How the guerrilla gets priceless publicity
Getting the word out to the most customers using the least amount of dollars is
the goal of effective guerrilla marketing, according to Clean Show speaker Al
Lautenslager.
During his session in Las Vegas, he emphasized marketing strategies that are
priceless, both figuratively and literally.
In fact, one of the best methods of generating free publicity is through press
releases
— provided they contain news.
“Editors and producers love news,” noted Lautenslager, a consultant and co-author of Guerrilla Marketing. “They hate promotion. If you’re going to contact them and tell them how great you are, you’re not going to get any PR going. Any time you have a new product, a new
service, a new person, a new location
— these are all deemed newsworthy by editors.”
“Any PR is good PR, unless it is an obituary,” he added. “We generate tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of PR just by using a little bit of time, energy and an imaginative idea.”
Imagination plays a vital role in a good ad campaign regardless of how much
money it requires.
Illustrating this point, Lautenslager alluded to a memorable marketing ploy
launched by drive-through hamburger chain Sonic.
“Sonic gave out these cups with magnets on the bottom,” he said. “People were setting them on their trunk and driving off. You could see people
running down the street trying to stop them because they had a soda pop on
their trunk. Sonic gained a lot of buzz by that little idea. It didn
’t cost a lot of money.”
While imagination may ignite marketing to a new level, consistency is what keeps
it successful.
“Every single day I do three to five things related to marketing before I fight
the fires of the day,
” Lautenslager said. “They can be small things like writing a ‘thank you’ note to a customer, brainstorming a timeline, thinking of a direct mail
campaign. If you do that for three weeks, I guarantee that will become a habit.
”
It also helps to have a clear cut message in your advertising since your
customers are barraged by thousands of marketing attempts daily.
“Your prospects don’t care about you,” Lautenslager said. “Who do they care about? Themselves. Every time they look at your marketing,
every time they look at a brochure or sign, hear a radio commercial or whatever
type of marketing you
’re doing, all they’re thinking is: what’s in it for me?”
To that end, cleaners should accentuate their benefits in their advertising,
rather than waste precious time simply conveying features. What separates the
two?
“Features tell, benefits sell,” Lautenslager said. “What are you really selling? Maybe you’re the simplest, the safest. Maybe you have certified people. Maybe you have
less reruns, fewer claims. These can all be translated into benefits.
”
In addition to a clear message, all marketing should serve a specific purpose,
as well.
“Why do you do all of the marketing you do?” he asked. “You want people to do something as a result. What specific activity do you want
people to take? Prospects and customers need to be told what to do. Do not
leave it to chance that they know what to do as a result of your marketing.
”
