Guerrilla Marketing

by Jay Conrad Levinson

Magic words propel great ideas towards profitability. Tragic words doom great ideas to failure. Guerrillas know the difference.

A lot of people realize that a great idea must be expressed with great words. But only guerrilla marketers know those words. If you're creating or judging marketing, you ought to start becoming aware of these words, and enrich your marketing vocabulary, not to mention your bank account, by using them liberally. I have this suspicion that magic words in your marketing materials lead to magic numbers in your financial statements.

Guerrilla marketing is concerned not only with what you say in your marketing, but also with how you say it. Saying the right thing with the wrong words is a waste of time and money, in addition to being a preventable error. Ouch!

One of the more intriguing aspects of the magic words is their durability. Hard- nosed marketers have been using many of these words since the turn of the century -- and here we are about to witness the turn of another century, with these words still generating sales for guerrillas across the nation.

Most of these words have been verified in daily usage since Day One of marketing, yet they maintain their magic. "I love you" will never sound trite.

Certain words have the power to turn prospects on and motivate them to think tthe right thoughts. Other words have the power to turn prospects off and cause them to think thoughts detrimental to your business. Can you write potent marketing copy without magic words? Yes. It's also possible to walk from San Francisco to New York on your knees.

In l995, these are words guerrillas are using to win profits and influence people:

FREE              LOVE            SAFE             NEW
BENEFITS      RIGHT          YOU              ALTERNATIVE
SECURITY      SALE            NOW             WINNINGS
VALUE            ONLINE       FUN               SAVE
GAIN              MONEY        HAPPY           ADVICE
HOW TO        DISCOVER    WANTED        INTRODUCING
EASY              YOUR           PROVEN        SUDDENLY
PROUD          PEOPLE        HEALTHY       GUARANTEED
NATURAL      FAST             PRECIOUS      SECRET
SOLUTION    MAGIC          WHY               COMFORTABLE 

There words carry far more than the weight of one word. Use them in your advertising, brochures, signs, letters, telemarketing, presentations, wherever you can. They describe what people want. They make people read on. They offer things that people are looking for.

As there are magic words to speed you to entrepreneurial Nirvana, there are tragic words that lead somewhere South of that hallowed place. Non-guerrillas know well the pain of marketing that didn't pull. But few of them know that one tiny word may have been the reason. So as not to be guilty of word abuse, stay on the alert for these tragic words in any of your marketing:

BUY              DIFFICULT      DEATH        OBLIGATION
WRONG        ORDER            FAILURE     DECISION
FAIL             BAD                 DEAL          COST
SELL             LIABILITY      WORRY       LOSS
HARD           DETAILS          HARD         CONTRACT

These words make readers lose interest, stop reading. The can undermine your marketing effort. Undoubtedly, there are uglier words than these in the language as well as more beautiful words than the magic words. But in marketing, beautiful refers only to the looks of your financial statement. The marketing battlefields are littered with dead marketing campaigns that were undermined by words that were trendy or faddish. It is very uncool to use such words. Not groovy at all. Guerrillas stick with the magic, avoid the tragic.