Guerrilla Marketing

by Bill Gallagher Ph. D.

Tom's of Maine decided not to compete with Proctor and Gamble. They went for the 100% Natural Market and carved out a very nice piece of the toothpaste business.
Are you offering customers something different from your competitors? Do your customers have needs you are not adequately meeting? Do you talk to your customers? Do you shop your competitors? Do you shop your own store?

We are privileged to live and work in a market of 350 million people. Including our northern NAFTA neighbors, from sea to shining sea we have the largest single language, single culture market in the world.

For Guerrillas, this is very exciting news. It means that you can do almost anything you want to do and make money doing it. If you want to do it, odds are, in this vast market, somebody will pay you for it. If you want to make it, they will want to buy it. Guaranteed.

Can't you remember thinking about a new product or an improvement on an existing product. And, voila, next month, there it is on the shelf of your favorite store! Your product ideas are just waiting for eager buyers intent on improving their lives with it.

Remember, your business is a lot like that. The key is in finding the right combination of features to set you apart from your competitors.

We remember the story of the guy in the mall whose neighbors on both sides were having their annual sales. Store A had a big sign across their window reading, "SUPER SALE." Store C had an even larger one saying, "COLOSSAL SALE!!!" What was the Guerrilla in Store B going to do to differentiate his store? A bigger sign? A bigger sale? No, he simply labeled his door, "MAIN ENTRANCE."

Your marketing identity niche should be wide enough that it will capture the biggest number of customers and narrow enough so that you have no immediate competitors. If you are successful you will have competitors soon enough, and you'll have to reset your niche to eliminate them.

We want you to note that, in the previous paragraph, we used the word identity niche, not image niche. Image implies a false representation. Nothing upsets buyers more than buying a product or service and discovering that it didn't live up to the marketing claims.

When you carve out your niche and declare it, make sure it's an accurate projection of your true identity. Remember this niche may be anything from low-price, high-volume to up-scale and high-end. You may only cater to older women or to young kids. Your niche may be a combination of all of these factors and more. The important thing is to make your niche big enough to get a lot of customers from your territory, and small enough to eliminate any competitors. That's quite a challenge and a lot of work, but once you've done it, get ready to make some big bucks with your business!