Newsletter #71 Guerilla NOT Gorilla Marketing

Created on 12/09/02

A special hello to all new subscribers.

The last newsletter (8th August, 2002) was "The Spam Onslaught" and can be found at http://www.netinsites.com/article3.cfm?ArticleID=97

This newsletter only goes to those who wish to receive it. Click on the link at the end of this article if you wish to remove yourself from the list.

Thank you to all those readers who responded to our survey last month. Henry Jansen walked away with the US$50 prize, congratulations Henry!

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http://www.marketingterms.com/ defines guerilla marketing (GM) as " Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources." Jay Conrad Levinson originally coined the phrase because (marketingterms.com again) "Guerilla marketing can be as different from traditional marketing as guerilla warfare is from traditional warfare."

The reason for the title of this newsletter is that most larger companies and industry giants use 'gorilla marketing' methods as they have enough resources to pound their message home via traditional mass media channels such as direct mail and prime time television.

The major differentiator between guerilla and gorilla marketing is the substitution of time, energy and creativity for large dollops of cash. For this reason, GM is extremely important to smaller businesses but can also be highly successful for larger ones. The stark choice for smaller businesses is whether to spend money on standard advertising or find the time to become a guerilla marketer.

From a combination of personal experience as a small business owner and research, I've come up with the main areas where GM can be used successfully:

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• Publicity, creating the buzz
  
  Audri G. Lanford describes what she calls Outrageous Marketing. This involves making publicity-seeking or quirky claims to get attention. An outrageous headline: "Fast-Growing, High-Tech Company Looking For The Right COO To Move To MARS" ran as a full page ad in the local regional edition of the Wall Street Journal in 1990 for Micro Dynamics. Although they didn't hire a COO from this ad, they did get two excellent employees and sold over $400,000 of software from an ad that ran once.
  
  Another way is to make an outrageous claim. Audri Lanford says Bob Allen made his first book, "Nothing Down," a best seller by making an outrageous claim. He offered the following outrageous challenge: "Send me to any city in America, take away my wallet, give me $100 for living expenses and in 72 hours, I'll buy an excellent property using none of my own money." The Los Angeles Times took him up on his challenge and he bought six properties worth $622,000, all in less than three days using none of his own money!
  
  Of course the Net is full of sites and email that make extravagant claims so the effect of such a strategy can be muted online. However offline, a claim or a marketing effort that is 'different' will normally gain attention, particularly if confirming action backs it up.

• Become the expert
  
  Most magazines, newspapers and Websites and are looking for good quality commentaries or columns. If you don't write well, you probably know a friend, colleague or employee who does and who can either proofread your copy or produce it for you. Start small with local papers or low circulation specialist magazines and work up from there.
  
  There are a large number of organizations constantly looking for speakers. Don't talk about your business, but about something of interest to your audience, like how your industry or the world is changing. Make it informative, not a sales pitch.
  
  If you work hard at this and your profile gets high enough, the media will come to you.
  
  
  
• Networking
  
  Attend Chamber of Commerce meetings, participate in a local civic group, or be active in your local community. Networking with local affiliations is a great way to develop new contacts and grow your business but make sure you only join groups that you have a genuine interest in because phonies are quickly spotted.
  
  Encourage those who are sending you a lot of referrals by sending them some sort of gift to reinforce your appreciation of their efforts. Also don't forget the contacts you already have - make sure you drop them a line on a regular basis to keep the relationship alive. It is worth the effort.
  
  This takes significant time and effort but believe me it is a great long-term strategy, you will make new friends and contacts, and it normally has immediate paybacks.
  

• Partnering, linking
  
  We've talked previously about swapping Website links with companies that are aligned with yours and partnering so that your total offering is extended by the partnership. You may be able to become a niche supplier of content about an industry, product or service - on the Net this content can extend your brand worldwide.
  
  Offline why not split the cost of flyers with another business in exchange for half the advertising space? Talk to your local print shop owner, or other local business about putting one of your flyers with each of their printing orders.
  
  

Guerilla marketing can build your brand in a way that no advertisement can for a far more manageable price.

Alex Garden

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Newbies

Although most people know how to use the Outlook Express 'Reply' button to reply to received mail, many users are not so sure what 'Reply All' does. If you click 'Reply All', Outlook Express will send your message to the originator and to all the recipients listed in the original message. So if you want to keep everyone 'in the loop', that's the one to use.

For previous tips visit http://www.netinsites.com/hottips.cfm

Power Users

A quick and mouseless way to get to your homepage in Internet Explorer. Just highlight the address bar by pressing 'F6' then type .. (two periods) and then press the 'Enter' key. Cool eh?

For previous Power Tips visit http://www.netinsites.com/hottips_power.cfm

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Bored at work or just want an interesting diversion? Checkout this excellent Flash-based minigolf game: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/flash/miniputt.swf - see if you can beat my first time 47, one under par with five hole-in-ones! Honest I only played it once. :-)

Worried that your team are getting fat and lazy? Or need a fun way of showing a number of people around? ...check out the ConferenceBike, a bike built for seven people sitting in a circle! http://www.conferencebike.com/Conference/Newmodel/NewModel.htm

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No new articles this month.

To search through all the articles in our online database just use the search function on any page of our Website http://www.netinsites.com

No new quotes.

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page http://www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

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