Four Guerrilla Marketing Concepts

Hats off to Guerrilla Marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson. I can't recommend his book Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business enough.

In my life as a small business owner, I've used the concepts in the book to build a clientele that has supported me since the 80s. Certainly I have my own ideas about marketing my screen print business, but almost all my ideas dovetail with the philosophy of Guerrilla Marketing. Use your brain and apply lots of energy. Do not throw lots of money at expensive traditional advertising.

Here's a few of the basic concepts underpinning the whole approach that Levinson advocates.

A typical business counts money at the end of each month. As a guerrilla marketer, count new business relationships on a monthly basis. Recognize that the existence of your business depends on the successful nurturing and navigation of ongoing relationships with your customers. Solicit client input on how to better serve their needs. Building successful long term relationships is the key to creating repeat business and garnering positive word of mouth referrals from satisfied customers.

Jay Conrad Levinson. This dude is allright.

While guerrilla marketers understand the traditional approach of growing their business by adding new customers, they seek to grow their business geometrically by doing more business with their existing client list. Look to expand the size of transactions and add more frequent transactions with each client per sales cycle. Dedicate your business to offering superior followup service after the sale. Offering superior service keeps the existing customers returning for more while they fuel your traditional growth by giving you referrals.

The rise of digital technology gives small business marketers access to tools that allow them to pinpoint potential customers and deliver personalized marketing messages to them. In the past, the technology of marketing and advertising was expensive and in the hands of experts such as ad agencies, graphic designers and printers. Today, guerrilla marketers make a point of being tech-savvy. They use social media, websites and blogs to communicate with existing and potential clients. Internet and mobile ads are used to bring marketing messages to prospects based on keywords, location and past buying habits.

Traditional marketing relies on distinct marketing techniques such as paid print or television advertising. Guerrilla marketers use combination of marketing techniques welded together under the umbrella of a unified marketing strategy. For example, a guerrilla campaign utilizing email, direct mail and websites along with traditional marketing brings a consistent message to a focused group of consumers, reinforcing it across a variety of media.

Steve Lafler
Manx Media Custom Screen Printing

Non-Profit Organizations & Guerrilla Marketing

So called Guerrilla Marketing has been a buzzword in small business circles for almost three decades, but now Guerrilla Marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson has applied his ideas to the non-profit sector too. Here are a few tips culled from Levinson's book Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits.

Non-profit organizations develop low cost guerrilla marketing strategies in order to define their mission and boost the bottom line. Guerrilla marketers leverage bright ideas and hard work into cash flow from donors using combinations of research, technology and media. They foster relationships with donors in order to inspire trust insure long term success.

Non-profits focus their marketing strategy on their mission. Guerrilla non-profit marketers distill their message to it's essence to quickly and effectively communicate a mission statement to a well defined target audience. Successful non-profit marketers seek to take a leading position in their niche, owning the category. Focusing on a niche brings credibility, helps build an audience and separates a non-profit from the competition. Non-profits focus their marketing on a niche to build skills in their category, and improve the overall performance of the organization.

Non-profits conduct primary research in their niche to better serve their mission. They invest time and energy studying the people they want to reach. Knowledge gained from conducting original research delivers manifold benefits to the non-profit. Research helps define overall marketing strategy. Listening to constituents provides feedback that focuses the purpose of the non-profit and delivers a real-time picture of the current state of the organization. The best media choices and marketing mix come into focus based on what actually works. Non-profits conducting their own research gain insight into which programs and products set them apart from their competition.

Guerrilla non-profit marketers work to expand their relationships with their current donors. While it is important to attract new donors, the cost of doing business with current donors is less. Guerrilla non-profits stay in touch with donors and build trusting relationships with them, delivering the message that they have their best interests in mind. Financial information on the non-profit is shared with donors, instilling confidence. They are encouraged to feel personal fulfillment from their involvement with the non-profit organization. The goal is to increase donations while spending less on marketing.

Non-profit guerrilla marketers are tech savvy, embracing digital technologies in implementing marketing strategies. The message of the non-profit is condensed into an easy to understand meme that can be grasped instantly and passed on. The meme is tweeted, used in Facebook updates and incorporated into the overall marketing program. Contacts made in social media environments are channeled to the non-profit blog, website, or other digital location including a call to action. Online content is formatted so that it is easy to share, with social bookmark tabs and video embed codes included in posts.

Steve Lafler
Manx Media Custom TShirt Printing
503-213-3671