Levinson - Guerrilla Marketing

FOURTH EDITION

Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston New York
2007

Copyright 2007 by Jay Conrad Levinson

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from
this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

Visit our Web site: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Levinson, Jay Conrad.
Guerrilla marketing : easy and inexpensive strategies for making
big profits from your small business / Jay Conrad Levinson with
Jeannie Levinson and Amy Levinson.4th rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-78591-9
ISBN-10: 0-618-78591-4
1. Marketing. 2. Small businessManagement. 3. Advertising.
I. Levinson, Jeannie. II. Levinson, Amy. III. Title.
HF5415.L477 2007
658.8dc22 2006033833

Printed in the United States of America

MP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO

... GUERRILLAS EACH AND EVERY ONE

Introduction

Part I. The Guerrilla Approach

What Is Guerrilla Marketing Today?

The Need for Guerrilla Marketing

The Sixteen Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing

Developing a Guerrilla Marketing Plan

Developing Truly Creative Marketing

Selecting the Most Lethal Marketing Methods

Secrets of Saving Marketing Money

Research: The Starting Point of a Guerrilla Marketing Campaign

Part II. Minimedia Marketing

Truths About Minimedia Marketing

Part III. Maximedia Marketing

Guerrilla-Style Maximedia Marketing

Part IV. New-Media Marketing

E-Media Marketing

Info-Media Marketing

Human-Media Marketing

Nonmedia Marketing

Part V. The Nature of the Guerrilla

Guerrilla Company Attributes

Guerrilla Company Attitudes

Guerrilla Marketing Psychology

The 200 Weapons of Guerrilla Marketing

Acknowledgments

Information Arsenal for Guerrillas

Index

I remember the shock I felt at age fifty when I learned that the average college graduate is better informed than the average fifty-year-old. But unless that fifty-year-old studied all the important new books and all the magazines, newspapers, TV documentaries, Web sites, and webcasts, he or she would know less than that college guy or gal, whose daily curriculum diet included the cream of the new information.

This fourth edition of Guerrilla Marketing, a scion of the first edition, which I wrote as a service to my college students at the University of California, Berkeley Extension Division, is like that college grad. It's got all the new and good stuff about marketingsome timeless, some brand newall insights that can give you the upper hand in the marketing battles.

Marketing continues to evolve and mature, just like that former student. This edition is a chip off the old guerrilla block. It's not going to abandon its principles, as humans have not abandoned their natures. But it is going to give you a clue or two about the multitude of ways that marketing has changed since I wrote the first edition and each edition after that.C'est la guerre.

Take heart that every change can represent money in your life if you learn about it and do something about it. There is no way that you can capitalize on all the changes, so you'll have to pick and choose. If you're as bright as you look, you'll pick some of the tried and true marketing weapons and tactics and more than a smattering of the new ways to leave your competitors standing on scorched ground.

I'm intentionally going out on a limb by cautioning you that failure to upgrade your marketing effort is a symptom of corporate demise. Success-found companies are either growing and changing or dying. Failure to adapt is the leading cause of death.

This new edition is all about the adaptations you can make to power up your marketing. It's also about the attitudes and attributes that are mandatory in the current and coming business environment. A key to prospering with guerrilla marketing is the art of paying attention. You've got to be constantly attuned to the media, the competition, the customers, the current events, the whole scene. If you're not paying close attention, you'll nibble on your popcorn at the movie while the on-screen hero reaches for a box of your competitor's snack treats. That's the kind of attention I mean. That's the kind of marketing I mean. That's the kind of buzz you want. That's the kind of change I mean.

You'll read some of the guerrilla marketing advice in this book and say to yourself, "I knew that." You'll read other revelations and say, "We could do that!"

I don't blame you for being excited. I've been excited since I first thought of bringing guerrilla marketing into the b-age, the age when entrepreneurs think of billions rather than millions. Marketing experts see today as two separate ages. One requires the age-old principles of patience and commitment for the eventual profit. The other requires a can't-refuse offer, a large and responsive mailing list, and online dexterity for the quick profit. The guerrilla marketer of today operates comfortably in both ages.

Guerrilla marketers are delighted that marketing is undergoing so many changes. These marketeers are aware that most of their competitors are looking the other way when it comes to modernizing their marketing and getting it to bloom in the sunshine rather than simply look pretty.

But to get it to bloom, you've got to be the sun. You've got to be the energy that keeps your marketing alive. Lean closer and become intimate with the reality of the next two sentences.

Guerrilla marketing is about theory and action. I supply the theory. What kind of action are you supposed to take? The first is gaining an understanding of what marketing really is and why guerrilla marketing is putting so much money into so many bank accounts around the world.

Become aware of your options as a guerrilla marketer.