ISPCON day two had a diverse lineup in the business track of its conference: after analyzing decision making processes and hiring procedures, the day ended with Guerrilla Marketing for Service Providers, led by Larry Loebig, director of the Guerrilla Marketing Association.

Larry had everyone in the room thinking twice about their current marketing plans by the end of his session. He reminded us that “marketing is everything we do to communicate about our service, products or business.” He focused on the objectives of marketing - prospecting, raising awareness - and bucking the traditional plans of putting together some advertising, sending out a direct mail shot and waiting for the phone to ring. Larry explained the need to use a broad mix of guerrilla marketing tools if you want to cut through the noise of the other 2,999 marketing messages the average consumer is hit with in a day and make yourself stand out.

A proper marketing mix hinges on first identifying your company’s differential advantage:

• What makes you different
• How do you stand out from the herd
• Mindshare - how you capture and retain the attention of your customers
• WIFM (”What’s In It For Me?”)
• Core Story - the essence of what you can offer your customer that they can’t get anywhere else

Guerrilla marketing is about process, not events. It’s based on psychology, not guessing. You need to invest time, energy, imagination and knowledge to craft a sustainable way to communicate your message. Guerrilla marketing offers up to 200 weapons (everything from marketing plans to logos to community involvement) that companies can use to maximize message delivery and retention. Speaking of marketing plans, here are the core questions Larry recommends every seven-step marketing plan cover:

• What is the purpose of your marketing?
• How will you achieve your purpose?
• Who is your target audience and what do you want them to do?
• What marketing weapons will you use?
• What is your niche in the marketplace and what are your differential advantages?
• What is your identity?
• What your marketing budget as a percentage of projected gross sales?

Posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 10:47 am by Kari Dykes.
Filed under: Conference Coverage.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.