I have mentioned many times in my posts that the time will come soon when the big brands really get on board with things happening in the guerrilla marketing world. With the 33 Keys project that ran in Quebec Mazda has done a very impressive job mixing various media forms to create an obsession in the community and more importantly in the Mazda 3′s target audience.
It would not hurt to have the budget they have either, but it is good to see a budget like that being used for something innovative.
You can read Kristin Laird’s article at marketingmag.ca about the project.
If you are serious about using a blog as a way to promote your business the information that you get out of this in going to change your blog. What is keeping you from taking action today with your blog.
I don’t often promote products unless they have made a real impact on my life. Well friends problogger.net and the teaching of Darren Rowse is one of those cases.
I’m not sure how I found Darren’s blog and really it doesn’t matter but I became obsessed with his stuff when I was at a point in my life when I was not sure what to do next. Darren’s stuff made me realize that yes I can make it on the internet.
So here’s the deal. Darren has written an ebook that contains a workbook for his 31 Days to a Better Blog series. He has daily action items to get our asses in gear and a whole bunch of theory and real world examples as you go. The cool thing is he is basically giving it away at $19.95 (hell that is $.64 a task)
I can’t think of a better way to build a blog on a bootstrapped budget then this one, it is a no brainer.
You’re a bootstrapped business—strapped for cash, strapped for time, and wondering how the hell you’re going to get through another month of balancing endless responsibilities. So what do you do when every minute counts? Well, for one thing, stop counting every minute, you’ll only end up adding undue stress to your already stressful situation. After you take a few deep breaths, start a list and prioritize your responsibilities—qualify your time.
One of the best places to start prioritizing is when you consider how much time you should spend on reconnecting with your prospects. Letting go of a prospect can be like leaving your child behind with a babysitter for the first time. It’s extremely tough to do because you can’t help but think of the potential involved, but it’s very necessary to keep your business alive and well. Otherwise, you may end up spending a lot of your valuable time chasing an unqualified prospect, failing to move forward with new opportunities.
To help you avoid that detrimental waste of time, prioritize and classify your current prospects into three categories and create a tickler file: Probably Not, Maybe Baby, and Hot-to-Trot. In order to class your prospects, you should establish critical points that will help you decide the importance and probability of doing business with each prospect. For example, did you solicit business from them, or did they actively contact you through your website. Active pursuit on the part of the prospect always indicates a positive trend towards converting them into a customer. Or, perhaps you may have talked to your prospect on the phone, but only because you were flexible and put up with their changing the date and time several times—this can be a strong indicator of disinterest or a client that will be unreasonably demanding.
Once you’ve established your parameters for the ideal prospect, assign a corresponding amount of time for each category. For example, for the Probably Not category, it would be a good idea to not spend much time at all on them, perhaps sending them one reconnection e-mail after a month or so. And for your Hot-to-Trot prospects, don’t wait longer than a week or so before you reconnect. But you must keep in mind that even Hot-to-Trot prospects fall off and eventually become Probably Nots.
Now, you’ll also have to create parameters for prioritizing your current clients as well. You must always strive for a careful balance of tending to your current flock while trying to add new sheep to your herd. Here’s a major caveat for you: Never take your longtime clients for granted. Just because they’ve been more than pleased with your work for an extended period of time does not mean they can indefinitely be put on the back burner of your priorities. If you consistently take them for granted, you will spoil any hard-earned loyalty you’ve built up over the years. And by doing the bare minimum or taking too long to complete certain tasks gives them little reason to continue to refer your business—always keep word-of-mouth marketing in mind.
So what if people look at you funny, there’s nothing wrong with being a guerrilla. Look at it this way, you get to scratch yourself wherever and whenever you want, how great is that? Alright, alright, so maybe you don’t want to be an actual guerrilla, but if you’re a bootstrapped business owner, employing guerrilla marketing is sure to help you stretch your budget and tap into some awesome potential.
Where do you start? First, don’t concern yourself with thinking outside the box, forget the box altogether. Because by trying to come up with ways to think outside the box, you naturally start to align yourself with thought patters similar to other businesses trying to think differently. So, the key then is to think differently without thinking differently. Ha! How do you like that notion?
The point is, you’re all creative beings and hold an infinite amount of potential—you simply need to take a few minutes to relax and tap into your inner thoughts. You’ll be surprised at what you allow your brain to come up with when you give it a chance to plug into the subconscious and recall your past experiences and pair it with your expansive knowledge base. After you’ve given yourself some time to meditate and think deeply on how to make your business stand out, grab a pen and paper (or keyboard) and just start writing down all the different ideas that pop out of that beautiful brain of yours.
The key here is to allow for a stream of consciousness. As soon as you begin to question the legitimacy or plausibility of the ideas you come up with, you’re going to start suffocating the creative process—similar to waving your finger at your brain and punishing it for expressing itself. This is one of the leading reasons businesses have so much trouble being different, they don’t allow themselves creative license. Open yourself up and you’re going to love what you come up with. And you’ll be able to multiply your mental results by getting your team together and brainstorming together. If you’re truly a small business and don’t have any employees or teammates, then buy your friends a couple of beers and ask if they’ll come over and help you brainstorm. (Don’t have too many or they’ll have you convinced that standing on the corner naked screaming your site’s URL is a good idea.)
Here are a couple of quick ideas:
Fundraisers: There’s no shame in setting up a charitable event or fundraiser to garner lucrative exposure for your business. You will create the chance to help out a good cause and to get your name out in the public.
Chamber of Commerce: Many businesses seem to have forgotten about the good ol’ Chamber of Commerce. Joining this organization provides you with the opportunity to help your community while creating great business contacts.
Contests: Think of some contests that you can offer up to your business prospects and local community. Whenever you get people actively involved in something, you significantly increase the likelihood of lucrative conversions. Besides, they’re fun!