How is Guerrilla Marketing different from traditional marketing?

1. In traditional marketing, the primary investment is money. In Guerrilla Marketing, the primary investments are time, energy, and imagination. The more of these you invest, the less money you will need.

2. Traditional marketing intimidates many small- business owners who are not familiar with the concept. Guerrilla Marketing removes the mystery that has long surrounded marketing.

3.Traditional marketing has always been geared toward big business. Guerrilla Marketing has always been geared toward small-business.

4.Traditional marketing measures how well it’s doing by how many sales it generates.

Guerrilla Marketing says that sales aren’t bad, but profits are the numbers you should focus on.

5. Traditional marketing is based on judgment, which results in guesswork. Guerrilla Marketing is based on the laws of human behavior.

6. Traditional marketing says you should diversify in your own business. Guerrilla Marketing says you should always maintain your focus.

7.Traditional marketing focuses on large groups. Guerrilla Marketing focuses on individuals.

8.Traditional marketing is often unintentional. It is too formalized and often overlooks important elements that aren’t commonly considered the realm of marketing. Guerrilla Marketing is completely intentional. Everything the company does is seen as marketing.

9. Traditional marketing says that businesses should grow linearly by adding new customers on a regular basis. Guerrilla Marketing focuses on growing geometrically. In this way, Guerrillas have more transactions for each customer per year, increase their number of referrals, and add new customers, too.

10.Traditional marketing worships at the shrine of competition. Guerrilla Marketing promotes cooperation, which will serve your needs better than competition.

11.Traditional marketing believes that advertising, direct mail, or web sites work by themselves. Guerrilla Marketing believes the only thing that works is marketing combinations.

12. Traditional marketing focuses on money. Guerrilla Marketing focuses on relationships, which leads to more money…a subtle but important difference.

13. Traditional marketing is geared toward taking. Guerrilla Marketing is geared toward giving…free information, free consultations, free samples. The more a company gives, the more it gets.

14. Traditional marketing does not make much of an allowance for technology because it changes so rapidly. Guerrilla Marketing embraces new technology whenever it can.

15. Traditional marketing identifies only a few marketing tools, most of which are in the mass media. Guerrilla Marketing identifies 100 different marketing “weapons,” 62 of which are absolutely free.

The Meaning of Guerrilla Marketing

It all boils down to achieving conventional goals by using unconventional means. The conventional goals are profitability, joy, and success. The unconventional means are realizing that this is a process that will take a long time and many different weapons. You should feel in total control of your marketing at all times.

 Note: I was first introduced to Guerrilla Marketing in the 1980’s at a cruise industry tradeshow.

At that time, I owned a cruise only travel agency, one of five in the state of New Jersey, the only one in our county. This was before franchises and before the internet. Less than 5% of the people who traveled extensively had ever taken a cruise. So, learning to be a Guerrilla Marketing was really critical – the only way to grow your business. This series from Nightingale-Conant is the best of Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing work. We will share a lot of his techniques here, and learn from each other as we implement them and share experiences on the message board. But, if you’re ready to grow you business, I’d strongly recommend getting this or any of his books.