You can create more traffic for you and your business without spending
any additional money on marketing. With guerilla marketing, it is more
about out-smarting the competition than it is about out-spending the
competition. Boundless opportunities and countless positive effects on
your business await you when you take advantage of the guerilla-
marketing concept.

Guerilla Marketing is defined as unconventional marketing designed for
low budgets and maximum impact. Guerilla marketing gets you and your
company in front of future customers in the places that they frequent.
Customers today are bombarded with traditional advertising and have
become resistant and unaffected by it. Meaning: it is time to change the
way you market.

Guerilla marketing works when complimentary businesses agree to
come together and take a cooperative approach to marketing their
businesses. There are synergies between companies who serve a
similar customer base. Identifying these synergies and getting to know
one another’s business are the first steps towards creating a lasting
guerilla marketing relationship.

The possibilities are as vast as your imagination. Here are four guerilla-
marketing techniques that you can use to generate more traffic next
week:

1. Thank-You Take-A-Way Packets

A thank-you take-a-way packet enhances your sale, helps validate the
customer’s purchase, and provides a valuable service to your customers
while simultaneously thanks them for being your customer.

The key to the take-a-way packet is to have something that is high
quality and feels like a thank-you gift. It should, by no means, represent
a selling piece.

The thank-you take-a-way packet will vary depending on your type of
business. For a high-end retail location we suggest using a small folder
about the size of a half sheet of paper. On the outside of the folder
should be an effective and professional design with the words “Thank
You.” Inside the folder should contain all the relevant paperwork
associated with their purchase as well as all necessary information to
make sure that their after purchase experience is pleasant and well
informed. This information should go on one side of the folder only.

The other side of the folder is where you will put your pieces of value.
Pieces of value can include anything that your customer will enjoy
receiving. Successful examples include, a free appetizer at a local
restaurant, free dry cleaning, a small book on a topic relevant to their
purchase, or a small ad-specialty item from a complimentary business.
The pieces of value will differ depending on the type of business that
you are in. Use your imagination and have fun with it.

These thank-you packets work because every company that is
represented in your packet will reciprocate by including your piece of
value in their packet. Therefore, you are quadrupling your exposure to
customers from complimentary businesses in exchange for giving your
customers something that they perceive as a gift.

2. Website Co-Branding

When you have a strong guerilla partner network, you can use a similar
approach with your website. The group of businesses can link their
websites together in a way that ‘provides value first’. Providing value
first means that the link needs to be positioned in a way that is more
than an advertisement.

A good cooperative link on a website is more than just an
advertisement. It must be something that would interest a customer.
Examples include interesting tips, suggestions, or examples of how the
customer can enhance their experience. For example, having an
interior designer and a realtor provide design tips could add value and
augment the experience of buying a new home.

3. Lunch and Learns

Whether you are a financial planner, a realtor, or a fitness expert, you
have valuable information that people would love to hear about. When
you provide value first and you provide value without expectation of
something in return, a return is exactly what you will get.

Office buildings love food — especially free food. The lunch-and-learn
program is a guerilla marketing strategy that has been proven
successful. The lunch and learn program is an educational lunch
program for an office that would be sponsored by you or your company.
The office personnel would gather and eat lunch while listening to your
talk on something both valuable and interesting. Do not try to sell them
anything; this should be treated as an opportunity to share valuable
information that they can use.

The best contact to set up these lunches is the office manager. Most
times the office will provide the lunch and you will provide the talk. If
they do not provide lunch, you will be able to negotiate for a local
restaurant to provide the lunch for free in exchange for some signage on
the lunch table and their information in your packet that will accompany
your presentation.

Topics will naturally vary depending on your profession. If you are a
financial planner you can give a talk on “10 things you can do now to
guarantee financial security,” “investing tips for the non-investor,” or
anything else that is both creative and interesting. After the mini
seminar, ask “If anyone would like to hear more about (topic), just drop
your business card in the basket at the front.” You can also have a mini-
book prepared on the subject and offer to send it free to anyone who is
interested. You will leave with an established reputation in the field as
well as a small stack of qualified leads with whom you have already
established rapport and credibility.

4. Be A Guest Columnist In A Newsletter

There are networking organization newsletters, non-profit newsletters,
and internal company newsletters. These newsletters are always
looking for guest columnists that will provide a relevant and an
interesting article.

This technique is similar to the concept of the lunch and learns. Seek
out these newsletters and offer to write a column. When they run your
column, you will provide valuable and interesting information. By doing
so you will be getting your name out into the community as an expert in
your field. By having a brief bio at the end of the column, the readers
who have an interest will have the information necessary to contact you
for further information. You may even direct them to your website to
download a small mini-book on the topic where you will capture their
information for proper follow up.

The different types of guerilla marketing are endless and are only limited
by your imagination and willingness to get out in front of people. Guerilla
Marketing is incredibly effective because the rapport that the partner
business has already established with their customer is transferred to
you and your company. When you successfully implement guerilla
marketing into your marketing plan, then your cost per lead will be
significantly reduced while the quality of your traffic will dramatically
increase.

Tom Richard conducts seminars on sales and customer service topics nationwide. Tom is also the author of Smart Salespeople Don’t Advertise: 10 Ways to Outsmart Your Competition With Guerilla Marketing, and publishes a free weekly ezine on selling skills titled Sales Muscle. To subscribe to this free weekly ezine go to http://www.tomrichard.com/subscribe

Tags: equipment, fitness, guerilla, gym, increase, marketing, richard, sales, tom, trafficequipment, fitness, guerilla, gym, increase, marketing, richard, sales, tom, traffic

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Like it or not, competition is all around us. If you’re going to start a new business or launch a new product or service you must research the market first. You have to find out if the market wants what you’re selling or you will fail.

If your business is going to be successful you must know everything that is going on in the marketplace. You have to know who your prospects are, who your customers will be, and most importantly who your competitors are. There are many forces and factors behind how customers purchase products and services. Gaining the right knowledge goes a long way toward your success in business.

There is little room for guesswork in business today. Obtaining the correct information and knowledge that is to the point, objective, and thorough is essential to your business success. You can only gain this knowledge through research and testing.

You need to find out what problems need to be solved and if the market wants them to be solved? You need to find out what price the market will pay to have its problems solved. The answers to these questions will form the foundation for your business plan.

Good market research gives you the best return on investment you can have, but it is important to realize that it pays off in the long run, not in short run. There are two types of market research you need to be aware of. The first is quantitative which measures numbers and percentages of how much customers buy. The other is qualitative which gives you the reasons why customers buy a certain product or service.

Quantitative research reveals market share or how many people in a certain group buy or do something. Radio and TV ratings are quantitative research. Preference studies are quantitative in nature.

For example suppose you were doing a study on coffee and you found that 74 percent of the tested group preferred caffeinated coffee over decaffeinated coffee. Based on this study, if you were introducing a specialty brand of decaffeinated coffee, you would know that your market size is drastically less than the segment that prefers caffeinated coffee.
Without this knowledge you would have no idea what size your market opportunity is, whether you should be shooting at this particular target, or whether you will even hit it.

The primary component of any successful market research is gaining insight into your competition. At some point you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP.
Your Unique Selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other competitor.

Your entire marketing and operational success should be built upon your Unique Selling Proposition. Your USP can touch any part of the marketing gamut, price, service, quality, or exclusivity. You gain a unique selling advantage by offering a big, unique, and appealing promise that’s not being offered by your competitors.

How do you pick a USP for your business? You must identify which needs are going unfulfilled within your industry. Here are six examples to get you started:

1. You offer the broadest selection.

2. You offer the biggest discounts.

3. You offer the best advice and assistance.

4. You offer the highest quality products.

5. You offer the fastest service and delivery.

6. You offer the longest and most comprehensive guarantee.

Because of today’s technology it is easier to research and gain competitive intelligence about emerging competition than ever before. The Internet is a tremendous research tool. Surfing the Internet and looking at a competitor’s Web site is an easy thing to do. When you buy something from a competitor’s Web site it not only gives you valuable information but it also allows you to remain anonymous, something that purchasing offline doesn’t.

Here are some other ways to conduct competitive research online:

Participate or visit newsgroups and information forum.

Conduct surveys.

Extract and explore databases.

Find and contact strategic alliances.

Test market products, surveys, headlines, and advertising.

The more information you gather, the better equipped you will be to compete in the marketplace. It is always best if you do your research on a regular basis because the market and your competition are constantly changing. Once you have gathered new information you must be prepared to react quickly depending on what the research reveals about your competition and customer demands.

For example, if your customers start doing business with your competitors, it might be signal that you need to reposition yourself against the competition or at least research why your customers are moving to your competitors.

When it comes to customer research you need to find out three basic things: What does your competition offer to your prospects that they like best? What is your competition doing that your prospects don’t like? What do your prospects want that your competition does not offer?

Some businesses that can afford to, hire a market research firm to do their research for them, but nothing strengthens a relationship more than one-on-one dialogue with a customer or prospect. Asking questions helps you to do this. On the other hand, prospects and customers may be more willing to speak honestly with an objective third party than with someone directly going after their business. Here, the process isn’t as important as the answers.

Market research means researching the market opportunity, products, services, media options, competition, industry, prospects, customers, technology, benefits, partnerships, external forces, threats, and the economy. Most businesses fail because they launch a business, service, or new product without researching whether or not the market wants it.

The market will always tell you what it will buy and the price it is willing to pay. The market will never lie to you. If you do your research and listen to what the marketplace says, you will succeed every time.

Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing. Joe is the author of three books, Starting Your Own Business, Finding Your Purpose In Life, and The Guerrilla Marketing Workbook.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

Tags: achievement, business development, business success, marketing, strategic planning, successachievement, business development, business success, marketing, strategic planning, success

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As Claude Hopkins presented in his Scientific Advertising many
decades ago, there are scientific ways of tracking your Marketing and
Advertising and determining clearly and unequivocally what works and
what does not. Without knowing the facts about what is effectively
increasing your leads, and subsequently your sales success, you might
as well be throwing money out the windowliterally.

All you have to do is reflect on your own Marketing to realize the truth in
the old statement: 90% of Advertising does not work, problem being,
which 90%? If you could identify and harness the 10% that does work,
you would truly have power in your hands. Well, the fact is that you can.

Below are examples of Marketing that you can track. But don’t stop after
implementing! If results are not analyzed on an ongoing basis, and
consequently, what works is not repeated, you will be back in that 90%
void.

A powerful ad

A good ad must follow these guidelines in order to reach its maximum
potential and yield beyond your expectations:

1. Don’t make it look like an ad! The more it resembles the publication
itself, the better results you will see. That is why an advertorialan ad
that looks like news or an editorialis such a powerful device.

2. Make use of a strong headline. This requires a great deal of time and
effort. As Hopkins himself stated, he would spend the most time on the
headline, discarding many along the way. Only after having a
bulletproof headline, would he continue with the rest.

4. Tell a story. Give readers a story that reels them in, with which they
can really connect.

5. Make it newsworthy. You wouldn’t read the paper or your favorite
magazine if the content were not newsworthy, right? Same goes for an
ad. Make it substantial and important.

6. Include an offer. This is your chance to make them do something!
Offer something they cannot resist and which will make them take
action now. If you don’t offer anything, you greatly minimize the
chances of making the sale. Think of this: what are the odds that they
will be ready to purchase from you that instant that they came across
your ad? Answer: extremely low!

7. Make it easy for people to contact you. 24/7 is ideal, but otherwise,
make your phone or email or other type of access extremely
straightforward and be responsive. Never intimidate your audience in
any way when interfacing with them, so that they always feel
comfortable and taken care of.

8. Have a tracking mechanism in place. And this is the final key element.
You must track your success! That is how you can be scientific in your
approach, and what will ultimately reveal if your tactic is indeed
successful or not.

You can track via a telephone extension, by denoting a Department in
your address, or via a URL. Tracking activity on a URL (Web address) is
extremely easy these days, and extremely powerful.

Lead generation and follow-up on the Web

Lead generation is how you collect prospectives as time goes on,
making up the audience you will stay in front over timein other words,
you future customers. The Web, if used properly, can generate
tremendously for you. And through automation, follow-up on those leads
becomes both easy and a surefire way to win buyers over.

The important thing is to lure them on every page of your site via an offer
that prompts them to submit their email address. Don’t let them go
without doing so! Just like an ad, visitors are usually passing by, and will
not likely return. Give them an article or other useful piece of information
that will then give you permission to stay in touch.

Once visitors have opted in, you store their email addresses for future
(and frequent) communications. Staying in communication can look like
this:

* A monthly newsletter that you send out. This does not have to be hard
work! You can have a short feature that you or someone on your team
writes monthly. You can then supplement with a wealth of free content
that is available on the Internet.

* An article of interest. This brings a topic of interest to you audience and
educates them. You are not selling what you do, but talking about it, or
your industry, or some area that is intriguing to your readers. You
position yourself as their perfect choice, but without the in-your-face
selling tactic!

* A recommendation. Very powerful, as you are sharing information
freely, creating trust and strengthening your bond. Recommendations
can include a good book (on investment, good business practice, well-
being), a piece of software, or performance improvement tool.

* A link to an informative area of your site. You can also point them to a
new area of your siteinformative, of course, never bragging about
what you do or who you are (think about what a turn-off that is to you as
a consumer). By bringing them to a page or area that is of use to your
visitor, you are sharing and educating. Should they choose to navigate
and learn more about you and your product or serviceswell, that is
always their choice.

In this manner, you remain in front of your prospectives, and you do so
with useful materials. They will appreciate it, and in constantly giving
them information that benefits them, you stand out as the expert and
trusted source. Meaning the odds are in your favor of getting the sale in
the long run.

Build your money-making machine with powerful tactics such as these,
and watch your company grow in leaps and bounds. Best of luck!

Josh Barinstein is President of Red Frog, Inc., the Portland, Oregon ad
agency that provides worry-free experiences and powerful results in the
areas of Marketing, Print design, Web/CD-ROM development, and
Video production.

Learn more at http://www.RedFrogInc.com or by calling 888-955-0550.

You have permission to distribute this article as long as all of the text
contained herein remains intact.

Tags: advertising, Inc., Josh Barinstein, marketing, money making, Red Frog, results, solid marketingadvertising, Inc., Josh Barinstein, marketing, money making, Red Frog, results, solid marketing

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