Guerilla Marketing: Fourth Edition by Jay Conrad Levinson - Book Club Chat 1

[Sarah Botchick]

I kind of have - except it doesn't describe my products. I can't figure out how to describe 4000 different products in 7 words! But my company summary we have started using everywhere is: "Top Quality, Reasonable Prices, Personal Service."

Yes, consistency is a main theme of this book.

 

[lil_goldie]

I don't think you need to describe your products!
The challenge is to focus on your CORE message of marketing.
We can all get ANY product from ANY wholesaler, but can they get "Top Quality, Reasonable Prices, Personal Service" anywhere?
Definitely not.
So I think that is a great message to send out to clients.

 

[anytimeflowers]

This is my tag line. It shows up in everything I do. It's on my shirts, my web site, my business cards, every radio ad, newspaper ad, and is my persona to every customer who calls or walks in the door.

Helping you express yourself is our business!

I will also share one of my competitor's, because it inspired me to come up with my own three years ago.

Theirs is - A gift so perfect, it opens itself!

I will say that the success has been measurable. I'm also finding, through reading this book, that I'm not as bad of a marketer as I thought.
The measurement is this. I have been in business in the same town, for 12 years. Three years ago, I instituted my tag line. Two of those three years, I have been the reader's choice best place for fresh flowers. Before that? Never.

The prize? Top of mind for the consumer. I credit that back to an all-encompassing "guerilla marketing" way of doing business. I just started reading the book last night, and am just learning the 16 secret "ents". I'm working on memorizing them. As I read it, this has stood out to me, as my take. That marketing is your essence, it should BE who and what you are as a company. I don't know that I'm explaining myself very well.

It was also brought up earlier in this discussion about do or do not have an about us page on your site. I took a different meaning to Levinson's thinking on this, and have to agree with him after reading what he says.

I think it is VERY important to have that page, because it states many important things to our customers, especially in a day, (thank God), when the savvy internet consumer knows to look for an address, hours of operation, and "personal" info like history as a means to sleuthing out whether or not this is a "real" florist.

HOWEVER, the tab does not have to say "About Us". The emphasis can be on why that is of importance, benefit, or relevance to the needs of the consumer. Get my drift? I'm not throwing any wording out there because I have not established my own.

 

[concord]

So I'm a dumb **** and just bought the wrong edition. Couldn't find the book at any local independent so when I saw a Barnes and Noble during a drive today I stopped in. I was thinking 7th edition but then I saw that the 2nd edition was published in 2009 so I figured that must be it. Now I look on FC and see there's a fourth edition. Well it's still interesting but now I'm curious about the 16 secret ents! I'm expecting Linda to have them all memorized by the time she gets to Boston so she can recite them to me!

 

[Taylors_Flowers]

Post! Post? Are you okay? Not breathing! Call Flower Chat 911!!

So - I am thinking I need to breath some new life into this post because I really do think that discussion of this INCREDIBLE book could prove hugely beneficial to this community.

My mind is just overflowing with questions and discussion topics that have popped up from reading this book - and I am only 107 pages into it.

I'm curious if anyone canvasses your local area for prospects?

Has anyone tried sending out questionnaires and had any good response?

What's in your marketing weapons arsenal?

I could go on and on!

Come on folks - let's talk about this book - this was such a great concept by Sarah B.

 

[anytimeflowers]

I was thinking that, too. But then I decided I would wait until I'm done reading it, which I should do tonight. I figured we could discuss it better once we are all "on the same page" so to speak.

FACSINATING, the ideas are just rolling and clanging into each other. My goodness, the man has talent, he has motivated me and challenged me. I'll get to your questions, Sarah, once I start RE-READING IT. Too much info to focus on the first time through.

Linda

 

[mumsandmore]

Haven't tried questionnaires. But this is something that we will likely try.

I like the idea of canvassing. I envision us trying it in a slightly different form. I am thinking of printing up a small flier to be placed under the windshield wiper of a car. I think placing the fliers during prom season and a few other select times of the school year, in the student parking lot, would be a place to start for us.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Haven't tried questionnaires. But this is something that we will likely try.

I like the idea of canvassing. I envision us trying it in a slightly different form. I am thinking of printing up a small flier to be placed under the windshield wiper of a car. I think placing the fliers during prom season and a few other select times of the school year, in the student parking lot, would be a place to start for us.

Always ask permission, they can get you for littering when people take them off and throw them on the ground.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Post! Post? Are you okay? Not breathing! Call Flower Chat 911!!

So - I am thinking I need to breath some new life into this post because I really do think that discussion of this INCREDIBLE book could prove hugely beneficial to this community.

My mind is just overflowing with questions and discussion topics that have popped up from reading this book - and I am only 107 pages into it.

I'm curious if anyone canvasses your local area for prospects?

Has anyone tried sending out questionnaires and had any good response?

What's in your marketing weapons arsenal?

I could go on and on!

Come on folks - let's talk about this book - this was such a great concept by Sarah B.

Okay, so far in my marketing arsenal are.

Me. Identity. Business Cards. Post Cards. Outside Signs. Window Display. Inside Signs. Value Story. Letters of recommendation. Advertising. Direct Mail. Newspaper Ads. Radio Spots. Computer. Printer/fax. FORUM BOARDS. (hah, got that one down but good!) Domain Name. Merchant account. Shopping Cart. Blog. Joint ventures. Knowledge of my market. Research studies. Free consultations. Free demonstrations. Speaker at clubs. Constant learning. Employee attire. Social demeanor. My circle of influence. Contact time w/customers. Teaching ability. Stories. Networking. Professional title. Affiliate marketing. Core story. Satisfied customers. Competitive advantages. Gifts. Service. Public relations. Barter. Word of Mouth. Community involvement. Club membership. Free directory listings. Gift certificates. Coupons. Guarantee. Baking or craft ability. Positioning. Name. Theme line. Writing ability. Copywriting ability. Headline copy. Location. Credit cards accepted. Financing available. Credibility. Reputation. Efficiency. Quality. Service. Selection. Price. Testimonials. Extra value. Easy to do business with. Honest interest in people. Telephone demeanor. Passion and enthusiasm. Sensitivity. Flexibility. Generosity. Self-confidence. (accept AIFD!) Competitiveness. High energy. Speed. Focus. Action.

Whew. Less than half out of the 200 that I don't even touch.

I used to have a marketing plan, but now I realize after reading this book that I have an ADVERTISING plan. Which is a tiny, teensie part of a marketing plan.
Taking all of the media together that I dabble in, ie facebook, blog, twitter, website, radio, newspaper, (actually I am steady as a rock on newspaper and radio), but I realize now that they all have to be giving the same message, consciously as well as unconsciously so that it is all cohesive instead of different messages in different places.

So, Repetition is going to be the very first thing that I get to work on.

 

[lori042499]

For those of you stuck on the core sentence...

one of the seminars at symposium was all about service and what it means to us....The woman talking asked all of us what our product was and we all got it wrong....we sell service, flowers is just a product to go along with it...so much of what we sell is intangible like service, emotions, warmth....these are what each and every one of us whould be branding to make our flowers shine...very eyeopening stuff, it is what makes our product different than the grocery store, we sell roses with a dollop of warmth, a big cup of love and mounds of service.....very diferent than that'll be 14.99 heres your flowers sir!

 

[anytimeflowers]

I have finished reading that, and have moved on to Guerilla Marketing Weapons -100 affordable......

Although both are somewhat outdated, (zero mention of social media) the man is simply a master guru.

The latest that I have taken away from him is image vs identity. He is totally against using the word image.

So far for my image, I have the colors lime green and hot pink. I started thinking I had made a mistake when he mentioned the importance of color, and the subconscious feelings they provoke in the consumer's mind.

But then he goes on to say that you should always market your IDENTITY, because that is the truth and so will always resonate well with your customers. They already have a feeling for who you are by those subconscious feelings you have engendered in your outside marketing, and if the real thing does not match up, they will feel somehow cheated or lied to.

Very, very interesting. I sometimes want to go all elegant and understated in my marketing, but I just am not that way, and what I do is not really that way, either.

That's just my latest deep insight.

 

[mumsandmore]

Only about half way through the book. I was late to join the book club and receive the book. I would like to share two ideas that we use in our shop. The first is that we send a "small gift" for a couples 1st year wedding anniversary for which we were a part of their wedding. Since we are located in a small city and a very rural area, more than 50% of our wedding work is for brides and grooms that grew up in the area, but have moved away. Their wedding is usually held back in their "home town." We are very thankful that they choose us and therefore, we like to congratulate them at the anniversary, which hopefully keeps our shop on their mind, when it comes to our flower sending needs.

The other thing that we do is scour the local newspapers. It is very popular here for couples, relatives, family, etc. to list birthdays, anniversaries, etc. in the newspaper requesting "cards of thanks" or "best wishes" etc. Therefore, we send a card and a couple of business cards/magnets. I know that a few additional customers have come out of these efforts.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Jesse,

GREAT ideas!
Thanks,
Linda

 

[lori042499]

I have finished reading that, and have moved on to Guerilla Marketing Weapons -100 affordable......

Although both are somewhat outdated, (zero mention of social media) the man is simply a master guru.

The latest that I have taken away from him is image vs identity. He is totally against using the word image.

So far for my image, I have the colors lime green and hot pink. I started thinking I had made a mistake when he mentioned the importance of color, and the subconscious feelings they provoke in the consumer's mind.

But then he goes on to say that you should always market your IDENTITY, because that is the truth and so will always resonate well with your customers. They already have a feeling for who you are by those subconscious feelings you have engendered in your outside marketing, and if the real thing does not match up, they will feel somehow cheated or lied to.

Very, very interesting. I sometimes want to go all elegant and understated in my marketing, but I just am not that way, and what I do is not really that way, either.

That's just my latest deep insight.

When working on my logo, image and identity, I too struggled with lots of these things. The first was the fact that the name of my store Affairs to Remember conjures thoughts of a elegant party and event store, so not the case....

I didn't want to change the name so I decided to chage the image with colors and the identity...I went with bright yellow and lavender/purples with a hint of moss green and made the identity more fun and vibrant, then coupled that with my friendly neigborhood identity and started joining any kind of community projects going on helping my neighbors see that I am the friendly neighborhood florist...I am now looked at as the friendly florist who makes everyday occasions affairs to remember...I think it worked out great...people are no longer confused by my shop and its mixed image and absent identity...

Also, and I acnnot stress this enough, sometime image and identity take more than a few weeks or months to evolve...It took my store 3 years to develop..partly because I had to learn about my customers and area and partly because I didn't have a preconcieved plan...opening a store from scratch with plenty of due diligence and research into demographics , I could have opened with a clear idea of what and who I wanted to be, but buying an existing shop any major changes can destroy client base and just takes time to assess what your customers are about and what they will tolerate as far as changes...