Tip for April 1, 2008

Many sales people are eager to fire the first shot in what they call "the business battle." Don't. Remember your job is not to sell, win, or score any points. Your job is to uncover the hurt, pain, upset, and illness that your product cures.

Tip for April 2, 2008

Colors for e-mail I'm getting more and more text e-mails set in different colors (often blue or brown) or with black text placed against colored backgrounds (light shades of blue, gray, or yellow, etc.) Although the use of color in e-mail helps set the sender apart, color often makes the e-mail harder to read. Black text against a white background makes for easy reading: as you depart from that, you may run into problems. Guerrillas always place functionality and results against attempts to decorate or entertain.

Tip for April 3, 2008

Q: What in your mind constitutes a successful marketing campaign? A: Anything that generates profits for the marketer is successful. That means it's creative. That's the only measure. It has nothing to do with memory or people liking it or winning an award. It has everything to do with generating profits for the advertiser.

Tip for April 4, 2008

Tips on using focus groups: 1) Don't assume outcomes. 2) Remember that groups measure nothing; they provide direction. 3) Always use a professional moderator 4) Don't limit yourself to only one group as a second group may yield very different results. 5) Eavesdrop on participants as they leave the room because they say very important things at that time. 6) If your findings disappoint you, examine the difference between your findings and your expectations.

Tip for April 5, 2008

How NOT to compete with shopping malls, Part 1 When her wedding ring exhibited signs of wear, my wife's first inclination was to support our local downtown jewelry store, rather than the regional mall. However, when she brought the ring to the clerk's attention--who had willingly sold her jewelry in the past--the clerk made three major mistakes: 1) Insulting the customer's taste: "You obviously didn't buy this here!--it's not up to our quality." 2) Insulting the customer: "You're very rough on your jewelry!" 3) Humiliating the customer: she showed the ring to their "technician" who agreed it wasn't good quality and probably wasn't worth fixing--within hearing range of other customers. 4) Overpricing a repair: a $400.estimate. In Part 2, we'll see how my wife fared at the local mall.

Tip for April 6, 2008

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 9 Stress simplicity and ease of use. MAKE IT EASY. Emphasize how your solution almost "operates itself." * Hands-Off Headline Writing! * Let Your Computer Automatically Respond to E-Mails * Teach Your Mailing List To Update and Maintain Itself! * Write Your Next Speech at the Beach Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for April 7, 2008

Always Reward Quality, Pt. 1 I just sent an e-mail to the publishing department at Washington State University, complimenting them on the quality of one of their recent books. Do they know me? Am I an authority in their field? No, but I felt it was important to acknowledge the above-average quality of the book. Perhaps, in a small way, my e-mail will encourage them to maintain their standards, instead of allowing standards to slip. Guerrillas are always busy. But, they shouldn't be too busy to express appreciation for a job well done. Especially when there's no immediate benefit to doing so. Because, hopefully, at some point, one of your customers will do the same for you, and their message will arrive on a day when it will be especially appreciated.

Tip for April 8, 2008

Some discussion group dos and don'ts It's easy to gain visibility in a discussion group by posting messages to it, but if you want to gain credibility and attract business, be careful to provide solid, useful information with each posting. Do describe your subject with a clear subject line. Don't post advertisements unless you want to attract flames and hate mail. Do express your opinion about existing message topics, if you have something new to say. Don't argue for the sake of argument. Do think about the length, format, and content of your messages. Before you post a message read it and evaluate it for brevity and clarity. Don't belabor the obvious or diverge into unrelated topics. Do share information resources with the group. Don't post long articles. You can post an excerpt and point people to the full text. Do start topics of discussion. If you can formulate a topic that showcases your area of expertise, bring it up. Don't try to disguise an advertisement as a new discussion topic. Do invite private e-mail exchanges.

Tip for April 9, 2008

Does advertising work? Yes. However, what is advertised is not as important as how often it is advertised. Sales increase several months after an advertising campaign is launched. And as ad frequency increases, so do sales.

Tip for April 10, 2008

Billboard tips: Billboards help remind others of what you are doing and can direct people to you. Never take the published rate. You can usually negotiate a lower price. Also negotiate to shorten the term of the contract. If they say 12 months, you can get it for six or less. Buy at the end of the month. Winter is the off season in most states and you can save 50%.

Tip for April 11, 2008

Quick: Another reason to have a marketing plan? (second of four) Creating a calendar of marketing tasks makes it easy to develop the content you need for your marketing messages. By noting upcoming deadlines, and frequently reviewing your marketing plan, your subconscious mind will be thinking about upcoming tasks while you drive, read, or sleep. As a result, a lot of the hard work--the thinking--will already be done when you sit down to create an article, brochure, newsletter, or press release.

Tip for April 12, 2008

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 April 13, 2008

Contests automatically generate excitement about your company because everyone likes to be a winner. A well-designed contest will increase traffic to your online business, improve off-line and online visibility, increase sales, and leave your customers feeling good, whether they win or not. Here are some tips for holding an effective contest: 1) Offer something worth winning: a significant and valuable prize won't cost you that much if its related to your business. 2) Select the audience by selecting the prize: By choosing a gift that relates directly to your business, you'll attract only potential customers. 3) Offer consolation prizes: Just knowing there are other prizes makes people more likely to enter. You may want to offer an inexpensive to all entrants. 4) Think globally: Make sure that your prize can be delivered anywhere. 5) Know the rules: Make sure there are no legal restrictions on awarding your prize to whoever might win it.

Tip for April 14, 2008

Sales Incentives #11: Training The wealth of operating features built into many products can be overwhelming to users. This is especially true when dealing with high-tech products like software applications. Training and customer support above and beyond the normal "documentation" or "instructions" is often offered at extra cost in these cases. Eliminating raining and instruction charges for training--whether it be delivered in person or through books, online, CDs, or DVDs, creates a powerful limited time incentive.

Tip for April 15, 2008

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 April 16, 2008

If it has a first-class postage on it, include a business card. Make your card a marketing piece.

Tip for April 17, 2008

Trade shows can enhance your credibility and so can free demonstrations. Free consultations can do wonders for it and so can free samples. Do glitz and glamour enhance your credibility? They do --- but be careful that you don’t send out the wrong message. If you’re a discounter, glitz can sabotage your identity.

Tip for April 18, 2008

Attend a Reverse Trade Show: At which trade shows do your customers exhibit? Consider attending to sell to their competition. A reverse show is where you target the exhibitors, not the visitors.

Tip for April 19, 2008

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 April 20, 2008

Three terrible but common pieces of writing advice: 1. If you like it cut it out. 2. Know what you are going to say before you say it. 3. That’s been said before.

Tip for April 21, 2008

Your e-mail address "advertises" you--for better or for worse. Does your e-mail address make your identity clear to your e-mail recipients? Today. because of spam--unsolicited e-mail advertising--and fear of e-mail viruses-many people routinely delete e-mail from sources they don't recognize. Don't let this happen to you. Ensure that your e-mails get read by using an e-mail return address that's unambiguously you.

Tip for April 22, 2008

Most people lose customers whenever staff changes at a client company but Guerrilla Mark Brodie finds new clients and profits whenever staff changes occur. Mark works in the competitive field of graphic art and design. He scans the weekly want ads for companies that have open positions in marketing, advertising and graphic design. He waits a few weeks and then contacts the new employee, who is often looking for new vendors and anxious to get things going.

Tip for April 23, 2008

Eastern Mountain Sports Sells its Staff's Competence Jay Conrad Levinson frequently emphasizes that marketing can be free. Eastern Eastern Mountain Sports, at the Fox Run Mall in Newington, NH, has obviously listened. They display a large cork board next to the entry. On it, they display photographs of their staff in various outdoors activities: hiking pictures from the top of a mountain, canoeing and kayaking in remote regions, and winter camping. These pictures, which identify the staff members by name, not only "break the ice" with customers, but nonverbally communicate that staff members are knowledgeable and passionate about the products they sell. Total cost? With the exception of a $10 bulletin board, FREE!

Tip for April 24, 2008

The ability to accurately define your precise market or markets dramatically affects your profitability. No one can be everything to everybody. Success comes from identifying who your customers are, what their problems are, and why they buy from you. Use customer questionnaires to focus your efforts on your most profitable customers and prospects. First, find out what your most profitable customers want and like. Then, communicate your strengths to an ever-expanding universe of prospects, using the Guerrilla Marketing tools that attracted your original customers. Change is inevitable. Repeat your customer questionnaire every two to three years.

Tip for April 25, 2008

Identify potential references. List everyone with whom you have worked in the past three years, and others who know you well.

Tip for April 26, 2008

Move from the general to the specific All effective writing follows a general progression from a general idea to specific details. Your online communications should do the same. In a storefront, arrange your menu choices from general to specific, putting items like major departments toward the top of the menu, and details like an "about our company" item toward the bottom, for example. In an online ad, article, or brochure, explain your general point first, and then supply details to back it up.

Tip for April 27, 2008

Remember the Goodyear Blimp? Now there are ten blimps and 20 will be up there soon. Look up to see Fuji Film, Gulf Oil, Sea World, Blockbuster, Met Life, the Family Channel and more. Cost? $175,000 to $350,000 monthly. High!

Tip for April 28, 2008

Probing question #5: The prospect says: I'm satisfied with my current supplier." Your response: "Practically all my customers told me the same thing when I first called on them. Why do you suppose they are now some of my most loyal and satisfied customers?"

Tip for April 29, 2008

What's better than e-mail, faxes, typed letters and memos? Handwritten notes are. They are very personal and extremely motivating.

Tip for April 30, 2008

Be picky with vendors: Don't always go with the lowest quote. Get to know a printer, designer, or agency that understands your needs and will compete for your long-term business. For example, ask them to price the printing of your newsletter on a monthly-for-a-year basis.