1.0 Definition of Guerrilla
Marketing
1.1 The
term "Guerrilla Marketing" was developed by Jay Conrad Levinson more than a decade ago. Marketing is generally defined by Levinson to be "everything you do to PROMOTE
your business, from the moment you conceive of it to the point at which
customers buy your product or service and begin to patronize your business on a
regular basis."
1.2 Guerrilla
Marketing is predicated on the idea that "Smaller Is Better." Smaller businesses have the advantage over
larger businesses in the critical areas of size, speed, and flexibility.
1.3 The
primary advantage that larger companies have over smaller companies in the area
of marketing is money. Small
Businesses must combat this primary disadvantage by being more creative,
flexible, and adaptive. Guerrilla
Marketers must do much more with much less money!
1.4 The essential strategies of Guerrilla Marketing have stayed the same, but the weapons have changed dramatically. Guerrillas thrive on change and the unexplored opportunities, which are an inevitable byproduct of change.
1.4.1 The primary changes that have occurred over this past decade that directly affect the field of marketing are:
1. The emphasis on Environmental Issues.
2. The advent of Cable and Satellite television.
3. Long term Economic Stagnation.
4. Workforce 2000: The
increasing impact of Women and minorities
in the workplace.
5. The Global Network. Perhaps the biggest avenue of new exploration
for marketing opportunities NOW and in the future will be the Internet.
1.5 What
Guerrilla Marketing is not: "expensive,
easy, common, wasteful, taught in marketing classes, found in marketing
textbooks, practiced by advertising agencies, or known to your
competitors."
2.0 The Marketing Needs Of Small
Businesses
2.1 Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that Guerrilla Marketing
has become so enormously popular with small business owners over the past
decade is the focus on bottom line results.
2.2 Fewer than 10% of all Small Business Owners have explored more than one or two of the many successful marketing methods available to them. And of this 10%, far fewer still have met with any true measure of bottom line success.
2.2.1 Not knowing the insiders' secrets of successful marketing, the
average small business owner usually experiments, gets burned (no immediate
cash results), and quickly resolves to "never
dump money down that hole again."
2.3 Below are listed
25 highly profitable marketing strategies.
Most of these strategies remain untested by the average business owner.
How many
of these strategies has 3 D Datacom used this past year?
How many
of these strategies have 3 D Datacom never explored?
How many
of these strategies has 3 D Datacom used successfully (produced a significant increase in targeted
sales volume and market share)?
1. Canvassing
2. Personal Letters
3. Telemarketing
4. Integrated Direct Marketing
5. Direct Marketing
6. Circulars and Brochures
7. Internal Signs
8. External Signs
9. Yellow Page Ads
10. Classified Ads
11. T-shirt Campaigns
12. Public Relations Campaigns
13. Fund Raising Campaigns
14. Sponsorships
15. Teaching and Training Videos and Seminars
16. Newspapers
17. Magazines
18. Radio
19. Television
20. Specialty products (pens, coffee cups, T-shirts, etc.)
21. Product Demonstrations
22. Event Sponsorship (Fashion Show, Golf Outing, Celebrity Auction, etc.)
23. Trade Shows
24. Conventions
25. Cooperative Share Marketing
2.4 Big
Businesses draft 200 page Marketing
Plans that research, plan, and budget for every contingency
imaginable. Big Businesses must focus on
gaining a larger segment of an entire industry.
Being off a few percentage points at this level can mean the loss of
millions, if not billions, of dollars.
2.5
Small Businesses need only gain a tiny
slice of an entire industry in order to create dramatic increases
in sales and bottom line profits.
2.6 Small
Businesses, however, "are not just little big
businesses." This was
in fact the focal point of an article published in the Harvard Business
Review. For a small business owner to
survive, he must produce bottom line results without the benefit of a large
marketing and advertising budget.
2.7 Because
expediency and efficiency of results is so critical to Small Business Owners, a
200 page Marketing Plan for a small business would do more harm than good. Even if the Plan were prepared by the best
outside Marketing Consultant available, it would not meet the needs of most
small business owners.
3.0 The Core Idea Developing Your Marketing
Blueprint:
3.1 One of the basic tenets of Guerrilla Marketing is to reduce all aspects of the Plan to their most fundamental, or core level. There are several important reasons for this:
3.1.1 The more focused the Core Idea or Principle can be stated, the easier it is to convert to specific marketing strategies.
3.1.2 Most small business owners do not have the time, interest, or money to follow a traditional marketing plan.
3.2 For
Guerrilla Marketing, the Core Idea
of the Marketing Plan should initially be stated in no more than 7
Sentences. This is only the
beginning; however, as the End Goal will be to state the Core Idea of your
Marketing Plan in no more than 7 Words!
3.2.1 The first sentence tells the PURPOSE of your Marketing
Plan.
Your PURPOSE
must be stated in terms of the bottom line results that your Marketing Plan will hold you and your
employees accountable to produce.
3.2.2 The second tells HOW you will achieve this
purpose, focusing on BENEFITS (see Kramer: Features, Advantages &
Benefits)
For
example: XYZ Manufacturing will achieve its Purpose (building the highest
quality
auto parts in the world BY: establishing purchasing
contracts
with
suppliers throughout the world who can offer XYZ the highest core
supplies at the
lowest possible prices.
3.2.3 The third identifies your TARGET MARKET.
How has your
Target Market changed over the past one, three, and
five years?
If you think that
it has not changed, or you simply don't know how it
has changed, the
fact is that you are not keeping up with the inevitable
changes within
your Target Market.
Three specific markets, which have emerged as, hot markets in the late 90's are: Women, Mature Adults, Boomer Generation, and Ethnic Groups.
3.2.4 The fourth identifies the STRATEGIES & TACTICS that
you will use.
This sentence
should list every form of media you plan to employ in your
Marketing Plan.
3.2.5 The fifth identifies your NICHE within this
market.
One of the most famous people in the Advertising world was David Ogilvy. After many years of experience, and many billions of dollars of successful advertising, Mr. Ogilvy listed the 32 most important things that his company had learned in the advertising business. The number one item on the list, above all else, was positioning the product within the market.
Market position
should be measured against 4 Criteria:
1. Will the prospective customer readily perceive the Benefits?
2. How will the customer rate the importance
or value of that benefit?
3. How do these features and benefits
separate my business from
the rest
of the industry?
4. How unique and/or difficult to replicate
is my product or service?
3.2.6 The sixth sentence describes your IDENTITY.
What business are
you in?
How do you want
your business to be remembered?
Your company Identity must be based on Truth. Any Marketing program designed to create an Identity that a company does not in fact stand behind 100%, is doomed for failure.
3.2.7 The last sentence defines your MARKETING BUDGET,
defined as a
percentage of
projected gross revenue.
3.3 EXAMPLES:
3.3.1 Levinson provides the following paragraph as an example of a Guerrilla Marketing Plan:
(1) The PURPOSE of ABC
Publisher's marketing is to sell the maximum number of books at the lowest
possible selling cost per book.
(2) This will be ACCOMPLISHED BY
positioning the books as being so valuable to free-lancers that they are guaranteed to be worth more to the
reader than their selling price.
(3) The TARGET MARKET will
be people who can or do engage in free-lance earning activities.
(4)
MARKETING TOOLS to be utilized will be a combination of classified
advertising in magazines and newspapers, direct mail, sales at seminars,
publicity in newspapers and on radio and television, direct sales calls to
bookstores, and mail-order display ads in magazines.
(5) The NICHE to be
occupied is one that stands for valuable
information that helps free-lancers succeeds the ultimate authority for free
lancers.
(6) Our IDENTITY will be
one of expertise, readability, and quick response to customer requests.
(7) Thirty PERCENT OF SALES
will be allocated to marketing.
3.3.2 That's it! The whole thing.
3.3.3 Most marketing plans especially if they are reduced to one paragraph seem deceptively simple. But unless they are simple, they are difficult to execute.
3.4
A complete marketing plan, can be accurately
displayed in as little as three paragraphs.
3.4.1 The
Marketing Plan (answers the 7 primary questions outlined
above).
3.4.2 The Creative Plan
(details the message and your identity).
3.4.3 The Media Plan;
(details media costs, identifies newspapers, radio stations, dates
and sizes of ads, frequency, advertising
specialties, strategies for free publicity, and the identity of your business.
The more
brief and concise your Marketing Plan, the more likely that you will follow it, the more likely your employees will understand
and follow it, and the more likely your customers will see it
translated into your policies, products and
services.
3.5 You
must always remember that the primary purpose of your Marketing Plan is to
obtain the maximum profits.
3.6 The
details of your Marketing Plan should also:
Project short range and long range goals
Identify
anticipated roadblocks and obstacles
Provide a plan
for overcoming each of these obstacles
Include a
Situational Analysis of your Competition
Identifying Your
Customer Profile
Analysis of
Marketplace conditions
Marketing
Calendar
Marketing Budget
3.7 The
Business
Plan by comparison goes into greater detail regarding the details
of growth, exact expenditures, and contingencies (best case, worst case, and
most likely case.)
3.8 A
good Marketing Plan is not designed to be flexible. It is designed to provide a Roadmap, which if
followed, will take you exactly where you want to go.
4.0 The Ten Best Kept Secrets of
Guerrilla Marketing
4.1 Secret # 1: Commitment
Sales and Marketing Mgrs. always remain COMMITTED to their Marketing
Plan
4.1.1
Many business executives still believe that sales and
marketing are the same thing. Basically,
their attitude is that if marketing isn't the same things as sales, and if it
doesn't necessarily translate dollar for dollar to the bottom line; then what
good could it possibly be? The
necessarily pragmatic orientation of the typical business owner quickly leads
them to the assumption that anything that doesn't produce direct and immediate bottom
line results just isn't something that they can afford to waste
their time and money on.
4.1.2 This is the first obstacle that every successful Guerrilla
Marketer must overcome. More than any other
of these "ten secrets", this is the primary obstacle that most Small
Business Owners must overcome. Many of
the best Marketing Consultants agree that most Small Business Owners with whom they work, lack the ability to understand
the importance of remaining
committed to their marketing plan, and this represents their greatest obstacle
to success.
4.1.3 AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE: One of the
most outstanding examples of long-term commitment to an advertising program is
the case of Union Bank of
It doesn't take a genius to
figure out that this Marketing program will cost Union Bank many millions of
dollars over the next five years. The
brilliant plan behind this program; however, is that it may make Union Bank the
most successful and profitable bank in
the state of
The answer
of course is that very few people will refuse this offer. In five years how many new customers will
Union Bank have recruited through this program?
And who will those new customers be?
They will all be people who have a computer and a modem; exactly the
market that Union Bank wants to target.
4.1.4 In 1885, a London Businessman offered the following description of
the efforts required capturing the attention of a prospective customer. Little has changed in the world of marketing over the past 100 years.
1. The first time a man [or woman] looks at
an ad, he/she doesn't see it.
2. The second time, he/she doesn't notice it.
3.
The third time, he/she is conscious of its existence.
4. The fourth time, he/she faintly remembers
having seen it.
5. The fifth time, he/she reads the ad.
6. The sixth time, he/she turns up his nose
at it.
7. The seventh time, he/she reads it through
and says, "Oh brother!"
8. The eighth time, he/she says, "Here's
that confounded thing again!"
9. The ninth time, he/she wonders if it
amounts to anything.
10. The tenth time, he/she will ask his neighbor
if he has tried it.
11. The eleventh time, he/she wonders how the
advertiser makes it pay.
12. The twelfth time, he/she thinks it must be a
good thing.
13. The thirteenth time, he/she thinks it might
be worth something.
14. The fourteenth time, he/she remembers that
he wanted such a thing for a long time.
15. The fifteenth time, he/she is tantalized
because he cannot afford to buy it.
16. The sixteenth time, he/she thinks he will
buy it someday.
17. The seventeenth time, he/she makes a
memorandum of it.
18. The eighteenth time, he/she swears at
his/her poverty.
19. The nineteenth time, he/she counts his/her
money carefully.
20. The twentieth time he/she sees the ad,
he/she buys the article or instructs his wife [her husband] to do so.
Only those Small Business Owners who
remain steadfastly committed to their long-term
Marketing Plan will eventually reap their due rewards on the bottom line.
Ten
Reasons Why You Must (ABM) Always Be Marketing
1. The
Market Is Always Changing.
New families, new prospects, new lifestyles change the marketplace. Nearly 18% of the people in the
2. People
Are Not Elephants. Maybe
elephants never forget but people forget quite quickly. Unlike elephants, the average human being is
bombarded by more than 2,700 messages each day.
3. Your
Competition Hasn't Quit.
Someone is always gaining the upper hand in the world of business. If it's not your business, you can be sure it
will be your competition.
4. Marketing
Strengthens Your Identity.
When businesses stop marketing customers lose confidence, and your
business reputation and identity suffers.
5. Marketing
Is Essential To Your Survival And Growth.
6.
Marketing Enables You To Hold On To Your Old
Customers. Repeat
Business and Referrals are the key to profitability for many businesses, and
maintaining your existing customers is critical.
7. Marketing
Maintains The Morale Of Your Business.
8. Marketing
Gives You An Advantage Over Your Competition. Especially in adverse economic times, you can
gain a much bigger share of your Target Market if your competition decides to
ease off on their marketing efforts.
9. Marketing
Allows Your Business To Continue Operating.
10. Marketing
Protects The Investment You Have Already Made In Your Business.
4.2 Secret #2: Investment
Marketing Mgrs. think of
Marketing as an INVESTMENT.
4.2.1 Successful
Marketing is a Blue Chip Investment, NOT a Speculative Investment. Like
all Blue Chip Investments, the smart money is always invested for the
long haul. Sound Stock
Market advice applies here as
well;
"if you can't stand the market's ups and downs, then you shouldn't be in
the Market."
4.2.2 Unfortunately, most Small Business Owners treat their
Marketing investment as a "pure speculative investment." Because speculative investments are high
risk, and high volatility, investors tend to "dabble, get burned, and get
out." This is in fact the reaction
of most Small
Business
Owners to their past marketing efforts.
4.3 Secret # 3 Consistency:
Sales and
Marketing Mgrs. make sure that their Marketing program is CONSISTENT.
4.3.1 The identity of 3 D
Datacom and its message must
remain constant. Remember, the big
payoff in marketing only come to those who are in it for the long haul. By constantly changing marketing identity,
strategy, and message, many Small Business Owners guarantee their own
failure. This becomes a self-fulfilling
prophecy for those business owners who simply don't believe in the
value and impact of marketing in the first place.
4.3.2 THE TEENY TINY AD THAT PRODUCED GREAT BIG
PROFITS!
The owner
of a retail furniture store was going bankrupt.
She had run it in the ground by pouring many dollars into Television
advertising.
Because she could only afford two commercial
slots per week, she wasn't gaining
enough exposure to make any impact, and was subsequently throwing her money
away.
The
Marketing Consultant convinced her that "consumer confidence gained through consistency of image
over a long period of time" should be her primary objective. Therefore, she began to run a teeny tiny advertisement every Sunday in her local
newspaper. After several years of consistently running this ad, her sales have
quadrupled and her profits have followed
suit. Now she runs ten television
commercials per day, but she credits all
of her success to that teeny tiny ad that developed a consistency of image for her
store.
4.4 Secret # 4: Confidence
Sales and
Marketing Mgrs. make their prospects CONFIDENT
in their Company.