Tip for September 1, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 14: Guerrillas depend on others Guerrilla Marketers recognize that the days of the lone wolf entrepreneur are over. Instead, Guerrillas seek out opportunities to partner with other businesses serving the same market. Guerrillas welcome the support of others, including their employees, customers, suppliers, and mentors. Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 2, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 15: Guerrillas are Constant Learners Guerrillas recognize that we live in an age of accelerated change, and are adopt to it by committing to constant adapting their skills to new situations and mastering new technologies and marketing skills. Instead of fighting change, and getting run over by it, Guerrillas welcome it and adopt it when appropriate. Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 3, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 16: Guerrillas are Passionate Guerrilla Marketers are passionate about their work. This enthusiasm is readily apparent to everyone they come in contact with. While others are content to "put in their time," Guerrilla businesses are rooted in intense feelings that exist within their owners, which others sense and respond to. Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 4, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 17: Guerrillas are Goal Oriented Guerrilla Marketers are focused on the goal. They rid themselves of the values and expectations of their ancestors. They focus on the journey, seeing the future clearly while concentrating on the present. Guerrillas recognizee that the minutiae of life and business can distract them, so they do what is necessary to make distractions only momentary interruptions. Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 5, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 18: Guerrillas are disciplined Guerrilla Marketers are disciplined about the tasks at hand. Every time they write a task in their daily calendar, they recognize they are making a promise to themselves. Part of the payoff to this discipline is the leisure time that results. Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 6, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 19: Guerrillas are organized at home and work Guerrilla Marketers do not waste valuable time looking for items that have been misplaced. Their sense of order is fueled by the efficiency that results from it. Guerrillas share their ability to organize with those who work with them. But, Guerrillas avoid "organization for the sake of organization." Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 7, 2005

Way of Guerrilla # 20: Guerrillas Project Optimism Guerrilla Marketers project an upbeat attitude to customers and employees. They recognize that life is unfair and problems will occur. But, they manage to take obstacles in stride, keeping their perspective and their sense of humor. They are guided by the ability to perceive the positive side of things- -recognizing the negative, but never dwelling on it. Their positive attitude is contagious and spreads rapidly. Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997

Tip for September 8, 2005

What sort of consumer are you? That question was posed to people in 40 countries. Their answers: 29% said Deal Makers; 27% said Price Seekers; 23% said Brand Loyalists; 21% said Luxury Innovators. In the U.S., 37% are Deal Makers, 36% Price Seekers, 17% Luxury Innovators and 11% Brand Loyalists.

Tip for September 9, 2005

Test messages and markets Wouldn't you test a radio, TV, or newspaper ad before running it? E-mail messages and mailbot files are your initial and sometimes your only contact with prospects. Don't blow your chance to establish your online identity. Customize messages to test markets by asking respondents to include different code numbers or key words in the subject line of their information requests. You might send messages to two different mailing lists. By comparing the number of messages using each phrase, you will learn which message worked better for you. Mailbots can be programmed to send the document that corresponds to a certain key word. The mailbot will keep track of how many messages it responds to, and provide a ready gauge of which market is working best for you.

Tip for September 10, 2005

Gatekeepers Salespeople often overlook the receptionist or switchboard operator as a potential source of information. Worse yet, they often consider them an obstacle to be overrun in their push to get to the decision maker.

Tip for September 11, 2005

Be selfish in the Yellow Pages by controlling the page. Do it by running two different dimension small ads on the same page. This eliminates any possibility of anyone running a larger ad on that page.

Tip for September 12, 2005

Junk E-Mail is surely the scourge of the net but an email list can be a powerful weapon for online marketing. Guerrilla David Scherer uses mass email simply and appropriately with great results. David used to use a FAX to get out urgent bulletins but it took loads of time and cost plenty. He switched to email and quickly built a list to replace his faxes. The reason that it worked so well is that everyone on the list wanted the information and elected to be on the list and David never misused his subscribers. Now they get the word out to hundreds in minutes, for pennies!

Tip for September 13, 2005

Most customer loyalty programs are expensive to set up and manage but Larry Gaynor's simple approach is the Guerrilla solution that turns it into a profit center. Larry sends a Tootsie Roll Pop out with EVERY order and attaches a client survey card. Each week they get back hundreds of customer survey cards raving about the candy and good service. Over 80% respond with some kind of comment. The really positive survey responses get a follow-up letter from the president and a sample issue of their paid newsletter. Over half of these customers go on to order the newsletter at $89US per year!

Tip for September 14, 2005

A whopping 87% of 15,000 ads responses were never followed up by a sales contact. 23% of requests for information were never even answered. This unwillingness to take one extra step makes earth fertile ground for guerrillas.

Tip for September 15, 2005

Every business we can think of needs good word-of-mouth advertising but so very few attack this task head. Mostly we hope for the best. Guerrilla Gary Brody hunts down his word-of-mouth advertising with an online marketing tactic. Gary runs an independent record label and uses online music lovers to hype his new releases. He visits online discussions, newsgroups, and forums, choosing people randomly to receive copies of new releases for review. Respondents supply their real world address and get free copies of new music. The music comes with a request that if they like the music, to please post comments online and/or share them with friends. If the music is not to their liking, then they are under no obligation.

Tip for September 16, 2005

How to regain control of a sales situation. Control the sales interview by using who, what, how, why, when - probing questions and listen! You can always regain control of the sales interview from the prospect who has gotten off the track by asking a probing question. Information is you ally! By probing and active listening, you gain the involvement of your prospect, you give the prospect ownership in the sales situation. You and the prospect become co-consultants, working together to best satisfy the prospect's needs.

Tip for September 17, 2005

Up to 90% of U.S. households have at least one family member engaged in crafts or hobbies. Needlework is first in popularity.

Tip for September 18, 2005

Marketing online the web can be like winking at people in the dark - you'll never catch their attention unless you turn the lights on. Guerrilla Wendy McClelland turned the lights on for her website publicity by putting URL's (a web address) on EVERYTHING that left her office. T-shirts, fax cover sheets, stationery, press releases, and even her car were plastered with the website address. Wendy logged over 4,000 registrations on her web guest book in the first 2 months and got a lot of local press coverage.

Tip for September 19, 2005

Sales presentations. The words sales presentation should be stricken from the sales vocabulary. If you approach each sales situation as a sales interview, can be deadly. The next time you sit down with a prospect, remember the word - interview, you will gather the facts necessary to intelligently uncover the needs of the prospect and thereafter how he/she will benefit by using your services. In a sales situation interview, don't make a presentation.

Tip for September 20, 2005

Fax usage remains as high for U.S. Fortune 500 companies with e-mail capabilities as for those without. Fax is the communication method of choice 47% of the time, with e-mail at 9%, and overnight delivery at 30%. But postmasters around America now use e-mail to communicate with each other.

Tip for September 21, 2005

Trouble making money online? Maybe you need a new strategy! Guerrilla David worked for two years to develop a successful online sales effort before changing objectives and finding success. David realized that it wasn't logical to sell their training and technology products online so he decided to use their website to develop and qualify leads instead. They now provide useful information to prospects and collect information in online questionnaires. They use the information they collect to follow up more effectively.

Tip for September 22, 2005

The prospect's buying motive is never the desire to use your service, but to gain what your service will provide. The prospect will buy only if it is to his/ her self interest.

Tip for September 23, 2005

Margins in documents to be printed by clients Avoid placing text or graphics too close to the edges of pages that you distribute to clients as e-mail attachments or web site downloads. Printers differ in the "live area," or portion of the page they can print on. Header and footer information too near the top or bottom of your pages, for example, may not get printed. When it doubt, leave approximately three-quarters of an inch border around all four sides of a page.

Tip for September 24, 2005

Always hyphenate body copy Hyphenation is a software feature that splits words too long to fit at the end of one line. The first syllable, or syllables, appear at the end of the first line, and the remaining syllables are moved to the second line. Hyphenation is equally important for text set both justified (lines of equal length, with varying word spacing) and flush-left/ragged-right (lines of differing lengths, with consistent word spacing). If you fail to hyphenate paragraphs of justified, word spacing in lines containing a few long words will be noticeably large. Word spacing in lines containing several short words will be noticeably cramped. Failure to hyphenate flush-left/ragged-right text results in lines of distractingly different length. Often, a line containing several short words will be very long, followed by a very short line containing a few long words.

Tip for September 25, 2005

How not to treat your best customers Several times I've mentioned the growth of photographic magazines specializing in niche markets, i.e., black and white photography. Last week, I noticed that the latest issue of a publication I subscribed to was on display at the local Barnes & Noble. Curious as to why I hadn't received my copy, I called them and asked if my subscription had expired. "No," the very polite individual on the other end responded. We're just late sending the subscriptions out. We put them in the mail today." Which means that those who pay in advance for the publication, providing upfront cash-flow stability and justification for advertising rates, have to wait longer than casual, one-time purchasers at a bookstore. The episode didn't please me too much. But, what's really important is this: "What similar mistakes are we al guilty of, when we inadvertently penalize our best customers in order to attract new business from less loyal sources?"

Tip for September 26, 2005

How not to treat a frequent guest Jay teaches us that "marketing is everything that you do." That lesson was driven home to me Saturday night, when I took my wife to our favorite Italian local restaurant for a pre-Easter supper. The restaurant was crowded--evidently I wasn't the only one who needed tomato sauce and pasta in anticipation of Easter's turkey, ham, and lamb. While waiting for a table, a regular customer came in, was greeted with extra friendliness, and asked: "How many tonight?" The frequent diner responded: "14." The hostess's immediately retort: "Oh no!" What an awful thing to say. Regardless of whether or not it was intended as a joke, it was at least subcsconiously tremendously unfriendly. If I were them....I would have turned my back and said: "Oh yes!" and left. Forever.

Tip for September 27, 2005

When selling services, there's an unfortunate tendency to reinvent the wheel with each new client, preparing a custom proposals, etc. As a result, you may be spending more time than necessary preparing proposals. An alternative is to create a series of "small," "medium," and "large" packages that you can quickly explain to prospects on the first meeting. Many prospects will appreciate getting a ballpark estimate of what services cost you offer and what they cost. As your discussions with prospects proceed further, it's likely that you will fine-tune your packages to better meet their specific needs. That's OK, as long both parties understand the reasons for departure from your "packages." "Packages" help both you and your clients. They make it easier for you to present your services and they make it easier for clients to both make quick, decisions.

Tip for September 28, 2005

Avoid false economies when choosing premiums Guerrilla Marketers understand that they are being constantly judged by their clients and prospects. Every point of contact can either enhance, or detract, from their image. That's why Guerrillas avoid false economies when choosing premiums. Cheap, poor-quality premiums can do more harm than good. They communicate a lack of concern with client satisfaction. They present an unprofessional image of the firm distributing them. In some cases, it may be better to not distribute any premiums, or limit distribution, rather than reducing premium quality and weakening your firm's image.

Tip for September 29, 2005

Avoid "decorative" premiums Premiums help you establish lasting impressions with clients and prospects. However, strive for relevance when choosing premiums for distribution at trade shows or at holidays. Unless your humor is right on target, humorous premiums may fall flat. A much better alternative is to offer premiums that your market can really use. Functionality is always valued above humor.

Tip for September 30, 2005

Quick, now: why a marketing plan? (First of four) A marketing plan provides Guerrillas with a daily calendar of marketing tasks. At a glance, Guerrillas can see what has to be done and why. By making your marketing tasks visible and tangible, you're taking the first step towards ensuring that marketing becomes a part of your daily marketing activities.

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