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 Tough Economic Times Are A Great TIme to Use Guerilla Marketing Weapons
I've been a fan of the guerilla style of marketing for many years. It is the type of marketing approach I used for years and I was pleasantly surprised when I found the Guerilla Marketing website. That gave me the chance to find other marketing techniques that I could use in my promotional work. In these tough economic times - it is more important than ever to find inexpensive and effective ways to market our businesses.
First - you may be wondering: What is Guerilla Marketing?
The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary and marketing textbooks.
Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. More innovative approaches to Guerrilla marketing now utilize cutting edge mobile digital technologies to really engage the consumer and create a memorable brand experience. -[...].
As a business manager, business owner and promoter - I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive ways to promote - for my clients and myself. Let's take a look at the table of contents:
Chapter 1 - The More Weapons You Use, The More Profit You Make
Chapter 2 - Weapons for the Outset - (The Building Blocks to Get You Started)
Chapter 3 - Weapons Not Recognized as Marketing - (Misc Items that Will Represent Your Business to the Public)
Chapter 4 - Weapons That Begin With Attitude - (Elements of Business When You Interact With Customers)
Chapter 5 - Weapons Overlooked By Non Guerillas - (Creative Ways to Get Promotional Exposure for Business)
Chapter 6 - Weapons That Make You Easy to Buy From - (Ways to Make It Easy For People to Buy From You)
Chapter7 - Weapons That Are Frequently Misused - (Tried and True Ways to Promote - That Many People Use Wrong)
Chapter 8 - Weapons That Produce Instant Results - (Many Ways to Interact With Your Potential Customers)
Chapter 9 - Weapons That Have Extra Fire Power - (Weapons That Cost More About Can Generate More Results)
Chapter 10 - A Strategy For Using the Weapons - (Details On The Most Effective Way to Use These Tools)
Those 10 chapters contain an arsenal of promotional weapons for your business. The book lists 100 weapons that you can use - and on page 12 - there is a list of 50 FREE promotional tools. Any and every business person should review that list before completing their business plan - these weapons are THAT important. Each and every weapon is explained throughout the pages of this book.
If you want to use unique, creative and inexpensive marketing for your business - this is a book that needs to be in your office. I've had my copy for some time and it is dog eared - like all great books. It is a very easy read, easy to understand and even though it has been on the market for years -- the information is invaluable. It will also give you some great insights into the sorts of things that are Guerilla Marketing tools. I would bet you have used many of these weapons in your business - and you may not have considered many of these to be promotional weapons. Realizing that they are part of your promotion could help you to use them more effectively.
 Great for small businesses in this economy
I will disclose to you at the outset that this is NOT the latest in advertising. It is a great resource, but at times you'll be reminded how much technology, networking, and business have changed since it was written. But don't let that get you down. It may help to remember how many times you've heard that Twitter and Facebook can quadruple your business, but you are left wondering "how?".
Throughout the book the ideas listed got me thinking creatively. I have been using 7 of the "starter" tools to help clients figure out where they are on their branding/identity. I think it's refreshing to find a resource that gets us thinking of something outside of the latest and greatest, and that addresses today's economic reality for small businesses. Everything in the book is either low-cost or free. And much of it can be translated into new technology. It's a great addition to your marketing or Guerrilla Marketing library.
 Direct Information about the Weapons not the Lifestyle
This is a good book for people who doesn't want to know about the whole Guerrilla Marketing theory, but only the weapons it uses. Besides, it is not up to date in some of the weapons. I would rather to recommend "Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing: A Simple Battle Plan for First-Time Marketers" or "Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness" all from the same autor.
Recommended reading for small business owners
Anyone engaged in or considering starting a small business would do well to read both this book and Levinson's other writings on the subject. Most small businesses fail due to poor marketing and you'll find great solutions to that problem in this series.
 Completely outdated
When I bought this book, I didn't realize it was published in 1990, so there is nada regarding the internet. If you have even a modicum of knowledge regarding marketing, it's a complete waste of time. This is for someone with zero or little marketing background. Absolutely elementary information.
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