Tip for March 1, 2005

Guerrillas know that they must seek profits from their current customers. They worship at the shrine of customer follow-up.

Tip for March 2, 2005

Consider Joining Business Networking International Do you hate to stand up and speak? Are you uncomfortable distilling the essence of your business to a 60-second "informercial?" If you answered "yes" to either question, you're probably a good candidate for joining a local chapter of Business Networking International. BNI is a nationwide firm with chapters throughout the country, in cities large and small. Chapters are limited in size, so you may have your choice of chapters in your area. Each week, BNI members meet to share referrals and deliver a 60-second description of their own business. You'll be surprised at how your confidence will grow, the more often you stand up and present. You may develop some strong friendships while profiting from valuable qualified business referrals. To locate a chapter in your area, visit www.bni.com.

Tip for March 3, 2005

It was once believed that websites had to be long to be valuable, but the increased awareness of the precious nature of time is causing online marketers to rethink this concept. Websites narrowly targeted to specific groups are brief and valuable. Guerrillas know the value of being concise.

Tip for March 4, 2005

Separate Web Design from Production and Maintenance One of the reasons many non-Guerrillas fail to take full advantage of the web is that they are "hostage" to their web designers. Every change requires them to schedule a call with their web designer....and wait for the work to be done...and wait for the inevitable invoice. Guerrillas, however, understand the distinction between "design," "production" and "maintenance." "Design" involves creating a unique and pleasing mix of layout, text and colors. "Production" involves getting the site online and all e-mail links working properly. Design and production can be complicated, but maintenance is something every Guerrilla Marketer should know how to do. Programs like Macromedia Contribute 2 make it easy for Guerrillas with simple word processing abilities to keep their web site fresh and up to date.

Tip for March 5, 2005

When marketing with the traditional media, you’re going to have to devote time and space to heralding your website because many people will want to know where they can get more information. Your website is where.

Tip for March 6, 2005

Confirmations drive web site traffic When is the last time you asked newsletter recipients on your opt-in e-mail list to confirm their continued interest in receiving your publication? How do you know your e-mails are not being routinely deleted because the recipients are no longer interested? You may want to send a yearly "confirmation" message, asking members to "click here to confirm your continued interest" or including a link to your web site page. This has the secondary benefit of driving traffic to your web site, especially important if you have made redesigned your site or added new features during the previous year.

Tip for March 7, 2005

Guerrillas know that the way to develop relationships, the key to survival in an increasingly entrepreneurial society, is through assiduous customer follow-up and prospect follow-up

Tip for March 8, 2005

Creating a "Disposable" E-mail folder One of the best ways to manage the increasing volume of incoming e-mail is to create a "disposable" folder. Use it for those doctored photographs and other humorous files that your send you. Every time you receive a humorous downloadable file, download it to your "disposable" file. Then, once a month, either go through the contents of the file and selectively save the best, or simply delete everything and start from scratch with next month's contributions from your friends.

Tip for March 9, 2005

When a PR person gets you into the newspaper, make reprints of the article and frame them, include them on your website, into your brochure, pop them into your newsletter, put them on your counter, stick them in your store window. Cost? A bit of time. Result? A lot of credibility.

Tip for March 10, 2005

Writing to length "boils off the excess" One of the best reasons writing to fit a specific layout, like a two-sided One-Page Newsletter improves the quality of your writing is that this "boils off the excess," according to Guerrilla Marketer Will Reed, www.gmarketing-genius.com. All of us have a tendency to write too much. When you're writing an open-ended document, discipline often flies out the window. There's no need to do the rigorous self-editing necessary for good writing. But, when you have only space for 625 (or so) words, you're motivated to search for long words that can be replaced by short words and eliminate unnecessary ideas and duplicate words. The result: strong, vigorous writing, instead of a never-ending monolog.

Tip for March 11, 2005

Guerrillas are able to think of additional products and services that can establish new sources of profits to them. In any kind of economy, they are on the alert for strategic alliances -- fusion marketing efforts with others.

Tip for March 12, 2005

Handle Rejection with Grace It's hard to be gracious when a prospect tells you that you were not chosen for an opportunity or position you desperately wanted. Yet, your "grace under fire" is important. One reason is that it's a small world, and the fact that you even qualified for the short list puts you in a relatively rarefied atmosphere. Out of all the people in the world, you were one of the few who made the initial cuts! More important, taking the time to thank your prospect for the opportunity of talking with them keeps you in the running for future opportunities. Circumstances change. The candidate selected may have received a better offer elsewhere, or may not work out as well as hoped. Other opportunities at the firm may open up for you. Never burn a bridge or fail to acknowledge a rejection with a Thank You. Your Thank You is the first step towards ensuring your consideration for the next opportunity to come along.

Tip for March 13, 2005

Your prime marketing investment will be your freebie. It will be a limited time use of your product or a limited time use of your service. You’ll be giving those valuable things away for free, risking that you’ll get nothing in return. But if you’re confident in your quality and service, that risk is minimized.

Tip for March 14, 2005

Multiply the Impact of Your Presentations The next time you create a PowerPoint presentation, make it into an Adobe Acrobat PDF file of it, and save the PDF with a short, 7 letters or less, filename. Then, upload your presentation visuals to your web site. Use a readily available FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, software to upload it. During your presentation, let the audience know that they-and on they--can review your presentation at their convenience by visiting www.yoursite.com/presen1/pdf. Your courtesy will be appreciated by your audience. It will also drive visitors to your web site. If the stakes are high enough, you might even want to include links to short audio clips that will play as each visual is displayed.

Tip for March 15, 2005

You’ve got to realize that the weakest point in your marketing can derail all the strong points. Excellence through and through, start to finish, is what people have come to expect from businesses, and these days, they won’t settle for less.

Tip for March 16, 2005

Printing Technology for Easy E-Book Reading Guerrillas are always hungry for information. They recognize that that their business must be supported by a continuing stream of marketing ideas and tips from others. This thirst for knowledge often results in the purchase of numerous e-books. E-books are fine, but many prefer to print and read, rather than read long documents on screen. But, how do you store the resulting e-books? Here's a suggestion: the next time you have to replace your laser printer, invest in a printer with duplexing ability. "Duplexing" refers to the printer's ability to print both sides of a single sheet of paper. Duplexing printers, or accessories that can be added on to other printers, are increasingly affordable. Duplexing printers cut your paper use in half, and also reduces the number of pages that must be stored. In addition to a duplexing printer, purchase a supply of 3-hole punched paper and a variety of 3-ring binders and report covers. Report covers with clear plastic front pages are great are publications of less than 100 pages. Larger 3-ring binders are ideal for longer publications. These days, duplexing printers are not luxuries, but necessities.

Tip for March 17, 2005

Keep foremost in their minds the truism that people give their business to firms that can help them solve their problems and exploit their opportunities.

Tip for March 18, 2005

Design should be intentional Graphic design is based on objective goals, not subjective opinions like "I like red!" The design of your ads, brochures, newsletters, proposals, and web site should be determined by the image you want to communicate. Guerrilla Marketers take an active role in working with graphic designers, commercial printers and web site designers by describing, in detail, the image they want to project. Guerrillas can define the image they want to communicate, whether it's "classic" workmanship, contemporary "cutting edge" technology, or "safe haven" investments in a troubled world. The more they define their market and their position relative to their competition, the better a job business owners can do in directing the work of the specialized talents they hire to help them.

Tip for March 19, 2005

The companies that get the business realize that all the time and energy they've put into wooing a prospective customer has been mere groundwork for the dazzling display of business acumen that will be made apparent when they get down to the business of making an actual proposal.

Tip for March 20, 2005

Keeping Large Folders Organized As the number of clients, prospects, and purchased e-books increases, file management becomes increasingly critical. Here are a couple of simple tips to keep things organized: Divide each large folder into just two major subfolders. Title one A-M, the second N-Z. Create a separate folder for each client, and store everything associated with them in a separate folder. Every time you add or delete a folder, select View>Arrange Files by> Name. This will keep the files in each folder alphabetically arranged. Create a new folder for each project associated with each client. This makes it easy to keep track of multiple projects for each client. Remember to omit words like "The" from firm names and titles. Otherwise "The Lebow Company" will appear with the T's, rather than the L's, which is where you would logically expect to find it.

Tip for March 21, 2005

Wrap your mind around offering a lifetime guarantee. If you do, more people will purchase from you, figuring that a lifetime is a very long time, but because of zero pressure to return what they've bought, hardly any will return it.

Tip for March 22, 2005

Respect your client's color printing budget Use color with restraint in e-books and web site incentives, like White Papers, training materials, or spececial reports. Last night, I downloaded a Quick Start for a new software program and immediately printed it on my color ink jet printer. Halfway through, I noticed that two of the pages had text reversed out of a solid blue background. Not only did this slow down printing, but I estimate printing the pages cost me about two dollars in ink cartridge costs--not a good start for a new relationship with the company!

Tip for March 23, 2005

Even though your marketing is always truthful, exert even more of an effort during bad times to make it sound truthful. Candid language is a powerful weapon.

Tip for March 24, 2005

Double-check the Quality of your Free Trial Offers Last weekend, a friend of mine attended a "Free Getaway Weekend" at a Cape Cod timeshare. The firm offering the "getaway" probably had $50 invested in her, by the time she arrived, given printing, mailing, telemarketing costs, etc. However, her "free trial" was a total bust: * The television was broken in the room she stayed in. * The refrigerator was broken. * There was no coffee for the coffee maker. * The carpet was stained. * The appliances were rusted. * The ice machine had been "disconnected for the winter." * There was obvious mildew in the hot tube and the water was slimy When she mentioned these deficiencies, she was told: "people who take advantage of these value packages usually don't buy." Needless to say, she didn't. But, what about your free trials? Do you put your best foot forward, or are your appliances rusty, too?

Tip for March 25, 2005

Guerrillas speak and write in the first person, aligning everything they say with the prospect's business.

Tip for March 26, 2005

The purpose of guerrilla marketing is to basically take on a competitive brand in terms of upsetting a competitors promotions. With intentions of having `out of the box' solutions.

Tip for March 27, 2005

Guerrillas make it a point to talk about the prospect's business and not about their own. In fact, they only speak of their own business in terms of how it can help the prospect's business. This requires homework and guerrillas always do their homework before presenting any proposal.

Tip for March 28, 2005

Emphasize Return on Investment, not Costs One of the easiest traps to fall into is to discuss the how's and why's of a proposed implementation plan to the extent of forgetting about the benefits. Instead of saying that a proposed venture to increase sales of a $100 product will cost $8,000.00, for example, tell the prospect that "sales of just 80 units will replace out-of-pocket costs--and then show how the proposed project will create those 80 sales, i.e. * 30 sales from __________________. * 15 sales from _________________ * 35 sales from _________________ This emphasize puts your proposal into an entirely new perspective.

Tip for March 29, 2005

Define your business in terms of markets and benefits, not services When someone asks: "What do you do?," the temptation is to describe the product or service you offer. That's understandable, because you're so close to the product or service you offer. The problem is, this leads to weak answers, i.e.: "I'm a marketing consultant that teaches firms how to market their services using newsletters." However, a better alternative is to couch your expertise in specific terms, i.e.: "I help veterinarians and other professionals cut marketing costs and retain their best clients." If you're a veterinarian, which of the above two answers would you be more likely to respond positively to?

Tip for March 30, 2005

When the circus comes to town and you put up a sign, that’s advertising. If you put that sign on the back of the elephant and you market the elephant through town, that’s sales promotion. If the elephant, with the sign still on his back, tramples through the mayor’s flower garden and the paper reports it, that’s publicity. If you can get the mayor to laugh about it and forgive the elephant and then ride in the circus with no hard feelings, then you truly understand guerrilla publicity.

Tip for March 31, 2005

How a Professional Handles Objections Help! Am in the clutches of a very professional car salesperson! I've located a good car. Everybody likes it except....unfortunately....Consumers Reports. They gave it a rather negative reliability rating. So, I asked the salesperson about it. Rather than brushing off the complaint, he acknowledged it and provided a 20 minute dissertation on the cause of the negative ratings and what the manufacturer had done to address the problem. Because of his candor, the issue is no longer an issue. Are you as comfortable handling valid objections?

Close Window