Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing: A Simple Battle Plan for First-Time Marketers [Paperback]

Jay Conrad Levinson (Author), Jeannie Levinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2007

How to Get Started with Guerrilla Marketing

"Jay is a genius. Now you can be one too. Just do what he and Jeannie say, don't tell anyone where you got the ideas and you're in. On the other hand, that would be selfish. Time to tell everyone you know what an amazing resource you're getting..." -Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae

“The Guerrilla Marketing series has gained the well deserved trust of millions of followers worldwide who have benefited greatly from its wisdom. Now comes the Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing that will enable readers everywhere to adopt the mindset of a guerrilla marketer in order to achieve better business results, at less cost, faster. This is a wonderful book from equally wonderful people.” -Stephen M.R. Covey, author of The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything

"If you are starting a business on a tight budget, this book is for you! The Father of Guerrilla Marketing reveals dozens of high impact, low-cost strategies for getting new customers using time, energy and imagination. If you want to start making money from your new business, get this book!” -Mitch Meyerson, founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching

“Sit down, buckle your seat belt and be prepared to succeed. With this book you no longer have excuses to fail but a system to succeed. This Startupp Guide to Guerrilla Marketing is consistently unique and stimulating and provides unquestionable value to all who pick it up, peruse it and use it. “ -Al Lautenslager, bestselling co-author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days

"Forget the retired business executives with the firm handshakes and the sincere eye contact. Forget the SBA. Forget the seminar speakers with the expensive haircuts and the million-dollar smiles. If you want the best, most proven, most widely used and easiest-to-implement advice in the world on how to market a startup business, go no further than Jay and Jeannie Levinson's new book. They know what really works, and you need to know what they are so generously willing to share with you." -David Garfinkel, author of Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jay Conrad Levinson is the father of guerrilla marketing - the bestselling marketing series in history - as well as 55 other business books. His books have sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 39 languages. He is the chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International.

Jeannie Levinson is the president of Guerrilla Marketing International and co-founder of the Guerrilla Marketing Association. With decades of sales and marketing experience, she is a sought-after consultant, workshop leader and radio guest.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Entrepreneur Press; 1 edition (November 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599181533
• ISBN-13: 978-1599181530
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Marketing

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Secret Weapon to Your Business Success December 2, 2008

By Fred Sakamoto @ Knowme

Format:Paperback

I accidentally found this book in the airport, when I was looking for reading material for a long flight, and I am glad I did. The cover is a little lame, with the sub-title "A Simple Battle Plan for the First-Time Marketers." It probably should have read "It's the phone stupid! You've got to track what's going on or you're out of business!", but that probably wouldn't sell or would not have been P.C. enough for the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

All kidding aside, it probably should have read "The Secret Weapon to Your Business Success"

What the book did do, was illustrate the building blocks for any successful marketing plan, where your business doesn't rely solely on the Internet, shopping carts or walk-ins - which is just about 90% of all businesses I can think of. The book forces you to ask a lot of tough questions about your business - questions that, in my experience as a business consultant, are going to make you geometrically more money and reduce your stress.

Instead of trying to scam you into buying something that is not going to help you, the Levinsons offer "common sense" ways of improving your business and they help prevent you being ripped off by expensive or time consuming leads.

Chapter 4, entitled "The High Powered Weapons in Your Office", is where the book really starts getting into the meat. "What is the weapon they are talking about?", you might ask - it's the telephone!
The Levinsons go on to say "there will rarely be as intimate a moment as those you spend on the phone with your customers and prospects." They then offer some no-brainer advice on taking control of your phones - advice, by the way, that I have found to be very true - and also offer excellent worksheets to help you.... I can't tell you how many incoming sales calls I have listened to, where the operator did not even ask the prospect their name!

Among other topics in the chapter :
Use the person's name
Analyze yourself
Working with a script, or no script.

Chapter 7, entitled "The top Ten Attitudes of a Guerrilla Marketer", gives Attitude 7: Telephone Demeanor. "Of all the minority groups on earth, the most special to you are the people who call your business on the telephone?" - Incoming calls. The Levinsons go on to tell the story of how they saved Midas $10 Million dollars in six months, with negligible costs. Who wants to know how they did that? I did!

The Levinsons then ask the important question "Are your customers made to feel like interruptions of your business or like the reason you're in business in the first place? All too often, potential customers call a business and are treated discourteously by a busy operator.." What happens? No-brainer - the customer goes to your competitor.

In Chapter 8, the Levinsons define "Guerrilla Marketing" and talk about how to measure it - hint, it's not impressions, hits or sales, it's profits. On page 96, the book then goes into how you should also count up relationships. This is the key to long term profits. "Points of contact are rarely found in big biz marketing strategies". Think about how your telephone is answered. What are your outgoing messages? What message is your customer receiving? And other tough questions.

The book also makes you think about whether you are selling the product or the experience? Selling the experience is something Starbucks knows well, but this frequently gets ignored by most other companies, especially when business is good.

Chapter 18, entitled "Maintaining your Campaign", says that "the toughest part of your guerrilla marketing program will be maintaining it" and "Creating it and launching it are relative pieces of cake". The Levinsons refer to that as the "glamorous" part. In my experience I have also found this to be true - most businesses use marketing which goes something like this: create ad, run it in the paper, TV or radio, wonder what happened, reflect on whether the marketing people are good (even if it's they themselves who did it), blame the economy or competitor for the failure of the campaign. It all goes back to transparency and accountability, and whether you embrace it or not.

Chapter 18 also lists the Levinsons' "17 Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing that help you Maintain Your Attack". Number 10 is golden "Measurement. You can actually double your profits by measuring the results of your marketing. Some weapons hit bulls eyes. Others miss the target. Unless you measure, you won't know which are which." Based on my research of my customers' off line marketing, this is definitely true.

Secret 13 of 17 is "Armament". Armament is defined as "the equipment necessary to wage and win battles." The armament of guerrillas is technology. The fact that many business still ignore this advice is probably why they have devoted Chapter 19 to tracking.

In Chapter 19, entitled "Keeping Track", the Levinsons talk about the importance of tracking what marketing succeeded and which failed. "Without (tracking) it's just another period of groping and praying, which has not been proven to be the right approach." They emphasize how important it is to track, even though you are going to hate it. This chapter is where I felt a bit let down. It kind of makes me think about dieting - you know you should be losing weight, but what's the best diet? You need to know. The Levinsons never go into any truly workable solutions. This is a shame and is probably why the one other positive review on Amazon.com, rating this great book, had the following comment by Maximus:-

"Can you elaborate and give a better review rather than just say it's a great book, and give it 5 stars? I bought the book and it is the complete opposite of what you said. Have you even read it?"

Ouch! That was harsh.

Firstly, I think to even mention "off-line tracking of marketing campaigns" is something that the authors should be complemented on. This is usually a totally neglected subject. But, here are my two problems with this chapter:-

(1) The Levinsons advise businesses to train all employees to ask prospects "How did you hear about us?", asking the customer to be specific. This advice is inherently flawed for several reasons:-
(a) When you ask most customers how they heard about you, they will quickly say, "over the TV". The propensity for people to answer that way throws off the validity of that type of data. (b) It take a lot of time and complex processes to compile this flawed data. (c) As any commissioned sales person will tell you, the longer that you spend getting talking about things that are not relevant to the customer's needs - the lower the probability of you closing the sale. In other words, making the interaction ought to be about solving the customers needs. I know of one auto dealership that tracked their advertising with the Levinsons' method, by recording the information in their "own" notebooks. The employees were then supposed to enter that data into the dealership database, but that rarely happened. This was one of the biggest challenges for the General Manager and something the company really struggled with. So, that to me was flawed.

(2)The second thing that bothers me about this chapter is that when they say "track", what they are talking about? What do they mean? Pulling out a note book, like my example above? Creating spread sheets for all the sales people? Does that work? Yes, this why they probably spent so much time trying to convince the reader to do it. Yes, if you smoke you should quit. But How? That question is never answered. Readers need to know how to implement this strategy.

On Page 212, the Levinsons talk about "Testing". You must test all of your communications. A strategy here is to place the same ad in two publications. One will pull more than the other, but you need to know why. Testing is the answer. Test photos, sizes, fonts, colors, timing, headlines etc. Obviously, if you are not tracking then you certainly are not testing. So, the Levinsons had to add one more chapter and it's got great ideas, but again it's missing the "how".

Chapter 20, entitled "Improving your Marketing", is devoted to different things to test and how your marketing has to be "flexible because of the speed of change". Another great idea, but how do you test? Again, the Levinsons don't fully tell the reader.

The last chapter 21, is putting it all together. But again, my problem here is that they never address the biggest challenge of Guerrilla Marketing - how do you manage this process using the main armament of Guerrillas, technology? How do you get your people to do it, when they are busy concentrating on doing their job or selling?

Summary: All in all, this book is thought-provoking and definitely worth the price and the time spent reading it, despite the fact that a couple of important details are left out that would have completed the Levinsons' very logical plan. Read more ›

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great primer for any business desiring to grow July 3, 2009

By Phillip C. Neal

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I own a small business. I have sat through many seminars,and read many books on business management and marketing. I usually have pages of notes and am able to incorporate one or two ideas that are "pearls".

I had heard the term "Guerilla Marketing several times and finally went to a local bookstore to see what it was. I scanned this book and was unable to put it down.

Jay had coined the term "Guerilla Marketing" many years ago. This reprint was updated for the most relevant marketing ideas in the age of the Internet.

The idea is this, a "Guerilla Marketer" uses other resources to their maximum while using "cash" to a minimum.

A tiny synopsis of a few pearls are below.

A "Guerilla Marketer" learns about his business, his customers, and his competition. He gets close to his customers and gives them an outstanding experience. The idea of creating "Raving Fans" is critical.

A "Guerilla Marketer" thinks outside the box.

A "Guerilla Marketer" tracks marketing closely to see what works and what does not. He then drops what does not work and tries to improve on what does work.

A "Guerilla Mareketer" makes sure he has an excellent product or service and strives to improve it at all times. There is something truly unique about his product or service.

Customers of a "Guerilla Marketer" are treated better than by other busineses.

Customers of a "Guerilla Marketer" are loyal repeat buyers, and recommend others.

A "Guerilla Marketer" spends a lot of time working "on the business rather than just in the business".

A "Guerilla Marketer is patient knowing that there is a long cycle at work.

A "Guerilla Marketer is relentless....

A "Guerila Marketer takes advantage of the many ways the Internet can be used as the economy here can really be levereged.

Using a calendar is key.

There is much more...Read the qualities of a Guerilla Marketer section and be honest with yourself. If this is not you and you do not want to change, you will be wasting your time reading the book.

I highly recommend this book

Phil Neal Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for small business owers May 28, 2009

By boakes

Format:Paperback

I own 3 small companies, and learned many, many useful tips and techniques to help grow my businesses over time-----I am already re-reading this great book, and plan to use it as a constant reference.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book May 5, 2011

By Daniel

Format:Paperback

This book is great. It will help you to get off the ground in no time. As a start-up entrepreneur, The Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing helped me to focus on my audience, find my niche, and get my plan in action! I highly recommend this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars specifically for start-ups May 1, 2013

By Phil Walton

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

if you've just started a business, pay close attention to this book if you want to succeed in all your efforts to promote your business....and work the plan you come up with...

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book for people who have no marketing skills January 15, 2011

By T. Hollins

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

My weak point is marketing. This is filling in the holes in my knowledge. I like what I've read so far (about 25%). At this point I would recommend it. I will report back as I read more.
Ok I'm back. The book is done. A colleague has also read and liked this. A client is now reading my copy (something ebooks still can't do, i.e. Lend. Amazon's Kindle lending is only a baby step in that direction).
The book was able to tell me very precisely the difference between advertising and marketing. What marketing is. How to change my thought patterns to align with the new marketing methods (which are not major media due to cost and low viewership).
The "200 methods of marketing" that the author touts is a bit overdone, because many were obvious, even to a marketing midget like me. But in that same list were some good ideas.
Again, the book deals with changing your pattern of thinking about marketing. The authors definitely did the job here.
I recommend this book to everyone.
Kudos to the authors.

See my LinkedIn profile for my rant on ebook lending.