrate on key relationships from people who have proven they can be trusted.

This emphasises the importance of regular customer focused content (not self serving sales pitches), providing great customer service and improving your referral strategies. You may not be in someone's tight trusted network but a recommender might be.

Give Before Receiving

If you are dealing with a new prospective customer, what better way to demonstrate your value and why you are different by giving - it may be helpful information, a free trial, samples or anything else that can strengthen the relationship and put the prospective customer in a position where they have gained from contact with you.

In all my dealings with clients, prospects and visitors to my website and this blog, I work hard to make sure that they gain from their contact with me."

The subtitle of "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times" is "How To Steal Customers From Your Competitors In Tough Times" and let me give to you.

If you pop up to my newsletter form at the top left, there is a sign up page for my newsletter. This gives you two free reports:

1. Marketing Secrets for Small Businesses - this is a primer of Jay Levinson and Jay Abraham's ideas for marketing
    
   
2. How To Win Profitable Customers Away From Competitors - the content is very different from "Guerrilla Marketing In Tough Times" but the intent is the same and I have been told by a rival business adviser that I should be charging at least £10 for it but I'm a guerrilla marketer - I give it to you free just so that you gain from contact with me.

My Review Rating for "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times" 4.5 Stars

I like to be stingy when I review books and a five star book has to be exceptional.

The Fourth Edition of "Guerrilla Marketing" had my top five star rating but I've knocked half a star off for this one. The 4.5 star rating is a strong buy recommendation for "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times."

The content is excellent and the book is well written but "Guerrilla Marketing" is a big book while this one is short.

You could argue that's an advantage. It is certainly tightly edited and there is no waffle or superfluous words.

I like books that focus on turning knowledge into action and this book ends each chapter with exercises and action steps but I did find myself wanting Jay Levinson to tell me more.

I guess this is a problem when you have so many books, You can't keep on repeating content because people would get bored but as I was reading I found myself looking back to Scott Hallman's Small Business Growth Club and thinking "Scott tells you exactly how to implement that idea."

Who Should Read "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times"

Jay Levinson writes for the small business owner and while he has authored or co-authored many books (with total sales exceeding 15 million copies worldwide), each is standalone and doesn't require knowledge of the other Guerrilla Marketing books.

It is not a technical read so owners of small/medium sized businesses should read, as should  people employed in sales and marketing functions.

Tough times do create unusual pressures and the book is a great way to hone your thinking.

I also believe that anyone who advises businesses needs to read "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times".

Remember A Guerrilla Is A Giver

I like the book very much but you may think I am biased because I am a certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and it is certainly true that I buy into the ideas and ethos of Guerrilla Marketing so why don't you try it for yourself.

Pop over to the sales page of "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times" and sign up to get the first two chapters for free. Then you can judge for yourself whether you want to pay to read the rest of the book. I believe you will.

So let me end with a couple of quotes from the book

"Times may be tough for others - but tough times are golden opportunities for guerrillas"

and

"Even in the toughest of times, patience and persistence will pay off richly."

Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times Program

A few months ago Jay Conrad Levinson put together an eight week coaching program called "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times". While the program has finished, I found this video of Brad Sugars interviewing Jay Conrad Levinson about the program and marketing in tough times which is worth watching although the sound quality isn't great.

The Guerrilla Marketing Association is also highly recommended.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Recession Proof Your Business

The Guerrilla Marketing Main Event starts on 8 April 2008 to help you to recession proof your business as it is subtitled "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times."

Details of Guerrilla Marketing Main Event

This is an eight week program featuring Jay Conrad Levinson (Father of Guerrilla Marketing), Mitch Meyerson (author of eight books and founder of the Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification program) and six world class Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coaches.

The video is a bit scary so I don't think either Mitch or Jay will be following Michael Port into acting.

Preparing For A Recession

The purpose of the course is to help you to prepare your business for a recession or the tough times that lie ahead.

I have been gloomy about the economic prospects for some time now as I see the US and UK economies seriously unbalanced through massive personal debt and enormous balance of payments deficits. The economies don't pay their way and at some time there will be a correction.

A Recession Creates Opportunities As Well As Problems

I have written a number of times how shocked I was by the dramatic change in economic prospects that the 1990/91 recession in the UK brought to my employer. I had never seen profit fall out of a very profitable business so quickly.

We old hand have probably forgotten just how tough it was in those difficult times but there are many people who own and/or manage businesses now how have never experienced a recession.

The recession will cause many small businesses to lose a desperate fight for survival, many more will cling on but some will come out of the difficult times stronger, leaner and fitter and ready and able to take advantage of the opportunities which arise.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." (Charles Darwin)

Are You Ready To Change?

The Guerrilla Marketing Main Event is designed to make sure that you do respond to the changed circumstances, that you do recession proof your business and that you are able to take advantage of your competitor's difficulties.

You find out more about the Guerrilla Marketing Main Event here

Is The Guerrilla Marketing Main Event Any Good?

This is the first time this program has been run and it may be the only time this year so it does include an element of being the pioneer but let me reassure you:

1. Guerrilla Marketing is a great concept which helps small businesses and the Guerrilla Marketing fourth edition book is one of only four books to carry my full 5 star rating.
    
2. Mitch Meyerson runs the Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program which I have done and recommend very highly. It was very practical, very focused, very stimulating and leads to significant benefits.

Two Great Reasons To Act Quickly To Recession Proof Your Business

1. The sooner you start, the more ready you will be. This program begins on 8 April so you don't have much time.
    
2. The price for the first 50 entrants is 37% lower than the regular price so that makes a great incentive to go over there and book your place now.

Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times

If the phrase sounds familiar to you then that is because there is a "Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times" book by Jay Conrad Levinson which was written a few years ago and is now available as an Ebook - Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times - you can download several chapters for free.

The Guerrilla Marketing Association is also highly recommended.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

See also Business coaching in a recession

Guerrilla Marketing In 30 Days - 2 Stars

I was really looking forward to reading "Guerrilla Marketing In 30 Days" by Jay Conrad Levinson and Al Lautenslager.

I believe small business owners need an action focused guide to systematically implementing the Guerrilla Marketing concepts.

You can tell from my two star rating that I was bitterly disappointed.

My Dilemma

I am a big believer in the Guerrilla Marketing ideas and I have struggled with this book for the last six weeks.

I had decided that I wasn't going to review it on the basis of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" which is a good philosophy for life.

The problem is that this is the Guerrilla Marketing book I have probably seen most often in book shops in the UK.

The book looks very convincing in the shop as "A Blueprint for Great Marketing" and with complimentary feedback from three highly rated and popular authors - Stephen Covey, Jack Canfield and Guy Kawasaki, it is a compelling "buy".

The simple truth is that I don't want you to waste your money buying it or your time reading it.

My Confession

The clue is in the title.

Thirty days equals thirty chapters and I have only managed to stomach reading the first twelve chapters and skimmed the remainder, dipping in occasionally.

The writing is that bad and it is in a very different style to Jay Conrad Levinson's classic "Guerrilla Marketing" (see my 5 star review of Guerrilla Marketing Fourth Edition).

What Do The Amazon Reviewers Think?

There have been 18 reviews to date on Amazon.com and to my amazement 14 have awarded the book 5 stars so they are clearly seeing merits in the book that I don't.

I have more sympathy for the reviewer who said that in 3 months he'd managed to read 3 chapters and doesn't intend to waste his time on the remaining 27 (a three star review from a very kind man). One of the 2 star reviewers described the writing as "so bad it's uncomfortable" also struck a chord.

If You Want To Implement Guerrilla Marketing On A Tight Budget

The appeal of this book is the focus on action for people who want to move from the theory into seeing the improved results Guerrilla Marketing will bring for their business.

So as an alternative (it will cost more but yield far more benefits than a book you can't read) I recommend you:

1. Buy "Guerrilla Marketing Fourth Edition" by Jay Conrad Levinson (Amazon UK and USA)
      
2. Buy the "Guerrilla Marketing Toolkit" (also known as the Guerrilla Marketing Jumpstart Program) which is a much more practical multi-media six week program for implementing Guerrilla Marketing in your business. This comes with a 100% money back guarantee.
    
3. Commit to joining the Guerrilla Marketing Association as soon as you start seeing how well the Guerrilla Marketing ideas work. This is Jay Conrad Levinson's subscription site which is absolutely packed with great marketing resources and even gives you a free 30 day trial (at the time of writing.)

Conclusion

Turn away from "Guerrilla Marketing In 30 Days" but turn towards Guerrilla Marketing.

The quality standard has not been maintained in this co-authored book and it is a concern I have with several of the other GM books as well.

I really don't want you to get the wrong impression of Guerrilla Marketing because of one poor experience.

At its best, Guerrilla Marketing (in the resources I am pointing you towards) is a very structured small business marketing solution which is proven to work for all kinds of different small businesses all over the world.

Incidentally beware of rip-off guerilla marketing and even gorilla marketing products. The official Jay Conrad Levinson Guerrilla Marketing has two Rs and two Ls although it has taken me some time to learn to type it consistently.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Scoop! Guerrilla Marketing In Europe

I have an exciting scoop to tell you about because yesterday I was talking to an entrepreneur who is organising a high profile Guerrilla Marketing event in Europe in May or June 2008.

The intention is to bring together:

Jay Conrad Levinson - Father of Guerrilla Marketing

Mitch Meyerson - creator of the Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coaching program and author of many books including his latest, "Mastering Online Marketing"

Monroe Mann - CEO of Unstoppable Artists LLC and co-author of Guerrilla Networking

Alexandru Israil - CEO of MarketMinds, a Guerrilla Marketing Master Trainer

At the moment, the dates are being finalised and it is intended that the event will be held on the French Riviera within 20 miles of Nice although it seems someone decided to hold a film festival in Cannes.

What is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla Marketing is the world's biggest brand of small business marketing information, advice and coaching as the books have sold over 15 million copies all over the world.

What makes Guerrilla Marketing different and so special is that it has been designed for small businesses so it places the emphasis on imagination rather than money.

I was intrigued by the phrase "Guerrilla Marketing is for people with big dreams but small budgets" and now I am a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach.

When I heard the big dreams/small budget quote I though "that's me" and it's probably you.

The Guerrilla Marketing books have been translated into over 40 different languages but there is one area where the Guerrilla Marketing brand is not as well known and that is in Europe including the UK. There are some links at the bottom of the page which will guide you to other information about Guerrilla Marketing.

Why Is Guerrilla Marketing So Vital Now

Predictions for the world's economies for 2008 and 2009 are not good and that puts an emphasis on improving the effectiveness of your marketing and its efficiency.

Difficult times cause problems for many businesses but as always, times of change bring great opportunities for those with the right information, the right mindset and the courage to take decisive action.

So when your competitors will be "fastening down the hatches" and cutting back on discretionary sales and marketing expenditure so they have less contact with their customers and prospects at a time when they need more support, imagine the impact you will have when you learn the Guerrilla Marketing low cost, high impact marketing tactics.

How Do You Find Out More Details?

I will be in regular contact with the organiser and will post on this blog when the details are finalised.

If you would rather have the news by email, then please sign up to this special Guerrilla Marketing list.

Name:

Email:

 

This email list will only be used to bring you news of Guerrilla Marketing and I won't pass on your details to anyone else. I hate spam as much as you do.

I recommend the Guerrilla Marketing Association.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

The Evolving Guerrilla Marketer

A quick reminder that Jay Conrad Levinson features in the free Ideas To Income teleseminar on 26 February 2008 with his talk on the Evolving Guerrilla Marketer.

You can register on the Ideas to Income website.

As the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson is always worth hearing. Jay also appears each month as one of the speakers in the Guerrilla Marketing Association. It is not free but I believe it is a must join organisation for anyone who is serious about marketing.

If you are not ready to make that commitment to join the GMA yet then why not investigate Guerrilla Marketing 101.

In about four hours you will learn:

1. The 20 reasons why your business needs Guerrilla Marketing
    
2. Details of 100 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons, many of which are free (note the Guerrilla Marketing Association archives now have recordings of Jay Conrad Levinson walking you through 200 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons)
    
3. The 16 monumental secrets of Guerrilla Marketing and as they always say, much more.

There are some great bonuses as well including an extra DVD, two months free membership of the Guerrilla Marketing Association, a 15 minute chat with Guerrilla Marketing Coach Anthony Hernandez and a webinar where you will learn some of Chet Holmes growth secrets.

Alternatively the Guerrilla Marketing Toolkit Jumpstart Program is excellent.

As a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach, I believe in the high impact, low cost methods of Guerrilla Marketing.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Guerrilla Marketing Tactics For Creating Attention

Rich Schefren, his Attention Age Doctrine (well worth downloading & reading if you are interestyed in Web 2.0 and the social media ) and the whole build up to his Business Acceleration Program launch has really had me thinking about marketing tactics for creating attention and raising awareness.

The problem - the CACOPHONY OF NOISE that advertisers have created.

The louder they all shout, the louder and more extreme anyone has to be to command attention.

Why is Attention Essential?

One of the most famous guides for advertising and copywriting success is AIDA:

• Attention - you have to grab somebody's attention. Advertising that isn't noticed is worthless.
   
• Interest - you have to create interest in your product or services.
   
• Desire - that interest must be transformed into desire. The watcher or reader must starting wanting your product to solve a problem they have or to deliver a benefit that enhances their lives.
   
• Action - finally, the prospective customer has to be encouraged to take action by making the necessary steps to get your product clear and easily performed.

Creating Attention: Gone From Being The Easiest To Hardest?

In the "good old days" it used to be thought that creating attention was the easiest of the stages. There are some great headlines that have been proven to work - see Jay Abraham's 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written

Now people are thinking that grabbing attention has become the hardest because of the noise created by the rest of the marketers.

But even worse the same marketing noise means that it is increasingly difficult to keep that attention when you have it and building an ongoing relationship with your market.

Jay Conrad Levinson, Father of Guerrilla Marketing tells us that on average we only see one out of every three marketing messages and that it takes nine seen contacts to create a customer.

These numbers are probably even worse now in 2008 but the message is simple. You have to work hard to create attention.

Rather than talk more about Rich Schefren and his ideas for creating attention in social media, I thought that I would dip back into history and tell you a few stories that I like. If you can think of any more, please leave a comment.

I have tried to focus on what I think of as Guerrilla Marketing Tactics for Creating Attention that leverage imagination rather than money.

The Easy Way To Gain Attention: A Mountain Of Cash

Anyone can create attention if they throw a mountain of cash at the problem, run wall to wall TV and radio advertisements, have posters on billboards and all the conventional marketing so I have been looking for stories with a little twist.

The Guerrilla Marketing Method For Creating Attention: Using Your Imagination

I hope that over time this article grows as I remember old examples or see new ones (or you suggest more stories that use unconventional techniques and methods for generating attention.)

But here are my starting three attention grabbers.

The Lamborghini Miura

Lamborghini is now a famous brand name associated with luxury, speed and style.

Back in the early/mid sixties it was different.

Ferruccio Lamborghini, owner of an Italian tractor manufacturing company, angry with Ferrari decided to show that he could build a better exotic sports car.

The Lamborghini Miura is stunning to look at and even today, it is regularly considered to be one of the most beautiful cars ever built.

It created a sensation at the Geneva motor show when it was first revealed to the public but Lamborghini needed to create attention with the rich and famous who could afford to buy the car rather than motor car enthusiasts and young boys.

Lets have a think. Where do the rich and famous gather?

The second public appearance of the car was when it was parked outside the Monte Carlo casino, the day before the Monaco grand prix.

In a country used to flashy cars that most of us can only dream about, and on a night the day when all the people who were somebody would be in Monaco. The crowd was five deep around the car all evening as people wanted to take a closer look.

But Ferruccio Lamborghini thought he could do better. He walked over to the car, sat in the driver's seat and fired up the V12 engine and after that the crowd was ten deep around the car.

Since then the car became famous when it was driven through the mountains in the opening sequence of the original film "The Italian Job"

I'm not sure why but it looks a little distorted in the film clip but you get a better view of the car and the follow up model that helped seal Lamborghini's reputation, the Lamborghini Countach.

Now to get attention you could buy a Lamborghini. It is sure to be a head turner but spending that much money doesn't rank as a Guerrilla Marketing tactic.

But can you take the idea of showing your product to your target customers in such a dramatic way and adapt it for your own use.

Kylie Minogue And A Pair Of Gold Hot Pants

Kylie came to fame in the late eighties as Charlene in the popular Australian soap Neighbours and then, with the help of Stock Aitken & Waterman, launched a career singing synthetic pop songs like "I Should Be So Lucky".

Her popularity declined after the first few years.

She tried to change image and move her songs into more adult themes but she never came close to repeating her early success and while many of us retained a soft spot for her, she was fading from view.

In 2000 she relaunched herself, returning to a style based on 70s disco and her first single "Spinning Around" generated massive video attention.

Why?

She wore gold hot pants in the video that only cost a few pounds to buy.

Let's be honest.

They don't look much do they? Certainly not enough to relaunch a career that would have her singing in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics a few months later.

But that's exactly what they did and to understand why, you have to watch the video. Kylie's natural attributes clearly helped but the gold hot pants were a stroke of genius.

Here is a brief clips and a commentary on the video - directed by a woman it seems who understands men all too well:

You want more? You want the full video?

Oh go on then. You need a bit of fun and if you've been reading other articles on my Business Coaching Blog, you have been working and you deserve a bit of a treat.

What is interesting is she also wears a pair of white hot pants but do you remember them unless you've just re-watched the video?

Can you take inspiration from the idea of Kylie's hot pants and create attention for your business?

Marks & Spencer Make Food Sexy

Perhaps a national TV advertising campaign isn't your idea of a Guerrilla Marketing campaign.

It creates a huge amount of cash to film the adverts and then to play it regularly on the television.

But what if your advert is so imaginative that it starts a trend?

What if it turns the way that the product is advertised upside down?

What if the adverts are so stylised that, even though your competitors imitate your approach, every time they do it reminds the potential consumer of you?

Now that has to be a Guerrilla Marketing idea doesn't it. Your competitors spend their cash to advertise and prospective customers think of you!

Marks & Spencer ran a series of adverts that some how really put the emotion into food. They were riveting and so good that you almost held your breath while they were shown as you indulged yourself in the sights and sounds.

What a shame that the gratification for taste, smell and touch had to be delayed until you went out and bought the items but the advertising images were so strong that you could they were almost tangible while you watched.

If you haven't seen these, then just watch one or both of these videos that made food sexy.

and

So how can you stir up and use the power of your prospective customer's emotions to create attention.

Gaslight Music Store, Melbourne, Australia

I heard about gaslight through a Jay Abraham program but Gaslight Music (closed 2005) created attention through its different promotions every day, even including an annual Nude Day where if you turned up naked, you received a free CD.

Gaslight went through a long list of different types of events but it became an institution in its heyday through this Guerrilla Marketing technique.

There were several changes of ownership and I don't know whether the special events continued up to the time of closure, but like many music stores it fell victim to the move to Internet music sales, especially for long tail items which Gaslight specialised in stocking.

Other ideas?

If you think of any other great examples where attention has been be created by using imagination and created an iconic symbol, then please leave a comment.

I will take a look and if I agree I will post it on to the article with a suggestion credit back to you.

Nothing too rude though. The Kylie video is my limit.

So How Do You Create Attention?

1. You have to be different.
   
   You won't stand out from the crowd if you follow the herd.
   
   This is the problem that competitors of Marks & Spencer have. By copying the advertising style, viewers think of Marks & Spencer as the originators.
    
2. You have to be newsworthy.
   
   Each of these promotions attracted attention which then attracted the traditional news media in a virtuous circle but it works just as well through the social networking and web 2.0 media.
    
3. You have to appeal to people's emotions.
   
   We have many of them - Arnold identified eleven - anger, aversion, courage, dejection, desire, despair, fear, hate, hope, love, sadness - although other theorists disagree on the exact list. (See Marketing to the emotions for a free report)
   
   How can you tap into the emotions of your prospects?
   
   Remember, it is said that people buy emotionally and then justify their decisions rationally.

I hope that I have given you plenty to think about.

How can you create attention by using your imagination in true Guerrilla Marketing style?

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

As a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach, I recommend the Guerrilla Marketing Association to all small business owners, coaches and consultants as a high quality, low cost guide to all the developments in marketing and business growth.

Business Networking for Success: The Guerrilla Way

I have been given permission by Monroe Mann (www.UnstoppableArtists.com) who has co-authored "Guerrilla Networking" with Jay Conrad Levinson to share with you the Preface to "Guerrilla Networking", so you get a feel for what guerrilla networking is all about together with three proven guerrilla networking strategies to help you create attention and word of mouth recommendations.

* * *

TRADITIONAL NETWORKING:

Meeting People

GUERRILLA NETWORKING:

Becoming the type of person OTHER people want to meet.

PREFACE

Networking does NOT mean meeting people.

That definition is just plain wrong, and it's no wonder why so many entrepreneurs feel lost when it comes to networking which should actually be very easy. You see, networking should be easy, and is easy. The key to your success simply lies in which definition of networking your subscribe to.

Networking does not mean 'meeting people.' Actually, it means, 'becoming the type of person that other people want to meet.'

For example, take some of the big movers and shakers in business, such as Bill Gates, Tony Hawk, and Avril Lavigne. They have taken the power of networking to its highest level: people want to meet them.

Ask yourself this question: would people stand in line for hours to meet with either of these three entrepreneurs? Yes! Why? The answer is simple. They know how to network, for they became the type of person that other people want to meet.

This same networking principle applies to dating, friendship, and yes, small business. Why work your butt off to meet people when you can put that same energy into becoming an interesting person within your field, and then, benefit again by having the same people you want to meet... come up to you?

Herein lies the power of this principle: you kill two birds with one stone. While your boring competition 'who no one wants to meet' is out there desperately trying to meet people day after day, you, on the other hand, are actively putting your efforts into becoming as cool as humanly possible. By diversifying your offerings, be becoming a leader in your field, and by putting together a knock out marketing angle, you'll end up taking your industry by storm.

The result: your competition, the press, and customers alike end up at your doorstep, trying to meet you.

To the uninformed, this public interest might appear to be a lucky fluke. You, however, would know that it was actually the result of your persistent hard work, and the fruit of your foolproof guerrilla networking plan finally reaping its reward: you became the type of person/business that other people wanted to meet and work with.

If you continually try to 'meet people', especially without changing and improving your marketing angle along the way, you're wasting time. Meeting people can do nothing for you if you yourself have nothing interesting to offer.

Taken further, you might have noticed that no one wants you to tell them how wonderful you are; people want to discover and find that out for themselves. And therein lies another key to guerrilla networking: your accomplishments are not as impressive if you have to tell people about them yourself.

Bottom line: if you're playing your networking cards right, and are out there doing interesting things in the public eye, people should be flocking to meet you. You should be receiving emails, phone calls, and letters from those who think you (and your company) are so cool, that they want to do business with you. If not, it's because you're not memorable enough to warrant such action, in which case, you better re-evaluate your guerrilla networking strategy immediately!

So remember: networking does not mean meeting people; it means becoming the type of person other people want to meet. Become as cool as possible, get your brand out there as much as possible, and let us find out for ourselves how cool you are.

In other words, don't necessarily try to meet us; the idea is to make us want to meet you. And if you're reading this book, yes, you're probably someone who we want to meet.

-Monroe & Jay

44. HITCH YOUR WAGON TO A STAR.

Who is Monroe Mann? Well, if you didn't know me'Monroe' before picking up this book, you certainly know me today as the co-author of this fine publication. And this newfound interest in meeting me is probably a result of my co-authoring this book with Jay, right?

BINGO.

Hitch your wagon to a star.

If you want to succeed in the world of guerrilla networking, you first need to acknowledge that you are probably not as well known as you would like to be (and need to be!) That being established, the quickest way to increase the number of people who want to meet you is... to partner up with a bigger name.

I could certainly have written and published a networking book on my own. The question is... how many people would have bought it? Sure, I would have sold a couple thousand copies to my own circle of fans and readers, but I probably wouldn't have reached even an 1/8th of how many people are reading this book now. This book, more than likely, is in you hands not because of me, but rather because there is another 'far more prominent' name preceding mine on the front cover of this book: none other than that of the master himself, Jay Conrad Levinson.

On that note, you might be intrigued to know that originally, the order of the names on the front cover was to be Monroe Mann followed by Jay Conrad Levinson. Jay had no issue with that, but he did make a poignant comment: "Monroe, I'm fine with whichever order you prefer, because I want to help you, but think about this: who is the bigger 'movie star' of books right now?" He was right. The answer, of course, is Jay Conrad Levinson.

He went on to make the correct observation that more people will trust 'and thus purchase' the book if his name were first. As a result, more people would then know my name, Monroe Mann. And then, well, that's guerrilla networking in action folks. Here you are, reading this book: Guerrilla Networking by Jay Conrad Levinson & Monroe Mann!

Now, your turn. Think about your industry and make a list of the 'movie stars' of yo