Читать книгу Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing - Jay Levinson Conrad - Страница 15

Guerrillas view their marketing as a chance to help their prospects and customers succeed at their goals. Whether that goal is earning more money, expanding a business, getting a job, losing weight, attracting a mate, or improving their golf score, they try to find ways to help them achieve their goals. Knowing that we’re living smack dab in the middle of the Information Age, they are very generous in providing information.

Sometimes that information is imparted by a web site. Or it can be given in the form of an e-book, free report, consultation, seminar, or lecture. Often, instead of giving information, they give something of worth and value to their customers.

THE FULLY OCCUPIED BUILDING

A series of apartment buildings in Los Angeles had a 70 percent occupancy rate. But one of the buildings had a 100 percent occupancy rate. How did this happen? That particular building put up a sign that said, “Sign a lease . . . get free auto grooming.” What the devil is auto grooming? That meant management hired a person to wash the tenants’ cars once a week. The salary it paid the car washer was easily worth the difference between a 70 percent occupancy rate and a 100 percent occupancy rate. The building management simply asked itself, “What might our tenants appreciate?” The answer was simple. And their generosity in regularly performing the simple act of a weekly car wash was the difference between a highly profitable building and a so-so profitable building. No rocket science here, only common sense and a spirit of generosity.

Ask yourself, what might my prospects and customers appreciate for free? A ballpoint pen? A calendar? A pocket calendar? A refrigerator magnet? The answer need not be lavish or expensive, but merely an expression of your generosity. Flowers, plants, free samples . . . these are some of the myriad ways you can prove your generosity. You’ll see that they go a long way toward bonding with your prospects and customers. They’re easy to come up with if you have the spirit of generosity, if that generosity is part of your personality. Bonus for you: It’s fun to give rather than receive.