Customer Reviews

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

On page five, bullet point three: Mr. Levinson states, "Traditional marketing is geared toward big business.... The soul and spirit of guerrilla marketing - is small business: companies with big dreams and tiny budgets." However that was not my experience reading this book. Instead he seemed to promote laborious and expensive marketing tactics. I thought I was going to be reading a book about low / no-cost, surprise attacks, launched in the dead of night with no warning. Instead what I read was kind of stale, old school stuff.

For example; Chapter 3, The Sixteen Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing, starts with the sentence, "If you're a guerrilla, these sixteen secrets are not secret to you at all." OK, then why am I reading this book? Then the secrets end up being more general philosophy rather than tactics, such as commitment, investment, consistent, confident, patient, assortment, subsequent, etc., etc. In my opinion, he spent too much time making things rhyme and not enough into research into successful low / no-cost product launches or common themes and marketing techniques that sky-rocketed the success of the Zero to Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour companies. That's what I call a 600 pound Marketing GUERRILLA.

The chapter on MiniMedia Marketing was mildly interesting but nothing new as of the fall of 2007.

Then you have MaxiMedia and everything here costs some big bucks, sorry Jay I'll pass..

I'm not going to say that this book is without merit; it has good stuff in it if you haven't been in the sales and marketing business very long. It's a book that the novice can learn a good deal from, but more and more the younger aggressive person learns most of these things on the go and has picked up 90% of this stuff in a year or two in the business. If you are just starting or are unfamiliar with sales and marketing; then by all means get this book and dive in. However, the title Guerrilla Marketing implies something completely different to me than a book of general principles and tactics on the subject of marketing.

This 4th edition of the small business marketing classic is completely updated and revised as of 2007. The new edition is as relevant today as its original edition was over 20 years ago. The added e-marketing tips (advertising, blogs, podcasts, etc.) are accurate and useful. If you're a small business owner and have not read this book, you need to order it today. I just finished an MBA marketing class, and the theories that we studied are covered in Levinson's book in plain English--I wish I had read it before the semester began!

Although most of the information in this book has been around for a long time, it will probably be helpful if this is your fist marketing book -- & you have a fairly large budget for your marketing campaign.

I was hoping for more internet marketing advice, but found only a small section dedicated to this venue. This was surprising considering the internet is fast becoming THE marketing tool of today and the future.

Plenty of help in this book on all other forms of media advertising, but all require sizable budgets.

As for book quality... The text is a bit small and crowded, and is printed on newsprint quality paper. The addition of some subheadings here and there just to break up the pages a bit would ease a rather monotonous flow.

Guerrilla Marketing is not written for small startups as the name suggests. This book promotes high investment, long term marketing that is not suitable for small business. The processes are so intricate that most people will have a hard time following. Not recommended.

An easy and friendly read, packed full of information... Many ideas you may already know, but have never taken full advantage of. At least a dozen strategies you can start using right now, and a few more that you will really need to plan carefully to use effectively. Levinson explains the importance of focussed and consistent advertising, referrals, testimonials and so much more. You'll learn about how and why you need to get it right BEFORE you advertise, then a multitude of simple ways to get your message out there. I've been in the design and advertising business for 30 years. I have always had some cool ideas for the graphic design... now I'm getting the MESSAGE right, too! This book has given me new insight into how we can get the best return on a small budget. I'm using these ideas at my full-time job for a commercial printer, as well as with a new business my wife and I started in October, 2007. So far, even in this dismal economy, we're seeing 10 to 20% growth each month. Thank you Jay. Almost every page of this book is covered in yellow highlighter!

The author mentions in the book about how he spends "an hour a month in the Net". This book is old and the fact that it was revised in 2007 took care of maybe some data, but didn't account for the fact that the advertising world changed dramatically since then. Amazon should take this book out of the program.

I think the book does provide small business owners with ideas and tactics to use that their competition would not see coming, however the book didn't bring really anything new to the table that I think is that secretive and was very very repetitive, it constantly talks about his tactics and how they wouldn't work for the big corporations, but they would work for you and how this that works for the big corporation wouldn't work for you, yeah, we get it, like I said just very repetitive and seems like it went in circles just from different degrees of the circle you still end up really no more wiser than you were before you read it.

No matter what business you are in, Guerrilla Marketing is the first book you should reach for. Guerrilla Marketing taught me how to eliminate my competition by creating opportunities for collaboration and how to make it easy for people to do business with me. Guerrilla Marketing taught me how to use my imagination rather than my bank account, how to be flexible yet steadfast, how to be socially responsible (all the way to the bank), and how to... I could go on, but you get the point, just read the book and you'll understand.

Now with this newly updated, 4th edition, Jay surprised me with even more weapons to add to the arsenal. Even more ways to grow my business, take care of my employees and customers and how to have a personal life.

Thank you, Jay for updating our only Desk Reference for our successful business.

Now for more ways to achieve success and balance check out Jay's new book
The Guerrilla Entrepreneur: Achieving Success and Balance Now and in the Future

There's no question that the author is great at marketing--his own stuff. The book is essentially a loud ad for himself and his other books. It's a slight book with large-type (I felt like I was being yelled at). The information is basic and essentially a pep talk. If you're looking for concrete marketing information, this book will not provide it.

Subtitled "Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business, this incredibly detailed book covers a wide range of strategies after making a compelling case for Guerilla Marketing. Conrad provides practical advice and examples for Minimedia marketing (canvassing, phone calls, business cards, etc.), Maximedia marketing (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, etc.), E-media marketing (websites, webinars, blogs, etc.), Info-media marketing (free consultations, seminars, etc.), Human media marketing (your staff) and Nonmedia marketing (service, public relations, trade shows, etc.). All 200 strategies are also listed at the end of this informative book.

A prolific writer on the guerilla concept, I particularly enjoyed the 16 point questionnaire on page 271 that challenges the reader to think through how strategic and intentional they are in their guerilla marketing efforts. According to Conrad, we are all in four businesses â" 1) the one we THINK we are in, 2) the marketing business,3) the service business and 4) the people business. If we want the first one to be successful, we need focus on the other three as well.

The book closes with three chapters that review the attributes and attitudes of guerilla companies as well as the psychology of guerilla marketing. Whether focusing on the growth of your business or your personal career development, there is much to learn here.