Seven Creative Guerilla Marketing Tips

Traditional marketing techniques have proven their efficiency over time. But what to do when your competitors are using the same promotional tools as yourself? How can you distinguish your company and products?

Be creative!

Jay Conrad Levinson is a prolific author that has quite a few best-sellers under his belt. In the Guerilla Marketing eBook, Levinson shares 93 unusual marketing tips and techniques to help promote your business, local or not. We have pulled out 7 points that we thought were clever and original ways to distinguish yourself from the competition! Don't forget to download your free copy if you're interested in reading more - the eBook is hosted on ChangeThis.com.

1- A Sticky Success Story - Using Post-It to Leverage Lead Generation

"Guerrilla Mike Cohen informs us that no one ignores coupons from Captain Tony's Pizza in Cleveland, Ohio. That's because they are printed on Post-It notes and placed each month on every door in their delivery area. The typical response rate is 30%. Cohen honors us by calling this promotional concept, Guerrilla Mail. He attributes the program's success to both the look and the feel of the coupon. It resembles the familiar UPS delivery notice and because it is sticky, recipients tend to post it on the fridge or by the phone where it acts as a constant reminder."

2- Retail Marketing Fusion

"Looking for a free way to get people to step into your store? Guerrilla Gary Brummond came across this idea recently at a local mall. Gary noticed a collection of pet portraits in a portrait studios window with a little card in the corner that said the actual pets could be found in the pet shop opposite the studio. The portrait studio got some fun subjects for their window and the pet store got a little virtual window space. We bet their business relationship has grown beyond this elegant cooperation."

3- How Volunteer Work Can Make You Rich and Famous

"If you'd rather be rich than famous, Guerrilla Marc-André Rampon has a tip to build response to you newsletters and websites. Marc-André knows that great content makes for great newsletters and websites but he also knows that great content takes time or money that cuts into profitability. His solution is to get volunteers to write his content in exchange for building their visibility and popularity. Make them famous while you make you richer! Be sure to make all submissions your property if used and gain all appropriate publishing rights."

4- Targeted and Free Ads?

"Everyone would love to have an unlimited ad budget but most of us struggle with how to stretch our marketing dollars. Guerrilla James Bond has a tip for getting free ads any secret agent would love. James' company provides investigative services to law firms. He found it hard to reach lawyers with his promotional message until he decided to try putting his card in law books at a local law library! Attorneys, paralegals and law students would find the cards and assume that other law firms used James' company. This gave him both recognition and credibility and resulted in some nice new clients. We have also heard of another Guerrilla who puts his card into bookstore books to generate programming jobs."

5- Give a Web Page for Free

"Seems everybody with a website is either trying to get people to visit it or trying to make more money with it. Guerrilla Thaddeus Frick did both when he started giving away web pages. Thaddeus gave away personal pages on his site to his clients to promote themselves and this in turn brought traffic to his site and loyalty to his consulting practice."

6- How Charity Work Can Help Grow your Business

"Guerrilla Charles Larsen gave blood instead marketing and got plenty of attention. Charles hosted a blood drive for his community and alerted the media about the event. He got all kinds of attention from the local TV and radio stations. The blood drive was a success for both the blood bank and Charles. Now lots of people know about his business. You could also try the same approach with many other charitable acts and get the same result. You'll do yourself and your community a favor."

7- Trouble Setting Prices? Let your Customer Fix Them for You

"Guerrilla Marvin Mansky tried letting his customers do it for him in an unusual promotion! Marvin ran a promotion from Thanksgiving to New Years Day and let patients set their own prices for his dental services. Patients got a complete basic exam and cleaning and then paid what they thought it was worth. Most patients paid close to the regular rate. A few paid very little, but had been putting off dental care. And, some even paid higher-than-normal rates, because they so liked the whole idea. Marvin's dental practice was totally booked, and they had more new patient referrals than ever before! "
Have you ever used guerilla marketing tactics to promote your business? We would love to know if they were successful or not, and if the return on investment made it a worthwhile effort. Comments are open!