Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times

Is Your Business Slowing Down? Find Out Why Here!

Jay Conrad Levinson

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781933596105
• eBook ISBN: 9781933596112
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

The multimillion-selling creator of Guerrilla Marketing offers action steps for businesses stuck in a rut or roiled by a recession.
 
Chances are, your business could use some help about now, regardless of the ups or downs of the economy. Let's face it, we all could.
 
In this book, bestselling author Jay Conrad Levinson gives you a treasure trove of marketing tactics to help you weather even the toughest times. It tells you exactly how to position your business so you can propel to new heights you never dreamt were possible. Each of the twelve chapters in Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times includes action steps you can use, and an exercise to help you focus your energy on the areas of your business you must change. It's real-life advice from a real marketing expert.

CHAPTER 1

TOUGH TIMES DON'T
HAVE TO BE AS TOUGH
AS YOU THINK

 

In every down economy some businesses lose money while others seemingly coin money. This course is designed to put you into the latter category. The plain fact is that guerrillas have an advantage during tough times. They are able to work in relatively shorter time frames. Their penchant for information enables them to market more quickly and creatively to market needs.

The guerrilla lives by different rules during tough times than during boom times. The guerrilla attacks when the competition retreats and the attack is concentrated where the guerrilla offers specific product or service advantages. Retreating companies leave voids in the market, ideal niches for guerrilla companies.

Guerrillas do not commit all their resources to any one front because they try to maintain resources for new options and for potential confrontations with the competition. Flexibility is an asset. Successful guerrilla companies try to be inconspicuous about their success, reducing the chances of being copied when attacked by their competitors.

They know many companies have scrubbed or reduced their marketing budgets to combat tough times and that it will cost those firms three dollars for every dollar formerly spent to reach the same level of consumer recognition and share of mind they previously enjoyed.

Guerrillas are aware that their prospects are more likely to recall marketing messages delivered consistently during a fragile economy even if they are smaller and less frequently delivered. So they maintain the attitude of a guerrilla even when the economic situation is in its darkest days.

"In a dog-eat-dog economy the Doberman is boss,” said Edward Abbey, the author and naturalist. In this regard, the Doberman and the guerrilla have a lot in common.

Guerrillas know that they must seek profits from their current customers. They worship at the shrine of customer follow-up. They are world-class experts at getting their customers to expand the size of their purchase. Because the cost of selling to a brand-new customer is six times higher than selling to an existing customer, guerrilla marketers turn their gaze from strangers to friends.

This reduces the cost of marketing while reinforcing the customer relationship. To guerrillas, follow-up means marketing to some of the most cherished citizens of planet Earth — their customers.

When your customers are confronted with their daily blizzard of junk mail and unwanted email, your mailing piece won't be scrapped with the others, and your email won't be instantly deleted. After all, these folks know you. They identify with you. They trust you. They know you stay in touch with them for a reason. So they'll be delighted to purchase — or at least check out — that new product or service they didn't know you offered. They'll always be inclined to buy from a company they've patronized instead of experimenting with a company that has not yet won a share of their mind.

When you follow up with intensity it proves that you really care and that you'll be there when the customer truly needs you. If you haven't started a customer-stroking program yet, start it tomorrow. And whatever you do, put it in writing and determine two things: who will take the responsibility for each follow-up activity, and when that activity will take place.

In any rugged economy, the telephone is a remarkably effective follow-up weapon for guerrillas. You certainly don't have to use the phone to follow up all of your mailings to customers, but research proves that it always will boost your sales and profits. Sure, telephone follow-up is a tough task. But it works. Anyhow, no one ever said that guerrilla marketing is a piece of cake.

Email ranks up there with the telephone, possibly even outranks it. It's inexpensive. It's fast. It lets you prove you care. It helps strengthen your relationship. And in your subject line, you can mention the recession if your offering is in any way related to it.

Lean upon your website as well. Instead of telling your whole story with other marketing, use that other marketing to direct people to your site. Then, use the site to give a lot of information and advance the sale to consummation.

Guerrillas are able to think of additional products and services that can establish new sources of profits to them. In any kind of economy they are on the alert for strategic alliances — fusion marketing efforts with others. This kind of cooperative marketing makes sense at all times, but makes the most sense during tough times, when companies must market aggressively while reducing their marketing investment.

Guerrilla companies cease most broadcasting and increase their narrowcasting — to customers and carefully targeted prospect lists. A faltering economy is tough. Still, when the going gets tough, guerrillas make sizeable bank deposits. Many see beauty in economic ugliness.

In gloomy economic days, when everything else seems to be shrinking, think in terms of expanding your offerings. Do absolutely everything you can to motivate customers to expand the size of their purchase. Prove that buying right now is a sagacious move because of the tough times.

In marketing to customers and to non-customers, show that you are fully aware of the economic situation and that you have priced your goods and services accordingly. Even though your marketing is always truthful, exert even more of an effort during bad times to make it sound truthful. Candid language is a powerful weapon. Admit that times are tough; admit that people must be extra careful when buying things; explain that you're fully aware of the economy and taken special steps because of it.

This course will help you investigate a treasure-trove of marketing tactics that can help you weather the toughest of times. But learning about them is only half the battle. It's when you begin putting them into practice — you'll assure that the real tough times are those faced by your competition.

GUERRILLA EXERCISE:

Ask yourself ten easy questions:

1.      Am I attacking or retreating on the marketing front?

2.      Am I marketing with more than one marketing weapon?

3.      Is my marketing exposed to my target market consistently?

4.      Are some of my marketing funds directed at current customers?

5.      Am I making use of the telephone in my marketing?

6.      Do I take advantage of marketing with email?

7.      Is my website working to advance my marketing thrust?

8.      Do I have any strategic alliances with other companies?

9.      Do I automatically try to enlarge the size of each transaction?

10.    Does my marketing admit that times are tough?

THE MORE YOU ANSWERED “YES” TO THESE QUESTIONS, THE MORE PRIMED YOU ARE TO MARKET IN TOUGH TIMES.

 

GUERRILLA ACTION STEPS:

1. Spend one hour examining the websites of your competition. Compare them with your own site and determine three ways you can improve your site.

2. Study today's newspaper to see what kinds of tactics other types of companies are using to combat a down economy. Put into writing at least three of these tactics.

3. Make a list of the marketing efforts you are using specifically to combat the economic slowdown. The longer your list, the better.

CHAPTER 2

THE IMPORTANCE OF STRESSING VALUE

Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of thinking that the right price for tough times is the lowest price. Price becomes secondary during hard times; people are searching for value. If you offer customers great values — in the form of more durable products, more encompassing services, or long-term economy, you'll earn higher profits than if you target your marketing solely to skinflints.

Tough times require superb values. And that's what guerrillas offer. If you're truly a guerrilla, you'll also eliminate any perceived risk of buying from you by stressing your money-back guarantee, your liberal warranty and your deep commitment to service. Mention the names of others who have purchased from you.

A word about guarantees: the longer yours is, the more profits you'll earn. Offer a one-month guarantee, and some people will return your offering and ask for a refund. Offer a six-month guarantee and fewer people will make returns, thinking there is no rush to do it. Offer a one-year guarantee, and the number of returns drops even more.

Now, wrap your mind around offering a lifetime guarantee. If you do, more people will purchase from you, figuring that a lifetime is a very long time, but because of zero pressure to return what they've bought, hardly any will return it.

The net result to you: more sales and fewer returns. Meaning: the longer the guarantee, the more profits you'll earn.

Do you sell a high-priced product or service? It seems that a high price will be detrimental to you during challenging times. But just the opposite is true. If you offer high-priced items, use those tough times as a selling tool. Explain to people that during a rugged economy, it is crucial not to waste money. Therefore, they should protect their money by spending it wisely and not making a mistake. Mistakes can be financial disasters during a down economy. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Still, in any economic situation, every guerrilla knows that the number one factor influencing purchase decisions is confidence. And the road to confidence is paved with credibility.

Having the lowest price won't help you much if your prospect doesn't trust you in the first place. Offering the widest selection and the most convenience won't aid your cause if your prospect thinks you're a crook.

You've got to face up to the glaring reality that prospects won't call your toll-free number, access your website, mail your coupon, come into your store, visit your trade show booth, talk to your sales rep, talk to you on the phone, or even accept your generous freebie if they aren't confident in your company.

Time zips on by. Your prospects can't afford to waste it or their money with companies that haven't earned their confidence. In order to earn that confidence — no stroll in the park, as you've most likely learned — you've got to use specific guerrilla marketing weapons and use them properly. I emphasize “properly” because even a smart bomb isn't a valuable weapon if it lands on your foot.

Guerrillas think in terms of getting down to the business of achieving and deserving credibility. All their marketing materials, whatever they say or show with their main message, also carry a “meta-message” — an unstated, yet powerful communiqué to prospects.

The meta-message for Deuce Cleaners of a superbly written direct mail letter on very inexpensive stationery is going to be quite different from the meta-message of the same letter for Ace Cleaners on costly stationery that looks and feels exquisite.

The paper stock carries a strong meta-message. So does the real or metered stamp. The typeface speaks volumes and the printed — or handwritten — signature is even more eloquent. The Ace Cleaners letter has superb stock, a clear and elegant typeface and a hand-signed signature, using blue ink and a fountain pen. These are tiny details. Tiny but nuclear-powered. Why? Credibility is why.

Not surprisingly, the Deuce Cleaners letter, even though worded exactly like the Ace Cleaners letter, will not draw as healthy a response because of its weak meta-message. A powerful meta-message inspires confidence.

Entire marketing plans fall by the wayside because inattention to seemingly unimportant details undermines the prospect s confidence — even if that confidence was earned elsewhere.

An amateurish logo or meme makes your company seem like an amateur. Any hint of amateurism in your marketing indicates to your prospects the potential for amateurism elsewhere in your company — throughout your company.

Does this mean that cheap stationery, a plain Jane website, fuzzy type, and poor English destroy your credibility? Not entirely. But shabbiness in these areas certainly does not contribute to your credibility.

Absolutely everything you do that is called marketing influences your credibility. The influence will be positive or negative, depending upon your taste, intelligence, sensitivity, and awareness of this power.

Be aware of it the moment you start operating your business, and if not then, right now. Begin the quest with the name of your company, your logo, your theme line, location, stationery, business card, package, brochure, business forms, interior decor, website, fusion marketing partners, even the attire worn by you and your people.

Communicate even more credibility with the building you're in, the people you employ, the technology you use, the follow-up in which you engage, the attention you pay to customers, the testimonials you display, your trade show booth, your signs, and surely the neatness of your premises.

The way your phones are answered can gain or lose credibility for you. Just yesterday, I decided not to make an expensive purchase from a store I had called, simply because they put me on telephone hold for too long. Minor detail? Maybe, but somebody else now has my deposit check.

You gain credibility with your advertisements, listings in directories, columns and articles you write, and the talks you give. You gain it with your newsletter. You gain even more by your support of a noble cause such as the environment. All these little things add up to something called your reputation.

The most important word in marketing — commitment — is something that...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Critics are Raving
• Bio of Jay Conrad Levinson
• Chapter 1: Tough Times Don't Have to be as Tough as you Think
• Chapter 2: The Importance Of Stressing Value
• Chapter 3: Using Consent Marketing Now More Than Ever
• Chapter 4: Free and Almost Free Marketing
• Chapter 5: Mining Your Customer List for Fun and Profit
• Chapter 6: Community Involvement During Tough Times
• Chapter 7: Attracting New Business During Tough Times
• Chapter 8: The Importance of Service During Tough Times
• Chapter 9: Making Yourself the Talk of the Town
• Chapter 10: Online Marketing in a Shaky Economy
• Chapter 11: The Freebies that can Lead to Serious Profits
• Chapter 12: Getting Extra Mileage from Marketing & Email
• Get the Complete Guerrilla Arsenal!
• Get your Free Gift!