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Guerrilla marketers know that marketing is just a fancy word for selling products and services and treating people well. It's more common sense and patience than anything else. But people think marketing is a bunch of things it isn't. Let's take a close look at what marketing is not. 1. Marketing is not advertising. Don't think for a second that because you're advertising, you're marketing. There are over 100 weapons of marketing. Advertising is one of them, but there are 99 others. 2. Marketing is not a stage for humor. If you use humor in your marketing, people will recall your funny joke, but not your compelling offer. Humor is a marketing vampire, sucking attention away from your offer. You don't want people who are exposed to your marketing materials to say, "That's wonderful marketing!" Instead, you want them to say, "I want that!" 3. Marketing is not direct mail. Some companies think they can get all the business they need with direct mail. But most businesses need a plethora of other marketing weapons in order for their direct mail to succeed. If you are doing direct mail only, you're no guerrilla. Combining direct mail with newspaper advertising, a Web site, circulars, signs, and a Yellow Pages ad, demonstrates a firmer grasp of reality in marketing. 4. Marketing is not show business. There's no business like show business, and that includes marketing. Think of marketing as sell business, as create-a-desire business, as motivation business, as change-human-behavior business. But don't think of yourself as being in the entertainment business, because the primary purpose of marketing isn't to entertain. You want profits more than applause. 5. Marketing is not just telemarketing. For business-to-business marketing, few weapons succeed as well as telemarketing -- especially when you use detailed scripts instead of "thought flow" outlines. However, telemarketing response can be dramatically improved by augmenting it with advertising -- yes, advertising -- and e-mail marketing. 6. Marketing is not complicated. It becomes complicated for people who fail to grasp the simplicity of marketing, but it is user-friendly to guerrillas. They begin with a seven-sentence guerrilla marketing plan, create a year-long marketing calendar, select from 100 marketing weapons -- half of them free -- then keep track of which weapons are lethal and which are duds. Not too complicated. Not a piece of cake, either. But not as complex as many people think. 7. Marketing is not brochures. Many companies rush to produce a brochure about the benefits they offer, then pat themselves on the back for the quality of the brochure. They proudly publish their brochure online. Is that brochure marketing? It is often a very important cog in the marketing machine when it is mixed with 10 or 15 other very important cogs. But all by itself? Forget it. 8. Marketing is not a miracle-worker. More money has been wasted due to marketers expecting miracles than to any other misconception of marketing. They do everything right, then abandon their program because it didn't achieve instant results. Marketing is the best investment in America if you do it right, and doing it right requires commitment, patience and planning. 9. Marketing is not a Yellow Pages ad or listing. A whopping 3.5 million small businesses in the U.S. run a Yellow Pages ad, and most probably figure that takes care of their marketing. In 5 percent of the cases, that's true. In the other 95 percent, it's disaster in the form of marketing ignorance. Sure, have a Yellow Pages ad as part of your arsenal. But not as all your firepower. 10. Having a Web site is not marketing. It's becoming a mandatory part of a marketing mix, and will grow in importance as more of us go online. But all by itself, it's probably a loser. To be a winner, remember always that marketing is an opportunity for you to earn profits with your business, a chance to cooperate with other businesses in your community or your industry, and a process of building lasting relationships. |