Don’t get the wrong idea here, as appealing as it may sound, I’m not going to tell you how to booby-trap your competitor’s office. Ok, maybe I will, but what I’m really talking about here is taking the core aspects of guerrilla warfare and applying them to your business. You may be wondering why you would want to do this, and the answer is simply because it’s powerful and it works. Think back to some of the most successful guerrillas throughout history. The American militias battling Britain successfully sent the largest and most powerful military in the world scurrying back home, and then quite some time later, faced the same experience from the other side of the table against the Vietcong. Throughout the world, small units have been able to achieve stunning results against almost insurmountable forces by utilizing certain tactics, and this is what we are going to teach you how to apply to your business.

The first thing that you need is a goal that you are 100% passionate about. Most guerrillas are fighting someone or something that they consider an oppressor that is detrimental to the future of their people. That means that they will do anything that enables them to achieve their goal. You need to conduct business the same way. If you want your company to be the best pizzeria in town, then you know that you need to use the best ingredients every single time. If you’re having a slow month and money is tight, you can’t buy the bargain brand cheese or you’ll sacrifice the quality of your pizza. Instead, you’ll have to cut corners elsewhere, which might mean paying yourself less that month. That’s what absolute commitment is about, and when you see what kind of results it produces, you’ll never go back to your old ways. 

No man is an island, and when you’re up against a major competitor, you’ll need all the help you can get. Guerrillas win the support of the people by helping and supporting them. Companies win the support of other companies (or consumers) by helping and supporting them. The customer service at Zappos is one example of winning the support of consumers, many of whom have told others about via word of mouth, email and blogs. There’s a good chance that there are a number of local companies that are related but not in direct competition with you, and if you help them achieve their goals, they will often help you achieve yours. This could come in the form of referrals, links or other exposure. You should also utilize networking and leads groups. You want to build up as much support from as many sources as possible so that your company is the only logical choice.

No matter how determined you may be, going head on against a giant competitor is just stupid. Successful guerrillas find their enemy’s weaknesses and use them for leverage. You should be doing the same against your competitors. Effective guerrillas don’t typically have tons of cash sitting around so they arm and equip their forces with their enemy’s resources. This produces two main benefits. First, it gives you access to resources that you wouldn’t otherwise have, and second, it reduces the resources that your competitors can effectively utilize. You can’t exactly walk into your competitor’s office and take their furniture and printers, but you can use a similar approach. For example, we had a client a few years ago that was competing with some of the top bed manufacturers in the US. They had four major competitors who were each investing several million dollars each month in their own advertising and marketing, and our client couldn’t come anywhere near that level. We took a different approach by optimizing their website to outrank their competitors for their own brand names, which meant that every dollar that their competitors invested in marketing generated direct exposure for our client. As a direct result, our client had landed a 54 million dollar contract with a major luxury hotel chain.

Look at what really matters in your business and what doesn’t. Guerrillas often don’t wear uniforms. They wear whatever allows them to blend into their environment. They don’t put on big showy parades like a traditional military. Instead, they focus on exactly what they need to do so they can achieve their goal, and you should be doing the same thing. Attending prominent trade shows may make you look like an industry big-shot, but that doesn’t mean anything to your customers. Neither does sponsoring irrelevant events or advertising just for the sake of advertising. You should increase your advertising if possible, but more importantly, you should determine which channels are actually producing the results and drop any that aren’t. If you have a sales staff on salary, put them on commission with the opportunity to earn far more than they do now as long as they produce results. Instead of spending lots of money on fancy desks, buy folding tables – they do the same thing. Instead of trying to be cheap, buy quality chairs and set up dual monitors – productivity and revenue will increase.

For the record, guerrillas typically live in the jungles and go days or weeks between baths. You should avoid this or people won’t want to do business with you. They probably won’t even want to get within a few feet of you. It’s just something I thought you might want to think about before you take the concept too far.

Social networks, such as MySpace and LinkedIn started off with a small following of early adopters who used them as they were intended to be used, simply to connect with other users. As time went on many people began to use social networks in an attempt at marketing their companies. This isn’t isolated to social networks though. The same thing has happened with just about every technology you can think of. With the printing press came catalog. With the telephone came telemarketers. With the personal computer came desktop publishing. With the Internet came web sites and with email came email marketing.

When used properly and ethically, just about any form of technology can be used to increase the exposure you are able to generate for your company in a positive manner however it’s the few people who refuse to maintain any sense of decency that ruin it for the rest of us. These are the people that create dozens if not hundreds or thousands of fake profiles on various social network sites and then bombard you with useless bulletins, private messages and invites to push their products or services. Chances are that these also happen to be the same people that think SPAM email is perfectly acceptable as long as it makes them a few dollars.

Don’t let this scare you away from utilizing social networking in your marketing plan though. As long as you follow a few basic guidelines (mostly common sense) you can develop a new and useful marketing channel that requires no investment other than your own time.

1. Create an informative and honest profile that tells people what you do or what your company is about. You don’t need to replicate your entire company web site on your profile though. Just stick to the basics. You don’t have to use a photo, but under no circumstances should you use someone else’s picture ? even if it’s a stock photo that you’ve legally purchased. Keep in mind though, if you are in a relationship-based business such as real estate, investing or something of that nature, using a professional photo of yourself is a good idea.
2. Add other members to your network based on their relevance ? not a sexy photo. Simply having a large network will do little for your business if they have nothing to do with your industry. Like any other form of marketing, focus on quality over quantity. In most social networking web sites you can search for other members based on their interests or their industries. Develop a group of like minded people and you’ll all get a lot more out of the relationship.
3. Provide value. Are you one of the countless others that just created a profile and then adds everyone you find while providing little or no benefit to them? Don’t be. You could create an added value by offering the members of your network a promotional code that gives them a discount, give them early access to new products or even give them free information that would be useful to their business.
4. Don’t be annoying. If you have something to say, say it, but there is no need to post a bulletin or send a message every day. If you start down that path, not only will people start to ignore what you say, but they’ll likely remove you from their network. Think of it as a classic case of “less is more.”

A relatively easy and inexpensive way to generate exposure for your business is by holding a contest. By offering people the opportunity to get something for free, you can cause even those that are not interested in your products or services to talk about your company to those that are. Your contest can take a variety of forms but in order to achieve the best results, it will need to meet four criteria.

1. Prizes must be clear and specific. If entrants don’t know what they may win then they probably won’t bother to enter your contest. More importantly, if they think they will win one thing and end up getting something completely different, chances are that it will generate negative publicity for your company. A perfect example of this was a contest held by a bay area Hooters restaurant for it’s employees in which the prize was allegedly a Toyota car. At the end of the contest, the winning employee received a toy Yoda ? an action figure from the Star Wars movie. Needless to say, the local media had a field day with that.

2. Ensure that your prizes are worthwhile. If it’s easier for an entrant to simply buy the prize instead of entering your contest you can be sure that is what they will do.

3. Eligibility must be clear. In order to be a contestant in your contest, does an entrant have to meet a certain set of criteria? Make that known right up front. It will save your potential entrants a lot of frustration.

4. Set a time frame. Whether the winners will be chosen the next week, the next month or the next vernal equinox after the third full moon of the year, you need to let the entrants know. If you are offering a free cruise in July, chances are that a winner will not reschedule his triple by-pass heart surgery upon winning – instead he will be frustrated that he can’t enjoy his prize.

When these criteria are met and your contest is properly marketed you can generally expect to see a good amount of exposure for your company. You should also ensure that you collect information from each entrant so that you can market to them again in the future.

Do you remember the last time you went to the mailbox? Chances are that you shuffled past the bills, set aside the credit card and mortgage offers and perhaps glanced at a postcard or two but when you got to that handwritten envelope , you probably stopped what you were doing and opened it right there on the spot. You’re not the only person that reacts this way and you can use that to help market your company.

Handwriting adds a personal touch that can’t be achieved with any graphic design technique or font. It’s that personal touch causes response rates to increase dramatically when it’s used in direct mail. Obviously you can hand-write names and addresses on envelopes but it doesn’t have to stop there. Handwritten sales or thank you letters can have a tremendous impact and you can even add handwriting to any of your printed marketing materials.

We recently posted about guerilla marketing but some people still are not sure what it is or how it can work for them. Back in August CNN also reported on some guerilla marketing tactics that various companies have recently used, some successful, some…not so much. So, if after reading our post and CNN’s article you’re still a bit unsure what it is, be sure to check back in a few weeks because we are currently planning a guerilla marketing campaign for one of our clients and plan to post a case study & video.