Guerrilla Marketing is the best selling marketing series in history but you may not be exactly sure what it is and how it can benefit you. Here are 7 defining characteristics of Guerrilla Marketing:
1. Guerrilla Marketers Invest Time, Energy, Imagination, and Knowledge Instead of Just Money
Superior marketing provides all companies with their greatest leverage, or control, and should be viewed as an investment. Unlike traditional marketers, guerrillas invest more time, energy, imagination and knowledge – or information – than money. This is probably the single most important guerrilla marketing principle of them all. Additionally, they don’t waste their precious time making penny-wise and pound-foolish purchases or throwing good money after bad.
For example, guerrillas are keenly aware that poorly designed and written marketing materials are recipes for disaster, so they hire graphic designers and copywriters – even if it means they have to barter, lease, or pare down their wish list. Conversely, guerrillas are also open to investing in new skills so they can do for themselves, instead of hiring others, which is much easier today than it’s ever been due to affordable software and Internet technology. In the end, guerrillas believe in their hearts that money is not the key to joy or achievement but they sure enjoy the beautiful gold and silver keys you can buy with it.
2. Guerrilla Intentionality: Marketing Includes Every Contact with The Public
Superior marketing doesn’t happen by mistake. It occurs when it is deliberately planned and executed. Because Guerrillas are well trained in all aspects of the marketing process, they know that “first things first” considerations such as the way they greet their customers, their employees’ attire and demeanor, how easy their website is to navigate, and their business and domain names are extremely critical components for success.
Guerrillas know that every company, regardless of the products and services they offer, is in the marketing business, and prospects and customers will judge them on every single aspect of their experience. This careful attention to detail gives guerrillas an edge over bigger businesses that often overlook little things that have a big impact on their customers.
3. Guerrilla Commitment: Building Successful Businesses One Step at a Time
Commitment is a word that separates guerrilla marketers from traditional marketers and winners from losers – an intangible trait that allows them to surpass roadblocks that would stop others dead in their tracks. It is also a hallmark principle of the brand because it’s based on the belief that superior marketing requires steadfast focus and a dedication to building and maintaining long-term relationships – not bean-counting.
Maintaining focus may sound easy, but it’s not – especially in today’s cluttered world. Current and evolving technologies make it easy for entrepreneurs to be wooed down the “diversification” path where distraction and trouble lurks. And while guerrillas welcome change, they are careful not to be lured into going after every “golden opportunity” that comes their way, because they know it’s a recipe for disaster. Simply put, so-so marketers, who possess a dogged commitment to their craft, outperform superior marketers without this trait 100% of the time. Additionally, commitment means regularity. So, guerrillas don’t drop out of the public’s site for long. They don’t run an ad two times and then abandon it because “it didn’t work.” They don’t reinvent their identities whenever it suits them. Rather, guerrillas understand that familiarity creates trust and trust creates profitable sales and lifelong customers.
4. Guerrilla Partnerships: Working Together to Make Things Happen
Unlike the “winner-take-all” mentality of conventional businesspeople, guerrillas know that their livelihoods are dependent upon others. Therefore, they proactively seek out joint venture partnerships and strategic alliances and continually look for ways to expand their personal and professional networks. Guerrillas even look for innovative ways to work with their competitors. For instance, they might develop products that compliment their competitors’ offerings and join forces with them so they both benefit.
5. Guerrilla Psychology: Tapping into Their Target Audiences’ Minds
What does psychology have to do with marketing? Everything. No matter who you are you must understand human psychology… Traditional marketers often use guesswork, disguised as “experience” and “judgment” as a basis for making decisions. Guerrillas say, “Nonsense!” Instead, they use the laws of human psychology and behaviors – ones that tap into the public’s subconscious minds and appeal to both sides of their brains. This is why guerrillas are so confident in their abilities to tap into their prospects’ inner mind – where 90% of purchase decisions are made – using elements like repetition. In other words, they know that potential buyers do want to be sold anything; rather, they want to improve their current situation. And if that means they must purchase a product or service to fulfill their needs and desires, they’ll consider it. So, guerrillas don’t “sell “ clothes; they sell comfort and good looks. Guerrillas don’t sell aspirin; they sell freedom from pain. Guerrillas don’t sell books; they sell knowledge. Guerrillas don’t sell lipstick; they sell beauty.
6. Guerrilla Assortments
For many years marketers have traditionally used one “big gun” advertising vehicle to increase sales. Guerrillas, on the other hand, believe this to be risky, expensive and ineffective. Instead they use a variety of low cost, high impact marketing weapons to achieve their goals. So, they arm themselves with the tools, skills, and knowledge – which include Internet technology – that are necessary to compete in today’s rough-and-tumble global economy.
7. Guerrilla Measurement: No Numbers Mean No Business
Marketing is becoming more of a science everyday as we find more accurate ways to predict human behavior and advances in technology allow us to gauge and evaluate results automatically and instantaneously. Guerrillas believe that the benchmark for success is profits, which come subsequent to sales, unlike companies who measure effectiveness on revenues, orders, transactions, and the like. They track and measure all of their marketing efforts to ensure that they receive a positive return on their investments. And nowadays, marketers can use affordable web-based automation software to put their marketing analytics on auto-pilot, so time-consuming manual tracking is a thing of the past.
Adapted from Guerrilla Marketing On The Internet by Mitch Meyerson, Jay Conrad Levinson and Mary Eule Scarborough
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