Remember "Guerilla Marketing?"

I recently retrieved an old notebook planner to use that had some notes on a presentation that I attended in April, 2001 on Guerilla Marketing by Jay Levinson. Jay is the author of a series of books on Guerilla Marketing that was very popular at the time and in fact is still popular.

I had started a project management consulting practice in the fall of 2000 just before the big Internet dot com bubble burst. The "irrational exuberance" of investing in speculative Internet ventures has disappeared, but in reality the transition to doing business on the Internet has grown exponentially. The Internet has become one of the key elements of a viable marketing plan for organizations.

The date struck me because it was before the September, 2001 World Trade center national disaster. I could not help but reflect that while a lot has changed since April, 2001, Jay's message is still 100 percent on target. Technology and Internet based marketing was obviously in existence during his presentation, but even he said that it should not be where all of your marketing efforts are focused.

Key Takeaways

Invest in Jay Levinson's books, they are well worth the investment. Here are a few of my key observations from the presentation.

The key metric to measure the success of your marketing efforts is, no surprise, profits. There may be some supporting metrics that you can correlate to increased profits, for example web site page views. However, if improving your web site page views does not generate new business, then it is not a very good leading indicator that you are going to have a good year.

Marketing is any contact. It's a repetitive ongoing process with the primary investment being time, energy, and imagination. It is important to remember that you are doing business with real People who appreciate the small things. These People will reward you with repeat business and referrals when you provide them a valuable product/service in a professional and friendly manner.

You will have to "touch" your prospects on multiple occasions to remind them about what you do before it will occur to them that you have something that they need or want. The response rate for sending out a single direct mail piece to an audience is extraordinarily low. However, if you send the same piece out three times the response rate goes up. I am not suggesting that direct mail might pass the cost/benefit ratio for your company, I am just using it as an illustration.

Taking action is the key to success. Small businesses have the ability to move faster. If a mistake is made, it's not a big deal. The intended audience is not so large that it will take a long time to correct the mistake. Having a sense of urgency to do the important marketing tasks is crucial to success.

Fast Forward To Today

Non Stop Portals provides innovative Internet marketing solutions. However, we clearly communicate that there are other pieces of the puzzle that are not driven by technology. Implementing a technical solution without changing the underlying business process often does not lead to improved profits.

The Internet continues to change at a rapid pace. Twitter has become a national media superstar. You can not turn on the television without someone talking about "Tweets" and their Twitter address. Twitter was formed as a company in April, 2007.

The ability to develop imaginative and creative marketing with web sites, blogs, paid advertising, email campaigns, and social media has never been greater. Even the printing industry has moved to the Internet. Send Out Cards is an Internet platform where you can develop customized cards and send them out with your signature. The cost of implementing these types of marketing efforts is much lower than traditional advertising AND your message will reach a global audience.