Guerrilla Marketing Excellence [Paperback]

Sub-titled The Fifty Golden Rules For Small-Business Success, Levinson offers small business operators insightful ideas that will make a difference. Consider his advice to operate honestly and above reproach, producing and maintaining customer satisfaction, building good customer rapport, establishing customer follow-up, using the right marketing words and avoiding the wrong ones, letting professionals produce you marketing materials for you, building alliances with other companies, offering free incentive gifts, and keeping up on what the competition is doing!

Like other books in the Guerrilla series, Levinson encourages his readers to act aggressively when it comes to marketing opportunities. He advocates adherence to his "Golden Rules" and encourages them to be on the lookout for opportunities that may pass their way. He cites throughout the book some examples of real people and companies who succeeded with their marketing strategies and why they did, as well as pointing out those who failed and why. Readers may be in for a few surprises!

Although this book has been around since 1993 it still packs plenty of top-notch advice that will stand the test of time and can be used in any business setting, including online use. Consider where your business is at now and ask yourself if you need help. If the answer is "yes" then seriously consider picking up a copy of this book. It offers a lot of thoughtful well-researched insight for the modest cost involved. It is also very easy for anyone to read and digest. Highly recommended!

This short 200 page book has 50 rules that small businesses need to follow to succeed. It feels like they are all based on common sense as you read through the rules. The book backs up the rules with good data and solid explanations. That's what sold me on a lot of the rules. I am still not so sure about a few rules but maybe as I start implementing the others, I will realize the value of the others.

As an example, here's rule # 17: 'Be sure your timing is on; the right marketing to the right people is only right when the timing is right'. It sounds like common sense and it is but the 10 tips that follow in this chapter on how to implement this rule are very valuable. This is what got me hooked on the rules in this book.

The 50 rules are divided into 4 parts - Golden Rules to Guide your Thinking, to Guide your Effectiveness, to Guide your Marketing Materials, and to Guide your Actions. My favorite rule is part 4, it is rule # 41: 'It is wise to aim to be first in line when your prospect buys, but it is more profitable to be second in line'. When I thought of the number of times that my primary choice of product or service was not able to provide good enough quality that I ended up becoming a loyal customer of my second choice is what made me take notice of this rule. In this chapter, 20 tips are shared that help take advantage of this long term strategy that is difficult for most Guerrillas that are strapped for cash.

Bottom line - if you have enjoyed some of the other books in this series, you won't be disappointed with this one. Good luck!