Use cheap guerrilla marketing tactics to turbo charge your lead generation efforts
I have 3 definitions of guerrilla marketing:
1. The “stuff” you used to do to get sales or find clients when you first started your business.
2. The “stuff” you used to do before you became “successful” and your marketing budget grew.
3. The way you’d spend your time, money and resources if I cut your marketing budget by 80%
In my consulting practice I show companies how to implement highly effective guerrilla marketing tactics to increase their sales, gain exposure or improve their overall marketing ROI. The first question I always get asked is “how much is this going to cost me?”
My answer is always the same…“you don’t necessarily need more marketing money to increase sales, instead, it’s your ability to use the marketing money and resources you already have more effectively.”
Here are 3 guerrilla marketing strategies you can use to generate leads and keep your “sales funnel” constantly full.
Strategy #1 – Public Speaking – An easy way to generate leads, is to speak whenever and wherever you can. Civic groups, trade associations, chambers of commerce, etc. are always looking for qualified speakers that can help their members. Be sure to pick a title and a topic that members would find useful to grow their business, solve a problem or address a current issue.
Whenever you speak to an audience, you instantly become an expert and an authority in your field. And isn’t that what your prospects are looking for? An expert who can help them solve their problems with specific products and services that can get their company back on the right track.
Strategy # 2 – Writing – Local newspapers, magazines and online newsletters can provide you with a great venue to promote your particular area of expertise. What do you write about? Well, what type of questions are your prospects asking? What problems do your products and services solve? If you were a prospect for your product, what would help you make a more informed decision?
As with public speaking, you must remember that newspapers do not want a press release or an “advertorial” promoting you company. They want and need quality content that their readers will find useful. The only time you should be mentioning your company name is in the “bio” at the end of your article.
Strategy # 3 – Eating – I make it a habit to schedule a lunch appointment with a colleague, client or prospect at least 3 days a week. This is not always easy and takes discipline, but just like going to the gym, once you get in the habit, it becomes a lot easier.
Your goal at lunch? Not necessarily to always “close a deal”. Sometimes it’s just to get to know someone better or find out how you can provide a referral to his or her business. Getting people out of the office in a more causal atmosphere away from the computer and phones lets you make a better “connection” both personally and professionally. Meeting for lunch is a long-term strategy, but one that can pay off handsomely if you do it consistently.
Speaking, writing and eating are just a few of the many low cost guerrilla marketing strategies that businesses can implement that have the potential to provide a high return on investment. So, how much would these three strategies cost to implement in your business? Less than the price of a few happy meals and a lot better for the health of you and your company.
David Carleton is a San Diego Local Business Marketing Consultant who specializes in showing small business owners how to spend less and get more from their marketing and advertising using low cost strategies in local business marketing, lead generation and conversion, Internet marketing and social media. To download a copy of the free report, “7 Steps to Website Success”, go to http://LocalBusinessMarketingSuccess.com
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