What
is Marketing in the First Place?
-
by Jay Conrad Levinson
Marketing
is a process, not an event. 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.
The
three keys words in that paragraph are EVERY, REPEAT,
and REFERRAL. If your marketing is not a circle,
it's a straight line that leads directly into Chapters
7, 11, or 13 in the bankruptcy courts.
HOW
IS GUERRILLA MARKETING DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL
MARKETING?
Guerrilla
marketing means marketing that is unconventional,
non- traditional, not by-the-book, and extremely
flexible. Eighteen factors make it different from
old-fashioned
marketing:
1.
Instead of investing money in the marketing process,
you invest time, energy, and imagination.
2.
Instead of using guesswork in your marketing, you
use the science of psychology, laws of human behavior.
3.
Instead of concentrating on traffic, responses,
or gross sales, profits are the only yardstick by
which you measure your marketing.
4.
Instead of being oriented to companies with limitless
bank accounts, guerrilla marketing is geared to
small business.
5.
Instead of ignoring customers once they've purchased,
you have a fervent devotion to customer follow-up.
6.
Instead of intimidating small business owners, guerrilla
marketing removes the mystique from the entire marketing
process, clarifies it.
7.
Instead of competing with other businesses, guerrilla
marketing preaches the gospel of cooperation, urging
you to help others and let them help you.
8.
Instead of trying to make sales, guerrillas are
dedicated to making relationships, for long-term
relationships are paramount in the nineties.
9.
Instead of believing that single marketing weapons
such as advertising work, guerrillas know that only
marketing combinations work.
10.
Instead of encouraging you to advertise, guerrilla
marketing provides you with 100 different marketing
weapons; advertising is only one of them.
11.
Instead of growing with an idea of diversifying,
guerrilla marketing suggests that you grow if you
want, but be sure to maintain your focus.
12.
Instead of aiming your message at groups, guerrilla
marketing encourages you to aim it at individuals.
13.
Instead of counting up sales at the end of each
month, guerrillas count up new relationships, know
that they are the foundation of increased sales.
14.
Instead of thinking of what they can take from customers
and prospects, guerrillas think of what they can
give. In the information age, they freely give information.
15.
Instead of avoiding technology, guerrillas embrace
it. If they are technophobic, they make an appointment
with a technoshrink. Technophobia is fatal these
days.
16.
Instead of being haphazard and unintentional all
guerrilla marketing is intentional, from how the
phone is answered to the attire guerrillas wear.
17.
Instead of talking about yourself and being "me"
marketing, guerrilla marketing talks about the customer
and is "you" marketing.
18.
Instead of going for the sale with marketing, guerrilla
marketing goes for consent to receive marketing
materials, then only markets to those who have given
their consent.
These
are 18 very critical differences and are probably
the reasons that the concept of guerrilla marketing
has filled a void in the world's economy, explaining
why the guerrilla books have been translated into
37 languages, sold over one million copies, are
required reading in most MBA programs, are available
in audiotape and videotape versions, as computer
software, as a nationally-syndicated column, as
a newsletter, and are the most popular and widely-read
marketing books in the world.
The
essence of guerrilla marketing boils down to a blend
of common sense, realistic expectations, and a fervent
commitment to a plan. It is hardly a miracle worker,
but when accomplished properly, does seem to work
miracles for those with the patience, aggressiveness
and willingness to constantly learn.
These
days, marketing success does not belong to those
who learn everything about anything, but to those
who learn one thing after another. Learning about
marketing and guerrilla marketing is the best place
to start if you are to become a master of marketing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jay
Conrad Levinson is probably the most respected
marketer in the world. He is the inventor of "Guerrilla
Marketing" and is responsible for some
of the most outrageous marketing campaigns in history
-- including the "Marlboro Man" -- the
most successful ad campaign in history. In his latest
book, "Put Your Internet Marketing on Steroids,"
Jay reveals how you can use marketing steroids legally
to make your business insanely profitable. You can
get more information here, Click 
here