• Significantly increase your sales!
• Receive more leads than you have ever seen!
• Make your company or product a household name!

Heavy Guerrilla? What the heck is a “Heavy Guerrilla? We’re not talking about a large ape here. We are talking about a way to promote a business or product like no other. By definition, Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy, and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places, which can make the idea more memorable, generate buzz, and even spread virally.

Heavy Guerrilla is a Olympia Washington based marketing consulting and advertising agency that specializes in growing small to medium sized companies through affordable, strategic marketing and sales efforts. We offer affordable, small business marketing strategies, branding, graphic design, web marketing and business consulting to take your business to the next level. Follow our simple system that we will tailor specifically to your company and its needs. We understand that most small to medium sized companies do not have the budget for a dedicated marketing department. That’s where we come in… we are your “Outsourced” marketing department, that will either “Coach” or “Consult” you and your team through our easy system so that you can increase profits and increase sales leads, even in this down economy. And all for a fraction of the cost of an “In-House” marketing staff.

We promote marketing as an integrated system utilizing the “New Method” of marketing strategies and tactics. At the heart of our system is a progression of steps and strategies, in various stages, that any company, despite the size, can utilize to generate dramatic profits from a reliable marketing endeavor. We all understand that the current market conditions are less than favorable. Right? So we challenge you to take another look at you and your company. It’s easy to settle for the status quo and give up. But… even in a down market, you CAN rise above the competition and take your business to new levels. In a down market, you have to work smart. You have to market better than you have in the past. You have to DOMINATE YOUR MARKETPLACE!

That’s where we come in. Results-oriented, in your face, strategic marketing for your small company. A methodical, step-by-step, scientific and innovative approach to making your phone ring.

nike

Branding is one of those zen like sciences.  Those that are good, almost get that way through natural born instinct.  Branding is one of the most important aspects of any real marketing plan and strategy.

You can see what Nike as done with a simple swoosh.  Simple right?  Well stop by one of their corporate Nike stores and you will be engulfed in branding.  From floor to ceiling, and from wall to wall, you are surrounded by all things Nike.  Colors, smells, music, visual and every other sense you can think of, puts you in to a religion we know as Nike.

You don’t have to think too much about branding in one sense, as it has been part of your every being since you were born.  If I describe a big round orange ball, you probably think of 76 service stations.  If anyone brings up the subject of 24 hour convenience stores, then 7-11 might come to mind.

Branding seperates the good from the bad, the quality from the economical and does it without having to even think about it.  At least that is what consumers do.

Overview

Do your clients LOVE YOU?  Love you enough to refer a friend or family?  Referral marketing is a structured and systematic process that maximizes word of mouth potential. Referral marketing does this by encouraging, informing, promoting and rewarding customers and contacts to think and talk as much as possible about their supplier, their company, product and service and the value and benefit the supplier brings to them and people they know.

Referral marketing takes word of mouth from the spontaneous situation to a proactive and highly productive solution, where maximum referrals are generated due to professional customer-focused strategies.

Online referral marketing, using digital marketing as a platform, is the Internet based successor to traditional referral marketing.  Given the advances in tracking customer behavior online through the use of web browser cookies, online referral marketing provides a higher degree of accountability.

To put it in simple terms, referral marketing is a specific set of strategies and tools designed to bring small business new clients, qualified leads, and repeat business without the aid of, or in addition to, other advertising methods such as print, internet, radio or tv.

Many business owners have built great companies entirely upon referrals. Almost all businesses get started this way. The business lands a client, does some good work, and that client tells his/her family and friends. Before you know it, this kind of word-of-mouth marketing creates a steady stream of more customers and prospects.  But what most small business owners don’t understand, is that many of these same companies never understood that they could generate even more business if they actively participated in the generation of referrals.

Some professions, such as lawyers, doctors, and accountants, are very much suited to referral marketing.  Most people simply don’t feel comfortable hiring a doctor based on a doctor’s advertisement in the Yellow Pages. When looking for a professional of this nature, most people will ask someone they trust for a referral, such as a good friend or family member.

As a rule of thumb, the more personal or the more expensive a service is, the more likely it is that a potential client will seek the advice of another. A window washing company, for example, whose crew may spend a great deal of time going from room to room in a client’s house, will benefit greatly from referrals.

Why Referral Marketing Is So Strong

Experience tells us there is typically two things that often hold small business owners back from taking complete advantage of referral marketing:

• No System -They simply don’t have a system for tracking referrals
• Fear – That somehow no one would ever refer a prospect to his or her business

Let’s try to help you get over the fear of making referrals a core part of your marketing.

When we say fear, we mean things like fearing of being rejected, fearing that you will appear to be begging for business or fear that your existing clients don’t really care about helping you build your business.

All we can say to this is – you have got to get past this!  If you provide a product or service that helps people solve problems and meet needs, then you are doing a disservice to your customers and the world in general if you don’t actively seek referrals.

If you think your clients will be put off by your desire to involve them in helping you grow your business, you aren’t thinking about the relationship the way you should.

The entire act of generating a referral comes down to two simple things:

Provide a product or service that people like.

Manage the referral expectation.

Key Points to Remember:

• To get better referrals you need to target your prime referral sources.
• You must educate your referral sources in order to receive qualified leads.
• Make receiving referrals part of your client’s expectation.
• Find strategic partners and create multiple referral sources.
• Follow up with your referral sources.

When creating a formal, written marketing plan, your marketing strategy will become the meat & potatoes from which you will generate new business without wasting precious capital.  Marketing strategy is the process that allows your organization to use its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. While marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal.

Key to Your General Corporate Strategy

Marketing strategy is a method of focusing your company’s energies and resources on a course of action which will lead to sales growth and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm’s marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a given timeframe.

Marketing strategy determines your target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources whether it be capital or human. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall company strategy, defining how your organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in your particular market.

Corporate business plan strategies, corporate missions, and corporate goals.  As your customer constitutes the source of your firms’ revenue, marketing strategy is closely linked with the entire sales process.

Below is some basic theory to chew on.

• Target Audience
• Proposition/Key Element
• Implementation
• Tactics and actions

A marketing strategy should serve as the foundation of a marketing plan. A marketing plan contains a set of specific actions required to successfully implement a marketing strategy and helps to paint a picture for which your target audience is, and how to communicate a message that they want to hear.

Here’s an example of a marketing strategy: “Use a low cost product to attract prospects. Once our company, via our low cost product, has established a relationship with prospect, our organization will begin to sell additional, higher-margin products and services that enhance the prospect’s interaction with the low-cost product or service.”  Walmart would be a great example of this strategy.  Once they get you in the door with “advertised loss leaders”, they then introduce to the consumer higher margin products.

A strategy consists of a well thought out series of tactics, i.e. advertising, public relations, and referrals to make a marketing plan effective and actually generate results. Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental foundation of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach marketing objectives. Plans and objectives are generally tested for measurable results in order to achieve overall goals.

A marketing strategy integrates an company’s marketing goals, policies, and action plans (tactics) into a comprehensive whole. Similarly, the various strands of the strategy, which might include advertising, channel marketing, internet marketing, promotion and public relations can be orchestrated.  Many companies flow a strategy throughout an organization, by creating strategy tactics (advertising, public relations, referrals) that then become strategy goals for the next level. Each level is expected to take that strategy goal and develop a set of tactics to achieve that goal. This is why it is very important to create each strategy goal measurable, utilizing a given set of metrics.

Types of Strategies

Marketing strategies may differ depending on the unique situation of the individual business. However there are a number of ways of categorizing some generic strategies. A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes is presented below:

Strategies based on market dominance – In this scheme, firms are classified based on their market share or dominance of an industry. Typically there are three types of market dominance strategies:

• Leader
• Challenger
• Follower
• Product differentiation
• Market segmentation

Innovation strategies – This deals with the firm’s rate of the new product development and business model innovation.  It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business innovation.

There are three types of Innovation Strategies:

• Pioneers
• Close followers
• Late followers

Growth strategies – In this scheme we ask the question, “How should the firm grow?”.  There are a number of different ways of answering that question, but the most common gives four answers:

• Horizontal integration
• Vertical integration
• Diversification
• Intensification

Believe it or not, when it comes to Marketing Strategies we have not even scratched the surface but what we have mentioned are some basics that are most commonly used.  Most of our information was compiled from severals sources including Wikipedia from which you can find a plethora of “college textbook” marketing concepts.

While it is good to read and understand these fundamental concepts, at Heavy Guerrilla we feel that a more practical, easy-to-understand approach actually produces better results.

Get to know the Heavy Guerrilla System.

The Heavy Guerrilla Marketing System – A step-by-step self guided road map for creating the ultimate small business marketing system.  Follow our system and you can create a powerful marketing plan that brings stunning marketing results.

Heavy Guerrilla Marketing Coaching is tailored to meet the needs of any size business or professional services provider. Services include complete one on one, personalized Heavy Guerrilla Marketing Coaching, Heavy Guerrilla Digital Technology Coaching, Heavy Guerrilla Power Marketing Groups, and individual Heavy Guerrilla Distance Coaching.

Heavy Guerrilla Small Business Workshops are available with Jerry Suhrstedt available to present small business marketing workshops, seminars and keynotes to groups and associations. Jerry has over 22 years experience in advanced marketing strategies, and a true sixth sense for what your business needs.

Heavy Guerrilla marketing brings a wealth of expertise with marketing systems for any industry, with in-depth experience in:

• Residential Home Building
• Residential Remodeling
• Sporting Goods
• Apparel & Soft goods
• Inline Skate Market
• Roller Skate Market
• Roller Rink Industry
• Ice Speedskating
• Real Estate
• Automobile Industry
• Manufacturing
• New Product Branding & Launch

Marketing-Plan-Pro

Ask yourself these questions…

Do I have a “Written” marketing plan with associated Strategy?
Do I know what my “Ideal Prospect” looks like.

If you are not sure what the answer is to any one of the questions above, you need help.  The difference between companies that have formal, written marketing plans and ones that don’t are night-and-day!

The business owner that has a written marketing plan and strategy, complete with a tactical time line are the owner’s that are typically  ahead of the pack. They are the ones that customers seem to can’t get enough of. They are the companies that are usually smiling when the economy is down and haven’t laid off any employees.

A simple tool we use with our clients is a software package called Marketing Plan Pro.  Simple, easy, very cost effective and asks the tough questions you need to think about.  While Marketing Plan Pro helps you with your marketing planning, and strategy, there is nothing that replaces experience and the gut instinct to make sure you are on track.  It can cost a business hundreds of thousands of wasted capital if your marketing strategy doesn’t hit the target.

Invest now for the future.

That is not to say that you couldn’t use Advertising as part of your marketing strategy.

Let’s talk about what marketing is “supposed” to do and why most marketing doesn’t come close.  I’ll explain to you exactly why everything you know about marketing and advertising is mistaken.

What’s the difference between strategic and tactical marketing?  Well, strategic marketing has to do with “what” you say and “how” you say it.  It’s the content of your message and the positioning of your brand, company, business, or product.

The second part of your overall marketing plan has to do with your tactical marketing program, has to with the execution of that strategic marketing plan as far as generating leads, placing media, and implementing a follow-up system.  Tactics are based on the three legs of marketing tactics, Advertising, Public Relations and Referrals.

By creating a carefully crafted marketing plan, you will systematize the entire process so that your marketing program is easy to implement and so its always consistent in message.

The distinction between “strategic” and “tactical” marketing is enormous and one every business owner needs to be intensely aware of any time you are talking about marketing.  Most small business owners mistakenly assume anytime you talk about marketing that you’re automatically talking about tactical marketing; placing advertisements, generating leads, creating a web site, attending trade shows, designing a direct mail postcard, doesn’t matter what, this is all tactical talk!  The overwhelming majority of business owners fail to recognize and realize that the strategic side of the marketing plan; “what” you say in marketing and “how” you say it is practically always more significant than the marketing medium “where” you say it, or in other words, where you tactically deploy that marketing.

If you fail to make this difference, then you risk being fed-up towards some forms of marketing and advertising that should be a part of your tactical plan but that you’d be likely to eliminate because they haven’t worked for you in the past.

When marketing results are less than best, the inclination is almost always to blame the marketing medium; the tactical part of the plan-without any regard for how good or how bad the strategy behind that marketing piece was.

But just because it didn’t work, don’t assume that it won’t work.  Most people don’t have the evaluation tools and the know-how to judge whether a poor marketing result stems from poor strategy or the poor tactical execution.