Guerrilla Marketing Techniques

Wow, that's a lot to have to handle in a couple months, but I'm sure you'll be back at it!



Your web site has always been one that I would refer to when I was designing my own. (If I recall, your wife did a lot of the work or maybe it was just the design work). When I had my friend design my site I told him "I want it to look like this site". To which he replied, "Um.. the site is down for maintenance..." Drat!
 
Todd - Again, thanks for the kind words. The last 4 months of my life have been the hardest, by a long-shot. But, as the saying goes, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" I should be pretty damn strong by now...hehe! :)



Anyway, you are right about my wife. She came up with the design and I came up with the reading material. We had our web guy custom build the site to look like her design. Honestly, I did what you are doing now. I spent a lot of time looking at other people's websites to come up with ideas.



While we liked our site, it wasn't very functional from a back-door standpoint and I feel like there was too much text and not enough pictures. This next time around we'll have a site that we change more easily so that we can keep the latest information on there. Plus, I want to mix in a lot more pictures throughout the site. I want the main focus of our site to be the pictures, specifically the photo gallery. After all, the pictures are the portfolio of my work. I think most people can relate to a picture of a properly detailed vehicle better than reading text about what my process is, etc. I also have an idea of how I want the site to look as a whole next time around. Hopefully, we can get something thrown together soon after getting into the shop.



Speaking of websites, I was looking at yours after you started this thread. Looks very nice. With it partly being under construction, what are your plans for it. The concierge service sounds pretty interesting. Any chance you can elaborate on that service here?
 
I have most of the site set up now how I want it with a few changes that I will be making within the next week or so. I just wanted to get something up that I can point people to, and I have already started getting a few calls per week with potential clients asking questions. Pretty good for not really having any marketing plan set up yet. When I do start any marketing or promotion I plan to have my site how I want it with any changes completed.



As for the concierge service, I mentioned it once before but didn't really get very much interest: Thread - Concierge Services
 
I think it's an interesting idea. How long have you been offering the service? Have you had anyone inquire about the service?



I guess I'm getting this a little off-topic. So, back to the original discussion:



todd@bsaw said:
First discussion topic:

Are you always thinking about marketing? When you are taking appointment calls? When you are grocery shopping? When you are filling up at the gas station?



What are you doing, in addition to those mentioned in the list, to actively pursue marketing your business? Keep it simple. Many of these things take little time and effort.
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Personally, it seems as though I'm always thinking of ways to market or advertise my business. I think the big reason is my wife. She's got a lot of knowledge about it so we talk about it quite a bit. Right now it's just a waiting game since I'm not actually operating at the moment. I'm really looking forward to getting back to it and putting some of our thoughts to work.



Gas stations are a place that I will talk to strangers with nice vehicles. I typically introduce myself, compliment their vehicle, and then tell them what I do and hand them my card. I've not done it a lot, but the times that I have done it, people are friendly.
 
jdoria said:
Three words for you all on the best marketing on the planet.





WORD OF MOUTH
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Thank you Master of Redundancy. I think pretty much everyone that is a pro here already knows that word of mouth is the best form of promotion.



So what do you personally do to help your word of mouth?

This is a discussion topic about proactive marketing techniques that I and others have spent a lot of our own time on. Please add more to the discussion.
 
HOW TO BUILD "WORD OF MOUTH"



1. Give customers an experience to speak about.



The golden rule of customer service -Live by it.



If you experience something great, tell a friend.

If you experience something bad, tell everyone.



Make sure when people meet you, even if they choose not to do business with you, they are telling a friend about you after. Everything they hear, see, and touch represents you. Make it all perfect, or don't do it.





2. You can't force a relationship



I remember being at a sales networking seminar in NYC about 15 years ago. There was some woman walking up to EVERY person in the room introducing herself, handing out a business card, and walking away. One of the speakers asked her why she did that. Her answer was, "to meet as many people as possible through networking". He pointed at some guy in the middle of the room and asked her, "whats his name and what does he do"? The woman couldn't answer. He then asked the guy he was pointing at, "Whats her name and what does she do"? They guy said, "I have no idea, I threw her card away because I thought she was crazy".

I ended up meeting one person at that seminar that I still talk to today. He and I have exchanged over $1mm in business in those 15 years.







3. It takes time and effort



You have a great relationship with your friends and family. History is what makes those relationships great. You need to build the same history with your customers. Be it the owner of the donut store you see every day, or the customer that you send a reminder e-mail to once a year. They will all eventually know someone that will need your service. It's going to take time, you cant rush it with 10000 fliers or Flash website.





4. You either have it or you don't.



Hard fact. Some are better off working. Others are better off selling.

Know your limitations. Customers will respect you for it.





A word of mouth business cant be built quickly.

Its a way of life.
 
jdoria said:
4. You either have it or you don't.



Hard fact. Some are better off working. Others are better off selling.

Know your limitations. Customers will respect you for it.
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Such a well-stated fact and so under-stated by many new business owners. Heck, even by many established businesses. It's why the Sham-wow guy sells eveything from choppers to towels and not the actual creators (although I wouldn't actually buy those things b/c I know the product quality versus the selling quality);)
 
This is a great thread, I plan on reading this daily and contributing as much as I can. In the current state we are in marketing is more important than anything. I think more members need to contribute to this in order to be successful.
 
jdoria said:
Three words for you all on the best marketing on the planet.





WORD OF MOUTH
Click to expand...





Agreed. I don't have the money to run TV or radio commercials--my advertising consists of flyers, signs, promotional events, Google AdWords, etc. However, I have found that the best "bang for my buck" marketing tool is a happy customer. I would guess that I get about five times as many clients from referrals than I do from all of my advertising combined.
 
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