Thoughts from Guerilla Marketing

I’ve always loved reading the Guerilla Marketing books. Here are some tips from Jay Levinson and Amy Levinson. Guerilla Marketing

“You may think you know why your customers buy from you, but there's a good chance they buy for reasons other than the reasons you think. Or they don't buy for reasons that may escape you.

People seek a wide array of benefits when they're in a buying mindset. If you are communicating any one of those benefits to the people who want them this very instant, you've virtually made the sale. People do not buy because marketing is clever, but because marketing strikes a responsive chord in the mind of the prospect, and its resonance makes that person want the advantages of what you are selling.

Your customers do not buy because they're being marketed to or sold to. Instead, they buy because you help them realize the merits of owning what you offer.

They often buy because you offer them instant gratification -- such as I sought when El Nino flexed his muscles and my roof began to leak. Sprinting to the yellow pages, I called the one roof repair company that offered emergency service, for there I was, smack dab in the middle of an emergency.

It was an easy decision for me. The company offered just the benefit I needed. I was in the market for a specific benefit and there it was, grinning up at me from the directory. If the company's ad heralded their new roofing materials, I would have ignored it.

Like most people, I was looking to buy a benefit, not a feature. Everybody knows that. But the truth is that people don't always buy benefits. They buy a whole lot more:

· They buy promises you make. So make them with care.

· They buy the promises they want personally fulfilled.

· They buy your credibility or don't buy if you lack it.

· They buy solutions to their problems.

· They buy you, your employees, your service department.

· They buy wealth, safety, success, security, love and acceptance.

· They buy your guarantee, reputation and good name.

· They buy other people's opinions of your business.

· They buy expectations based upon your marketing.

· They buy believable claims, not simply honest claims.

· They buy hope for their own and their company's future.

· They buy brand names over strange names.

· They buy the consistency they've seen you exhibit.

· They buy the stature of the media in which you market.

· They buy the professionalism of your marketing materials.

· They buy value, which is not the same as price.

· They buy selection and often the best of your selection.

· They buy freedom from risk, granted by your warranty.

· They buy acceptance by others of your goods or services.

· They buy certainty.

· They buy convenience in buying, paying and lots more.

· They buy respect for their own ideas and personality.

· They buy your identity as conveyed by your marketing.

· They buy style -- just the kind that fits their own style.

· They buy neatness and assume that's how you do business.

· They buy easy access to information about you, offered by your website.

· They buy honesty for one dishonest word means no sale.

· They buy comfort, offerings that fit their comfort zone.

· They buy success; your success can fit with theirs.

· They buy good taste and know it from bad taste.

· They buy instant gratification and don't love to wait.

· They buy the confidence you display in your own business.

It's also important to know what customers do not buy: fancy adjectives, exaggerated claims, clever headlines, special effects, marketing that screams, marketing that even hints at amateurishness, the lowest price anything (though 14 percent do), unproved items, or gorgeous graphics that get in the way of the message. “

How to select the right media

Day47
We are actually getting snow today! And my daughter came home from college for the weekend with 5 loads of laundry!! So between loads I’ve been re-reading some of the marketing information I collect to spark ideas.

One of my favorites is from Guerilla Marketing. In fact reading some of their books a couple years ago had a great impact on me and is one of the reasons I’m working online now!

HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT MEDIA
By Jay Conrad Levinson
Some media are apples and others are oranges. What
works in one medium may not work in another. Guerrillas
have insight into the powers of each medium. They tap those
strengths to use the medium to its greatest advantages.
Here's what they know about media power:
1. The power of newspapers is news. Marketing that is
newsy gets noticed because news is on the forefront of
readers' minds.
2. The power of magazines is credibility. Readers
unconsciously attach to the advertiser the same credibility
that they associate with the magazine.
3. The power of radio is intimacy. Usually radio is a one-
on-one situation allowing for a close an intimate connection
between listener and marketer.
4. The power of direct mail is urgency. Time-dated offers
that might expire before the recipient can act often motivates
them to act now.
5. The power of telemarketing is rapport. Few media allow
you to establish contact in a give-and-take situation as
adroitly as the telephone.
6. The power of brochures is the ability to give details. Few
media allow you the time and space to expand on your
benefits as much as a brochure.
7. The power of classified ads is information. Nobody in their
right mind actually reads the classified ads except for those in
a quest for data.
8. The power of the yellow pages is even more information.
Here, prospects get a line on the entire competitive situation
and can compare.
9. The power of television is the ability to demonstrate.
No other media lets you show your product or service in
use along with the benefits it. offers. TV is still the
undisputed heavyweight champ of marketing.
10. The power of the internet is interactivity. You can
flag a person's attention, inform them, answer their
questions and take their orders.
11. The power of signs is impulse reactions. Signs motivate
people to buy when they are in a buying mood and in a
buying arena. Signs either trigger an impulse remind
people of your other marketing or both.
12. The power of fliers is economy. They can be created,
produced and distributed for very little and can even bring
about instant results
13. The power of billboards is to remind. They rarely do
the whole selling job but they're great at jostling people's
memories of your other efforts.

My first sale already!

Day 3
Being a real fan of guerilla marketing books and articles my original idea was to write articles and blogs always including my URL and getting on forums…and always including my URL with my signature. But, first I thought I’d better tell someone my site existed. My husband registered it with the top search engines, but I wasn’t convinced I would be found with all the t-shirt competition out there. So I sent out an email with pictures of some of my designs to just about everyone I had an email address for. I promised them it was a one time email (which I think if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have said – they are friends for goodness sake! I could have sent them a few more emails!)
I thought the button on my site asking people to sign up for my seasonal newsletters would build my advertising audience, but so far I have 9 subscribers (and John and I are 3 of them!)
Got my first sale today! John’s sister! She wanted a word I didn’t have so he created the image and I put it in a separate section with her name on it for her to order. Then I added that we do custom work for no extra charge on the front page.