Week 3: The Sixteen Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing

 

Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing, lays out a set of secrets that are not so secret in order to be successful in marketing. Here they are: 

1. Commitment 

“What makes a marriage work? What makes a business work? How do you finish running a marathon? Yeap …........Commitment! (Conrad Levinson, 2007). 

A marketing plan is not a miracle worker. Commitment is directly related to time. You most likely won't see results in 60 days, maybe in 3 months, or 6, maybe a year or more, but be patient! Create a realistic and sensible plan and stick with it until it proves itself.  

2. Investment 

Marketing = Conservative Investment 

Do not expect it to double your sales immediately. Marketing will contribute to slow but steady increases for you.  

3. Consistent 

Make your marketing consistent!  

Don’t change media, messages, or vary graphic format. Change headlines, offers and even prices but not your identity. When ready to market, be consistent. It's better to use your capital in constant ads even if smaller,  than big and far in between.  

“Consistency breeds familiarity, familiarity breeds confidence, and confidence breeds sales.” 

4. Confident 

Make prospects confident in your offering. Commitment & consistency will breed confidence.  

5. Patient 

Be committed, see marketing as an investment, be consistent & patient. It takes time! 

6. Assortment 

Have an assortment of marketing weapons! Use all of them and see your business grow. Don’t get comfortable with just one. 

7. Subsequent 

It costs six times more to sell a product or a service to a new customer than it does to an existing one. Don’t forget your existing clients and just focus on getting new ones. 

8. Convenient 

Think of customer or client convenience, not your own. 

9. Amazement 

Remember that your marketing must amaze people. Amazement attracts attention to your ads.  

10. Measurement

Measure the effectiveness of all your marketing. Ask clients how they heard about your business. Invest more in what is working and lessen or eliminate what is not. 

11. Involvement 

Be involved with your clients. Follow up emails, texts, calls, mailers, etc. Learn what is convenient for them and practice it. Try to remember their names and provide great customer service. This is a key for referrals.  

12. Dependent 

Even if you own your own business, you can’t do it alone. We are all interdependent with manufacturers, suppliers, etc. Power comes from teamwork than individualism.  

13. Armament 

“Dictionaries describe the equipment necessary to wage and win battles as armament.” Yours is technology! Your computer, cell phone, online presence, etc. Use your resources to design and compete regardless of your business size and budget. 

14. Consent 

Remember the term opt-in. The best way is to get people to opt-in to hear from you. Almost every site now asks for your email and consent to send you emails or text messages.  

15. Content 

Don’t just get caught up in the fanciness of your ads. Remember that content is key.  

16. Augment 

You need to continue to augment your marketing attack. Competitors are constantly evolving, so should you!  

Strengthen your plan, better your web site, learn more about newer strategies, how you can get better and spend less.  

“Once you develop the marketing plan, don’t approve it until you are ready to commit yourself to it! Don’t approve it until you are ready to invest in it with a realistic expectation of return. And don’t implement it until you are prepared to stick with it consistently. “ 

Reference:

 Levinson, J. C., Loza, B., & Audible Studios. (2009). Guerrilla Marketing: Fourth Edition. Audible Studios. 

Wk2: Surfing The Tsunami - Ch 2 recap

 Artificial Intelligence and the Four A’s: Autos, Advice, Automation and Analysis 

AI, Autos and Autonomy

Self-driving cars are a perfect visual example of AI. For many years now we have continued to see automotive companies promise this technology, but it seems that they didn’t account for how complicated it can be. Check out this video:  

Any AI implicates machine learning. According to Professor Kelsey, machine learning involves teaching a computer how to do something or to learn algorithms. Automation can be very complex for a self-driving car due to safety issues. There are many situations and objects to be aware of when driving. Just like the human brain, there are many pictures that need to be analyzed and processed to make decisions. This is something companies like Google have been working on with their cars driving around with cameras taking pictures to provide a street view when you are searching for an address. This reminds me of The Office and the street view from in front of Dwight’s Schrute Farms lol. 

Understanding how self-driving cars happen is to understand technology. Hardware and software must work together. As you probably know, every computer or electronic device contains chips made out of silicon. Chips are all connected, and electricity runs through them., however this would be pointless without the software. Software tells the computer what to do. We are all too familiar now with constant software updates on our phones, apps, watches, GPS, etc. It is constantly changing! 

AI and Advice

By now we are too familiar with Siri and Alexa, and some cant image how it didn’t exist before. This is another example of computer intelligence that is constantly learning to process voice commands and constantly learning. Even though you might access them on a device such as your phone, you're speaking to a computer that is more likely connected to a cloud where the company has a large datacenter with tons of data.  

AI and Automation 

With the right software and hardware many things can be automated. There are physical and virtual processes. Automation is simply teaching a robot to repeat an action. Physical automation can be viewed in manufacturing such as in the auto industry.

A virtual process is when the automation is mostly or totally virtual or digital. Think of programs that do most work for you without the need for manual calculations, etc. One I use regularly now is QuickBooks for accounting, budget apps, self-check outs, etc. Some concerns with technology are the job losses that it can create. Covid-19 showed us how the virtual world was able to be a benefit to us when face to face was not recommended, and also the drawbacks that it can have. 

AI and Analysis 

Analysis is the most sophisticated part of AI. Just like our brain analyzes information to guide our thoughts and actions, so do robots. The data received needs to be analyzed in order to produce a function. Professor Kelsey provides an example of this analysis as a flow chart that based on the data can give you an output or action.  

Let me know your thoughts below! References: Kelsey, T. (2018). Surfing the Tsunami: An Introduction to Artificial                 Intelligence and Options for Responding. Independently published.