Scarf It Up!: Guerrilla Marketing! A VERY interesting concept!

I attended a free 3-hour seminar yesterday on the basics of Guerrilla Marketing. It could have gone on for days, and still I would have found it useful, practical, and enormously entertaining. Thanks to the amazing delivery and expertise of Reggie Shropshire, Action Coach, and especially Charlene Dupray of South'n France Bon Bons and In a Nutshell Webinars, the morning was action-packed with basic information and 101+ examples of free or inexpensive ways to boost branding for small businesses.

I always approach free offerings with cynicism - what's the catch? well, of course, both reggie and Charlene would like to sign us on for additional coaching and consulting, but there was no hard sell, and consequently, I came away with a whirling head, spinning with great ideas for myself and for Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts! So....everyone wants to know what I learned! How do I consolidate the examples into something I can post here?

Here are some major points of Guerrilla Marketing!

Think geometrically - selling not to MORE customers necessarily, but MORE to each one.
Think partnering, as in cooperation, not competition.
Think relationships, not $$$.

In career counseling, I always think (and teach) relationship-building in networking. It's not how many people you can connect with, but the quality of those relationships. I think it's the same with guerrilla marketing.

Make people WANT to hear your message.
Incorporate the element of surprise, delight into your message.
Form strategic - and sometimes weird or unlikely - alliances.
Think outside of the box: the secret, the unexpected, keep 'em guessing.
Think of inventive ways to get your message to the public: packaging, pockets, labels, car wraps, banners, stickers.
Offer a special service - free lifetime replacements or repair.
Sponsor a cool contest.
Timing, persistence, imagination - the cornerstones of effective guerrilla marketing.

The myriad examples were the fun stuff! I will share some of the resources offered to us, and I'll be discussing some ideas with Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts owners for the gallery and for our newsletter, but I'd rather not share those here yet.

Want to see some of the coolest stuff that gets your attention?

And books:

Meatball Sundae, by Seth Godin
Purple Cow, by Seth Godin
Jump Start your Business Brain, by Doug Hall

And blogs:

I hope these will challenge YOU in thinking about the way you conduct your business marketing - I look forward to innovating with my own business as soon as possible.