Tip for May 1, 2005

Your "A" list customers should receive advance notices of sales, of new products or services that you offer, of information that can help them succeed at their own goals.

Tip for May 2, 2005

What did Penthouse know about the power of the press? According to the current Rolling Stone, before the first issue of Penthouse Magazine was even printed, entrepreneur Bob Guccione printed and mailed a four-color subscription brochure to members of the religious clergy throughout England. Why did he do this? Did he really think members of the clergy would subscribe to Penthouse? Of course not! Bob knew the power of controversy. The resulting outcry from pulpits throughout the land did more to publicize and promote Penthouse than Bob could have ever afforded, had he sent brochures to every mail in the country over the age of 18. Penthouse took off like a rocket because Bob knew how to get the press talking. Do you? If not, Guerrilla Publicity is a good start!

Tip for May 3, 2005

Formalize a program where your "A" list customers realize that you actually do give them special treatment.

Tip for May 4, 2005

Printing using Word's Selection feature Often, there's no reason to print an entire page from a Word document. You may only need to print a single sentence or paragraph, perhaps one that you're carefully proofing or want to share with a coworker. In this case, highlight the text you want to print, select Print, and when Word's Print dialog box appears, simply click the "Selection" button. Only the highlighted words will be printed.

Tip for May 5, 2005

Misguided business owners think that marketing is over once they've made the sale. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Marketing begins once you've made the sale.

Tip for May 6, 2005

Marketing is absolutely every bit of contact any part of your business has with any segment of the public. Guerrillas view marketing as a circle that begins with your ideas for generating revenue and continues on with the goal of amassing a large number of repeat and referral customers.

Tip for May 7, 2005

When a guerrilla makes a sale, the customer receives a follow-up thank-you note within 48 hours. When's the last time a business sent you a thank-you note within 48 hours? Maybe once? Maybe never? Probably never.

Tip for May 8, 2005

So what's a good marketing vehicle? One of Jay's favorite tricks is an envelope with lots of stamps on it. Most people will toss a direct mail piece that is metered or has a single stamp, but "if a person gets a letter with 11 stamps on it, they're going to notice it and open it," he says.

Tip for May 9, 2005

Keep track for one month of the follow-up mail, postcards, telephone contacts and email follow ups that you receive from businesses that you patronize. Ask yourself which follow-ups motivate a purchase on your part.

Tip for May 10, 2005

Guerrillas communicate visually whenever possible Guerrilla Marketers strive to replace words with visual images. Visuals communicate at a glance, as a glance at page 22 of the February This Old House illustrates. It's not very revealing to say that debris from demolished buildings each year could build a wall 30 feet high and 30 feet wide along the East and West Coasts. It's quite another to show a drawing of front end loaders creating a 30 foot high pile of debris along the borders. Whenever possible, replaces words in sentences with information graphics like charts, graphs, lists, tables, organization charts, and timelines.

Tip for May 11, 2005

Guerrillas know that it now costs six times more to make a sale to a prospect than to an existing customer, so they do everything in their power to increase the size of their customer list, then market with guerrilla gusto to customers and acquaintances of customers.

Tip for May 12, 2005

Building a relationship with specific editors and writers is vital to your success with the media. Offer your services as an expert spokesperson in your respective field, even if the editor or reviewer you contact cannot respond to your press release right away. An editor or writer will return to you when they need information from you, as long as you leave them with a good impression and genuinely offer your assistance in developing or rounding out a news or feature story.

Tip for May 13, 2005

Ask pleasantly for business references from existing clients. Asking politely generates good references. Everybody understands the need for a business reference. It’s a reasonable thing to ask for. If properly asked, most people will applaud good work.

Tip for May 14, 2005

Always double-check hyphenation Always check for properly hyphenated words. Watch out for situations where words like "therapist" are split into: "the" and "rapist." Limit hyphenation to two consecutive lines. When too many lines in a row are hyphenated, it's a clue that your type size is probably too large for the column width you have chosen. Avoid hyphenating proper nouns, like names or places.

Tip for May 15, 2005

A well-known axiom of marketing has always been that it is much simpler to sell the solution to a problem than it is to sell a positive benefit. For this reason, guerrillas position their companies to be ace problem-solvers.

Tip for May 16, 2005

E-mail address reminder in an age of Spam One of my clients is an interior decorator. We've communicated by e-mail several times. A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from an address I didn't recognize. The return address was similar to "Pretty Kitty" at AOL. The subject line was something to the effect of: "Let's get together!" Not recognizing it, I deleted it. Yesterday, I get a phone call: "Why didn't you respond to my e-mail?" "What e-mail?" I took me a few moments to realize that I had deleted an important message. But, whose fault was it? In this day of increased concern over uninvited e-mail, it's the sender's responsibility to have an e-mail address that clearly and instantly identifies the sender.

Tip for May 17, 2005

Location, Location.....What? Guerrillas are constantly on the lookout for important lessons from their peers. A good source of lessons is to analyze the sixty-second infomercials delivered at networking events like B.N.I. meetings. For example, the three rules of Real Estate are, of course, "location, location, location." But, these are not necessarily the three rules of service business success. Yet, many service providers begin their sixty-second informercials by stressing their location: "at the Pease International Tradeport," "a mile from State Street Discount," or "Where Tortilla Flats Restaurant used to be." Why encourage your listeners' minds to wander, when you can better spend the time communicating the benefits you offer?

Tip for May 18, 2005

Familiarize yourself with non-breaking spaces Readers judge your credibility and the value of your message by tiny details. One tiny detail that tells a lot concerns non-breaking spaces. When entering names like Roger C. Parker, use a software feature called "non-breaking spaces" to keep Roger and C. from appearing at the end of one line, and Parker from appearing at the next. When non-breaking spaces are used, the software will move the entire word group to the next line. In a similar way, avoid splitting the name of a city and its state, or a month and the day and year that follows. Often, the only way to avoid trouble is to rewrite the sentence--or a previous sentence, in order to fit the word grouping together on one line.

Tip for May 19, 2005

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 May 20, 2005

Always Reward Quality, Pt. 2 Last week, I sent an e-mail to the staff at National Public Radio's American Roots, letting them know how much pleasure I had listening to their Saturday afternoon show. I expected nothing to come of it (except, perhaps, an invitation to contribute.). A few days later, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal e-mail from the host, thanking me for my message and asking my permission to forward my e-mail to the powers that be at NPR. The e-mail took the edge off a difficult day, and reminded me that--no matter how distant or anonymous our customers might be--there are individuals out there who affected by the quality of what we do. Guerrillas strive for excellence, partly to satisfy their own standards of excellence, but partly because there are human beings out there who share and will support our standards of excellence. Plus, it's less lonely that way.

Tip for May 21, 2005

The power of redundancy Jumbo jets, like Boeing 747's, rely on multiple levels of redundancy. There are backups to the backups to the backups. There have been cases where a 747 has safely landed using the seventh level of redundancy, i.e., the first six systems failed, and the planeload of passengers lives were saved by the seventh system. Which brings us to the question of e-mail access. Given the importance of daily--even hourly, perhaps--e-mail access, have you built redundancy into your system? How many ways do you have to access your e-mail? If your cable modem goes down, for example, can you quickly switch to a dial-up connection? If your primary e-mail provider is down, can you access your e-mail through another service? Guerrillas with just one way to access their e-mail might want to explore setting up a low-cost back-up alternative, "just in case."

Tip for May 22, 2005

Eliminate double spaces in documents other write When working with text that others have created, use your software program's Replace feature to eliminate two spaces following periods (or other punctuation.) Many people first learned to type on a typewriter, and were taught to press the space bar twice after a period. This was necessary then, but creates serious problems now. Two spaces in a row each expand when the text is justified (i.e., set in lines of equal length), creating large, distracting spaces between sentences. Simply select Edit>Replace and instruct your software to Find every instance of two spaces and Replace them with one space.

Tip for May 23, 2005

Guerrillas opt for quality and economy every time. Timing also refers to tying in with the news of the moment, with what's on your prospect's minds, and with what your competitors are doing.

Tip for May 24, 2005

32.5% of U.S. households have frequent shopper cards and better still, 24% regularly use them. Do you have such a program yet?

Tip for May 25, 2005

Everyone loves a freebie You can promote your business by giving away free samples of your product or service, offering free demonstrations or handing out useful products bearing your company name and contact information. When conducting a giveaway on the Net, keep the following tips in mind. - Promote your offer: Utilize your storefront, e-mail and discussion group signatures, and newsgroups that carry notices about free items. - Offer something relevant and valuable: Deliver as much value as possible to avoid looking stingy. - Deliver it promptly: if your giveaway is a text document, consider offering it via a mailbot for instant delivery. - Follow up: If you use e-mail or a mailbot you will have the e-mail addresses of people who requested your giveaway. Send follow-up notes a few days later to ask customers if they have any questions about your offer.

Tip for May 26, 2005

"Hello, Mr. Prospect. Thank you for taking time to meet with me today. I'd like to ask you a few questions this morning about growing your business faster, increasing your sales, making you look great to the board, stockholders..." A good beginning statement. Now start asking those questions that relate to your product or service. "Have you ever noticed..."

Tip for May 27, 2005

Trade show wisdom: Always keep in mind the big three: 1) Who you are 2) What you do 3) How you can help the attendee Only after you are positive that your exhibit addresses these three points should you turn your attention to colors and other design elements.

Tip for May 28, 2005

Free samples are tried but true Free samples are one of the oldest and most effective marketing weapons used by consumer products companies. Display your confidence by offering and even distributing your product online. Even if you can't distribute your product electronically, you can still offer it that way. By posting your sample offer in your e-mail and discussion group signatures, on your Web site, storefront, or relevant discussion group, you qualify your prospects. Providing something free is an easy way to raise customer interest. The key to making samples work is offering the right samples to the right audience.

Tip for May 29, 2005

A salesperson who likes to talk, for instance, can frustrate the prospect's desire to talk. Stop talking. Observe carefully and ask more questions.

Tip for May 30, 2005

Roses are red, not profits. Profits are blue. A recent study showed that shoppers spent about 50% more on TVs placed in front of blue displays. With a red display, twice as many purchases were postponed.

Tip for May 31, 2005

Free software is a natural If there's one thing you can be sure about when you're marketing online, it's that your audience uses computers and software. That's why free software is a natural giveaway item for the Net. The keys to inexpensive software are shareware and freeware. These are usually developed by individuals and distributed for free in online libraries or via user groups. Freeware can be used for free: shareware authors ask users to send in a small registration fee if they find the program useful. Either way, you can research interesting programs and then contact the author about customizing it to display your company name. You can distribute software like this right over on the Net if you have a Web site, and FTP site, or another storefront, but you'll get more customer contact if you distribute it on a floppy disk. Among the types of software you might give way are screen savers, games and utilities.