I have mentioned many times in my posts that the time will come soon when the big brands really get on board with things happening in the guerrilla marketing world. With the 33 Keys project that ran in Quebec Mazda has done a very impressive job mixing various media forms to create an obsession in the community and more importantly in the Mazda 3’s target audience.

It would not hurt to have the budget they have either, but it is good to see a budget like that being used for something innovative.

You can read Kristin Laird’s article at marketingmag.ca about the project.

I don’t often promote products unless they have made a real impact on my life. Well friends problogger.net and the teaching of Darren Rowse is one of those cases.

I’m not sure how I found Darren’s blog and really it doesn’t matter but I became obsessed with his stuff when I was at a point in my life when I was not sure what to do next. Darren’s stuff made me realize that yes I can make it on the internet.

So here’s the deal. Darren has written an ebook that contains a workbook for his 31 Days to a Better Blog series. He has daily action items to get our asses in gear and a whole bunch of theory and real world examples as you go. The cool thing is he is basically giving it away at $19.95 (hell that is $.64 a task)

I can’t think of a better way to build a blog on a bootstrapped budget then this one, it is a no brainer.

So here is the link. Click on it!

One of the best places to start prioritizing is when you consider how much time you should spend on reconnecting with your prospects. Letting go of a prospect can be like leaving your child behind with a babysitter for the first time. It’s extremely tough to do because you can’t help but think of the potential involved, but it’s very necessary to keep your business alive and well. Otherwise, you may end up spending a lot of your valuable time chasing an unqualified prospect, failing to move forward with new opportunities.

To help you avoid that detrimental waste of time, prioritize and classify your current prospects into three categories and create a tickler file: Probably Not, Maybe Baby, and Hot-to-Trot. In order to class your prospects, you should establish critical points that will help you decide the importance and probability of doing business with each prospect. For example, did you solicit business from them, or did they actively contact you through your website. Active pursuit on the part of the prospect always indicates a positive trend towards converting them into a customer. Or, perhaps you may have talked to your prospect on the phone, but only because you were flexible and put up with their changing the date and time several times—this can be a strong indicator of disinterest or a client that will be unreasonably demanding.

Once you’ve established your parameters for the ideal prospect, assign a corresponding amount of time for each category. For example, for the Probably Not category, it would be a good idea to not spend much time at all on them, perhaps sending them one reconnection e-mail after a month or so. And for your Hot-to-Trot prospects, don’t wait longer than a week or so before you reconnect. But you must keep in mind that even Hot-to-Trot prospects fall off and eventually become Probably Nots.

Now, you’ll also have to create parameters for prioritizing your current clients as well. You must always strive for a careful balance of tending to your current flock while trying to add new sheep to your herd. Here’s a major caveat for you: Never take your longtime clients for granted. Just because they’ve been more than pleased with your work for an extended period of time does not mean they can indefinitely be put on the back burner of your priorities. If you consistently take them for granted, you will spoil any hard-earned loyalty you’ve built up over the years. And by doing the bare minimum or taking too long to complete certain tasks gives them little reason to continue to refer your business—always keep word-of-mouth marketing in mind.

Where do you start? First, don’t concern yourself with thinking outside the box, forget the box altogether. Because by trying to come up with ways to think outside the box, you naturally start to align yourself with thought patters similar to other businesses trying to think differently. So, the key then is to think differently without thinking differently. Ha! How do you like that notion?

The point is, you’re all creative beings and hold an infinite amount of potential—you simply need to take a few minutes to relax and tap into your inner thoughts. You’ll be surprised at what you allow your brain to come up with when you give it a chance to plug into the subconscious and recall your past experiences and pair it with your expansive knowledge base. After you’ve given yourself some time to meditate and think deeply on how to make your business stand out, grab a pen and paper (or keyboard) and just start writing down all the different ideas that pop out of that beautiful brain of yours.

The key here is to allow for a stream of consciousness. As soon as you begin to question the legitimacy or plausibility of the ideas you come up with, you’re going to start suffocating the creative process—similar to waving your finger at your brain and punishing it for expressing itself. This is one of the leading reasons businesses have so much trouble being different, they don’t allow themselves creative license. Open yourself up and you’re going to love what you come up with. And you’ll be able to multiply your mental results by getting your team together and brainstorming together. If you’re truly a small business and don’t have any employees or teammates, then buy your friends a couple of beers and ask if they’ll come over and help you brainstorm. (Don’t have too many or they’ll have you convinced that standing on the corner naked screaming your site’s URL is a good idea.)

Here are a couple of quick ideas:

Fundraisers: There’s no shame in setting up a charitable event or fundraiser to garner lucrative exposure for your business. You will create the chance to help out a good cause and to get your name out in the public.

Chamber of Commerce: Many businesses seem to have forgotten about the good ol’ Chamber of Commerce. Joining this organization provides you with the opportunity to help your community while creating great business contacts.

Contests: Think of some contests that you can offer up to your business prospects and local community. Whenever you get people actively involved in something, you significantly increase the likelihood of lucrative conversions. Besides, they’re fun!

• More Kick A$$ Guerrilla Marketing Promotions Part 2
• If You Hit Your Hand with a Hammer Every Day
• More Kick A$$ Guerrilla Marketing Promotions Part 1
• Guerrilla Bah-Bah LED Sheep
• 50 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using

First, it should be noted that trends indicate positive results when business owners verbalize their follow-up efforts with their prospective clients as “reconnecting” instead of “following up;” it’s much more personal and will help you achieve a better business relationship. For example, “Hello, this is Derek Heck from Bootstrapping Blog and I’m reconnecting with you in regards to our last conversation.” Pretty simple right? Yet countless business owners fail to do this on a daily basis. It’s similar to neglecting to insulate your pipes or letting a leaky faucet go unchecked—it seems minor at the time, but you eventually end up losing a lot of money through this type of negligence.

Or perhaps you do have good intentions and plan to follow up, but just haven’t had the time. Well, I’m sincerely asking you to burn your Procrastinator’s Creed contract and jump into action. If not, then your lead goes from blazing hot, to lukewarm, to somebody else’s client! Plus, by following up promptly, you will be telling your prospect volumes about how you’ll treat them as a client, meeting deadlines on time and providing a close watch over their account. Remember, clients don’t just want to know that they’ll get the service or product they’re buying, they want to know that they will be comprehensively taken care of.

So what’s a good timeframe for following up? Probably about a week later. You don’t want to come off as a telemarketer selling jewelry cleaner and calling back the next day. Let them breathe a little and have time to look over your proposal. And make sure you set a solid date and time, indicating when you’ll be reconnecting—call them exactly when you say you will! And make sure they actually write your appointment down when you plan it. Don’t be afraid to specifically ask them to get their planner out and write it down. If you don’t, you’ll end up getting more flakes than a bowl of Wheaties.

And how about a “blind” follow-up? You won’t always have the opportunity to speak with your prospect in the initial phase. For example, you may receive a lead through your website—if someone signs up for your newsletter. In this case, you should develop a standard follow-up template or autoresponder. Remember, the Web is faceless and without emotion—you need to constantly think of ways to reach out to people and remind them that there’s an actual human behind your website

Here’s an example a website lead follow-up:

I see that you visited my blog at www.bootstrappingblog.com recently. I hope you’ve been enjoying our content and have been able to apply some of what you’ve read to your own business.

Call-to-Action Paragraph.

And in case you missed it, I thought I’d pass this article along:

“It’s nothing personal.” Bullspit! There’s no such thing as nothing being personal in the business world. No matter who’s involved in a business equation, people are either spending money they worked hard to earn, or are looking to earn the other person’s money through hard work. Unless you’ve won the lottery, any blood, sweat and tears poured into your business makes the scenario very personal. Read Full Article

Please feel free to contact me and let me know how I can help you with your business. I eagerly welcome all inquiries.

Now go get ‘em tiger!

• Were you Born in a Barn
• Three Important Questions: Why, Who and What
• “You can lose just as much money being as happy as hell”
• Doing and Knowing What You Love
• Why Should I Buy?

I just got back from an amazing couple days in sunny Phoenix learning the newest and the latest information on instincts and using it in personal growth and team building from Kolbe. I became an inpedendant consultant for them about 3 years ago after taking the Kolbe Index test. It was one of those “Ahhh Haaa” moments that come along and changes your entire life. I will share more about this story in future posts.

Tonight, and usually after I do any business traveling I need to stop and reflect on things, put business and personal goals back in perspective, basically an evening of soul searching. Well as I pondered all that life stuff I was left with this video. Thank you grasshopper for putting this together and most of all for the reminder.

First, the following is not supposed to be considered a popularity contest, and by no means am I claiming to be the coolest guy out there-well, my five-month-old son may think I’m pretty cool! But what I’d like to ask you is: Who do you know? I don’t want to know if you’ve ever seen James Woods in a Starbucks or if you’re the type of person who gets the thumbs up from everyone you pass. I just want to see if you can develop a list of people you know. Why develop a list? Because, whether you’re a first-year small-business greenhorn or a veteran badass, creating a contact list is one of the best ways to get your marketing wheels rolling. And…uh huh, you know what’s coming here…it’s free!

Instead of buying the first shiny marketing package that catches your eye, set aside a significant period of time and develop a list of all the people you know. By first creating a list of contacts that you can solicit and present your business to, you’ll be taking advantage of verified, warm leads; leads you didn’t have to spend a single marketing dollar on. The first phase of creating your list should be done through a stream of consciousness, writing down every single name that comes to mind. Subsequently, you’ll use a filter and qualify each of the name’s you’ve written down. Try categorizing them into Direct Purchase, Referral Prospects, Barter Candidates and Sleepers.

• Direct Purchase: Who on your list is ready to buy? Which names did you write down that fall under your classifications for your ideal client?
• Referral Prospects: Want to double or triple your new contact list? Then ask yourself “Who do they know?” For example, let’s say you’re a used-car salesman. Okay, so you’ve got your brother on the list, but he’s always been a new-or-nothing kind of guy and though he loves you, refuses to buy from you. Instead of testing this familial tie’s strength, simply think of who he knows or ask him if he thinks any of his friends might be interested. No matter what industry they’re in, business owners would do well to view their company as a network marketing company or an MLM. Look beyond the surface; there are many levels to a solid business.
• Barter Candidates: Who on your list could you trade services/products with? Perhaps your neighbor doesn’t need a car at this time, but you can still ask him if he’d be willing to trade you a few hours of his skills for some car repair discounts you get through your vendors.
• Sleepers: These are the people you just can’t seem to categorize. Perhaps you only briefly met them on the street once and don’t have an actual relationship with them. Either way, you should never assume a contact is worthless until you’ve made the effort to market to them.

Just as we encourage equality in society, so shall it be with your business. Never assume anything about your prospects or contacts until you’ve dealt with them directly-after that, you can judge them as much as you’d like.

Look for our future feature article on follow-up to help you capitalize on your contact list.

• Word of Mouth Marketing: Thank your referrers
• Why Should I Buy?
• How’d you hear about us?
• Doing and Knowing What You Love
• Being Remarkable: The Doctors Office Edition

I figured I would continue on with my favorite Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns that I have found around the web. Happy Monday everyone!

Ego Boost

I love when simple concepts are the ones that make the biggest impact. This one is fun, innovative and feeds male ego at the same time.

Jaws Eats Bus Passengers

I am huge fan of the vehicle wrap. When done well you will always get attention. Your audience is bored waiting in traffic, it has movement and it is memorable. All the makings of a campaign that will be talked about at dinner tables and push your message along.

Half a Bus Stop

The last time I had a blog post that had the message to use less we had a huge discussion about green marketing and the merits and morals of advertising.

The impact this one creates is great. One of the best ways to get attention is to take a familiar object and turn it’s concept upside down. Good job Denver Water!

Is IKEA taking over the world

It would seem that I have accidentally created a public transit guerrilla marketing post I will continue with the theme. As the one above it is a great job of taking the familiar and playing with perception. I hope that it does not rain.

• More Kick A$$ Guerrilla Marketing Promotions Part 1
• Guerrilla Bah-Bah LED Sheep
• 10 Great Guerrilla Marketing Examples
• There’s no Shame in Being a Guerrilla
• 50 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using

Unless you’re one of those athletes who continued hitting yourself in the head with that hammer, then the sign’s message should be quite clear: Your injury will never heal if you continue participating in your sport and don’t do anything differently in your routine. As I am just short of the athletic talent level of Tiger and Gretzky, I decided to pursue the limitless possibilities of the Internet, and have remembered this sign for a different reason. In my sapling days, when I was a young and inexperienced entrepreneur, I sometimes found myself experiencing aggravating defeats in my marketing ventures. The element that made them the most aggravating was that my lack of success was consistent. It seemed that even though I had some great input from some marketing gurus and had applied my own Einstein-level of genius that my ads just weren’t gaining the traction I thought they were capable of. Then I saw the sign…literally.

When I read that sign, I realized I’d been hitting my injured marketing campaign with a hammer and expecting it to get better. I was so confident in the ads I had going that I managed them like a desperate soon-to-be-vagabond in Vegas, playing the same number over and over again in roulette, thinking that I was improving my chances simply because of numbers and time elapsed. Your bootstrapped marketing campaign should be looked at the same—you’ve got an equal chance of failure or success with every prospect. Granted, sales and marketing does ultimately come down to a numbers game, increasing your chances of a sale with every person you ask, but you are a bootstrapped budget and can’t always afford to play the game of large numbers.

Lesson learned: Whether it came down to wrong geographical location, incorrectly targeted demographic, outlying economic factors…I came to realize that even though I had some fantastic ideas and approaches involved in my ads, they simply weren’t working. Don’t hold on too long to ads or business methods that aren’t working or you’ll end up with an extremely bruised and battered hand. A particular method to help you decide how well something’s working for your business is conducting an A/B split test. For example, create two versions of an ad for the same exact product/service. To ensure accuracy, make sure you disseminate those ads equally among demographics and locations. Then, measure and compare the results of ad A versus ad B. Go with the one that garnered the best results, and then use that ad to create another split test down the road. Because even though you may have managed to put the hammer down, you may still be able to look into some business supplements to take you to an even higher level of success.

Other related articles:

Well, I Would Hope So

Building an Effective Guerrilla Marketing Strategy

• How’d you hear about us?
• There’s no Shame in Being a Guerrilla
• Why Should I Buy?
• Site Flipping: New business avenue or fly by night profession?
• Doing and Knowing What You Love