Welcome to the the Guerrilla Mindset! I am a Guerrilla Marketer and I think differently than the majority of business owners I meet. My mindset is to think outside the box, outside my industry and not to spend much money on traditional marketing but instead to use inexpensive unconventional marketing.

I constantly look at how other people inside and outside my industry market and then I use my brain and imagination to creatively market to the same potential customers in a unique way. A memorable way in fact. And to market with little or no cost involved. This is how my mind thinks. I am a Guerrilla on a mission.

I think there are a lot of misunderstandings about Guerrilla marketing because the smaller firms think that cheap or silly tactics won’t work. Let me re-frame. Guerrilla doesn’t mean that you are going to be aggressive and tacky. This is the wrong mindset.

The right mindset is to understand that by doing somethings that are really different while using a smaller budget and not wasting your marketing dollars you decide to do things that are really memorable. Things that really impact your target audience so they pay attention and notice you. This is the mindset that works today.

You are competing with so many marketing messages out there. Stop being like the rest of the pack. Instead get creative so that your tactics can lead to a multiplier effect that doubles the amount of attention a prospect pays to your marketing message.

So what is the Guerrilla mind made of? Thinking differently. Asking different questions and coming up with ideas that will create the most impact and the most awareness for your company.

Here’s more good news… we can learn from companies like www.Zappos.com and Dunkin’ Donuts and imitate what they are doing because they are also now using Guerrilla Marketing tactics and saving their cash.

Recently I was at a fair in my community where they were giving out free samples of a new Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Think about it – free samples don’t cost much and hiring someone to poor coffee into a tiny taste cup isn’t costing them much compared to giant bill boards or sponsoring a Super Bowl Commercial, right?

Catch the point… even large companies are modeling and showing us how to save our cash.

How can you give away a sample of what you have? How can people “try you on” or “taste test you”? Can you give away free reports that potential customers can download? How about a free mp3 or video the can watch? Or even a free trial of demo or consult?

I learned years ago that Baskin Robbins has the taste test mastered. Have you ever gone into a Baskin Robbins and asked for a little pink spoon of some flavor of ice cream you wanted to try? And did you walk out with nothing or with something? Odd are (and I am willing to bet on this one!) you made a purchase. Those tiny little pink spoons and the small amounts of ice cream given away are they way to bring people in without spending much if any cash. People taste, they experience and they buy if they liked the taste. It is that simple.

Save your cash and be creative. Ideas are king today.

The best way to use your Guerrilla Marketing dollars wisely is to mostly invest time, energy and imagination to your marketing vs. spending money on marketing. Time, energy and imagination are the brain power that will boost your marketing and allow you to market with great results even on a shoe-string budget.

One of the pitfalls I often see, as a business mentoring expert, is that often companies are not patient and they want results now. They just don’t want to wait for the marketing programs they have put into place to develop and take hold.

The lesson here is: MARKETING RESULTS DO NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT!

I know you were hoping I would say they do – me too! The truth is that all marketing is about people and isn’t about things. This means that it takes awhile to build a relationship and to romance your customer. It takes time to get them to dance with you and you have to be prepared to spend the time to build the trusted relationship that will grow to be deep and meaningful.

How can you build the romance? Keep in front of your prospects with no cost methods. We have great technology at our finger tips that is evolving every day. We have websites and social media and email blasts and customer surveys and even text messaging.

Very simply put this is the day of inviting everyone into your network and giving away as much value as you can to make their experiences with your company good ones. People are more likely to do business with companies that “grow on them” overtime.

Send current clients and potential leads something to keep you remembered. For some this is your newsletter or it can be an article you found helpful and want to pass along. It may seem like a little gesture, but the old adage “it is the thought that counts” truly does go a very long way. It is very nice to know you are thought of by others, especially when nothing is asked of in return. So just send along a little something to be helpful, it will be appreciated.

Try to set work hours. It is easier said than done. Missed calls or emails you could lose you a client which is lost income. None the less, even if the hours are long, the work day has to have an end time. Maybe it is only from 10 pm to 5 am, which is undeniably short, it can be ok as long as you truly do not work then. Setting boundaries is a healthy step in reclaiming your life. A healthy balance can lead to a happy and productive life.

Fully focusing for 8 or even 10 hours a day can be more beneficial than constantly interrupting your private life with work and not giving 100% to either. Surely someone has asked you to “put that thing away” refe rencing the smart phone constantly in your hand. Take that advice and put the person in front of you first once and a while and vice versa. Give your all to growing your business when it is the middle of your work day but when you are out with friends or enjoying family time fully put your focus there too..

Try maximizing the time you do have to connect with current or potential clients. While you may want to go sit and have coffee with a really great client you currently have or spend the extra time with a client you are working to earn, time just simply does not always allow it. Try a tele-coffee. Set aside 20 minutes to have a relaxing phone chat. Just as you would focus on the client/ lead in front of you at the coffee shop it is just as important to block out distractions when speaking over the phone. You save yourself all of the time wasted on commuting but you gain all the benefits of connecting with the client.

Try to be patient. Following up is good, but with the ability for so many things in business to happen almost instantly, it is important to realize that a client is cultivated and grown over time. Several points of contact typically need to occur prior to a sale, so be patient, but do not completely wait for it to come to you. Follow-ups, newsletters, blog posts all help keep the client reminded about your services so keep those flowing and sales will come.

Many of the tips seem more about being a conscientious person rather than wise in business, but the reality is we are all so very busy that the extra bit of attention that you can give your client or lead may keep them with you or be the last bit of encouragement to gain their trust and earn them as a customer. Time is what is lacking yet taking time to show effort can go a very long way to keep your business growing, prospering and moving forward.

As you all know, my foundation, Terri Levine Foundation for children with RSD, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, means everything to me. I work each day to help make a difference in the lives of these children to ease their suffering. RSD is a painful chronic debilitating invisible disease that affects millions of adults and children caused by a dysfunction in the central nervous system. The onset happens in a variety of ways but typically during the normal daily activities when a slip and fall, bump of a knee or jamming of an arm occurs thus causing relentless suffering and anguish while for weeks, months or years a diagnosis is sought.

Currently there is not a cure for RSD but rather it is treated with four goals including: 1) Control and minimize pain; 2) restore function in the affected area; 3) prevent d isease progression and 4) maintain quality of life. Unfortunately the most common route for helping RSD patients is an attempt to restart the nervous system using Ketamine. Since this drug is not covered by insurance this treatment option is not feasible for many affected, especially the children. To suffer in such continuous pain without the ability to play or find relief is heartbreaking. These kids show greater strength than many adults I have met, which is why it is now my life’s’ mission to help them get back to enjoying childhood, pain free.

We have helped several children get Ketamine treatments and a few go back to school and some get back to a normal active life from support we get from our donors.

Currently I am putting together a cookbook to gain support for the charity. I need your help with recipe submissions and eventually sales. Below is a link to the foundation web site and another for the recipe format. Any and all are welcome from you, your family and your friends. I cannot make a difference for these children alone, I need your help.

I appreciate your time and assistance.

With Sincere Thanks,
T

Foundation website:

http://terrilevinefoundationforchildrenwithrsd.org/

Please use this form to submit recipes:

http://www.morriscookbooks.com/dc/tns10/RecipeCollection.pdf

Please submit recipes to my assistant Robin at assistanttoterri@terrilevine.com

If you are a self employed entrepreneur or SOHO, chances are you don’t have the type of business that attracts financial backers or entails teams of employees or contractors working for you. It’s just you and your wallet and the sweat of your own brow. That’s okay. You can work with that and still achieve business growth.

Your main challenge is likely to be sales and marketing. Maybe you hate networking and don’t have much time to spend going out to meet potential clients. Maybe you don’t feel comfortable in those situations, or maybe you have some other life challenges that makes it difficult to get out and attend networking events. That’s okay. There is more than one way to market your business, and for the financially challenged, ways that cost very little.

These ideas won’t suit every business type, but think outside the box and ask yourself how you could adapt the ideas to suit your line of work. For starters, do you have a corporate client or contact? Leave some business cards with them and ask them if they’d mind mentioning your company to their contacts/clients. You can also leave your business cards on the counters of other local businesses, such as the local vet. Be creative!

Is your business the type that you can invite some clients together in one place, perhaps offering them a free seminar or an informational meet and greet occasion? If so, do it and encourage them to bring a friend. If your business is “virtual” – suggest an e-group situation in which they can openly share and discuss issues relevant to their business and again, allow them to invite friends. In this way you introduce your business to potential customers, while servicing existing clients.
Ask your existing clients or contacts for referrals. Encourage their participation by offering them something in exchange, like an incentive scheme. This could be discounts for your products or services, free samples, or gift vouchers. If you don’t like to ask outright, design a “Referral Form” and include it with your invoices, but don’t send it with the first invoice! Prove yourself first. Ask them if they have any leads for you to follow up, and to really make this an offer they can’t refuse, suggest you may be able to put business their way too, using the same methods.
Affiliate yourself with other companies/entrepreneurs who can put business your way in exchange for you offering referrals for them. A kind of you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours situation. Even appropriate links on websites can be useful, but make sure you are linking to a professional site to safeguard your reputation.
Whether or not you have a referral program, when you do get a new client from a referral, always thank the referrer. Send a thank you note and a small token of your appreciation – it might be a gift voucher or even a lottery ticket. If you haven’t got a referral program in place, whenever you gain a new client from a referral, remember to send a thank you and a small gift to the “referrer” – even a lottery ticket! They won’t mind sending you referrals!
Consider joint ventures. For example, if you are a hair dresser, find a beauty salon or other related business who would be willing to market you to their customers in exchange for you marketing their business to yours. You can offer each others clients special deals and prices that only your and their clientele can get. Find ways to add value to each other’s customers and you will both benefit.

Use the press. Align yourself with a local charity dear to your heart and the next time you do something that benefits them, invite the local journalists or send a press release yourself to your local papers.

Use social media. It may not be the promised answer to everyone’s marketing prayers but at the very least it gets your company name out there and known!

There are as many strategies for promoting business growth as there are types of business. Think outside the box, keep your eyes open for opportunities, experiment and be creative!

If you are a small business owner searching for ways to boost your business growth, here are five simple, yet effective, rules that will help put you on the starting line, facing in the right direction:

1. Be “in business”
Unsuccessful small businesses, especially SOHO’s and network marketers, often don’t think of themselves as business owners. Some don’t even have the business basics like a dedicated phone line, fax machine, business name, domain name, letterhead, business cards, brochures, merchant status to accept credit cards, contact management software, etc. How can you expect people to do business with you if you aren’t really in business? You must commit 100%. You are either in business or you are not. There is no grey area. Well, there is… that’s where you find people who are dabbling at being in business and failing. There is a huge difference between a hobby and a legitimate business. Once you make that commitment you must have a business plan. These are not inflexible and will change as your business needs change.

2. Know your products and services
Have you ever tried to buy something from someone who couldn’t answer your questions about their product or service? Hardly confidence inspiring, is it? Your customers expect you to be an expert about whatever it is you are selling. If you don’t know everything there is to know about it, who would? How can you compare what you offer to your competitors, to stay ahead and remain competitive? Customers want to know facts and figures and they want all the features and benefits explained to them in terms they can understand. That’s where you come in. If you don’t deliver, they will take their business somewhere else where they have more confidence, and this applies whether you are selling widgets or services.

3. Fear of Marketing
You won’t experience business growth if you sit back waiting for customers to materialize and come to you. You have to not only let your potential customers know you exist and how to contact you, you also have to tell them how they can benefit and how your product/service will solve their problems. It doesn’t matter how brilliant your product or service is, it just won’t sell itself.

4. Fear of Selling
Many small business owners have stories of used car salespeople swimming around in their heads and they equate sales with being deceitful or pushy. Well, unfortunately, there are people in the world like that, but you don’t have to be one. In fact, you will taste success more quickly and easily if you are NOT like that.

You need to communicate the features and benefits of your product or service without exaggeration or dishonesty. You must develop strong inner beliefs that support serving others, sharing your products/services, secure in the knowledge that you are doing them a favor, being in business and bringing them great products and services. Coming from a place of trying to push people into buying will only push people away. People hate to be manipulated and they can spot a phony a mile away. Wanting to sincerely serve others will attract people. Think “serve”, not “sell”.

5. You Don’t Fully Believe in Yourself
When you doubt yourself and your ability to be successful, you set in motion circumstances that will hold you back and stop you from achieving business growth. You will hold back from investing in your business and spending money on areas vital to your business success. And if you don’t truly believe in your products or services, this will reflect in your sales and marketing (or rather, lack of) and rather than attract customers, you will make them doubtful and go elsewhere. Surely, you have been to a business where even the atmosphere screams the owner isn’t really all that interested? You must be interested and believe you will be successful… because it influences how others see you.

Challenge your beliefs. What is really behind your fears and doubts? Are these truly your stories or have you allowed other people’s doubts to infiltrate your better judgment? Yes some businesses are facing challenging times right now, but there are also businesses who are thriving, and yet others who are coasting along comfortably.

Ever heard of Dream, Believe, Achieve? When you believe the dream can be real, nothing will stop you.

I don’t have an affiliate deal with them. I just am sitting at my desk today thinking, “Where would my business be without them?” and I am feeeeeeeeeeling grateful.

What I love about this company, Vervante (http://www.vervante.com/) is how easy they are to work with and how quickly they make my products ready for distribution, send out my products and handle any problems customers may run into.

Prior to using Vervante I was spending my valuable time duplicating CD’s and DVD’s or having to pay virtual assistants to do this task. Then someone had to go to the post office and ship things out. Having Vervante not only gives a professional look and consistent look to all my products it gives me full service support, helps me establish my branding, and takes a load off my mind as every order is automatically fulfilled by them as they come into my shopping cart!

Here’s another reason I recommend Vervante (http://www.vervante.com/ ) … they also print all my products on demand! I don’t have to pre-pay or sit on huge inventory. I teach all my clients and coaching students and business owners that the only way to publish these days is using on-demand publishing and distribution for their books, CDs, DVDs, training and coaching programs, and information products. Vervante allows you to share your products with the world by having high quality products at super competitive prices.

In fact the company takes great pride not only in producing high quality products it also has helped hundreds of my clients see their dream of being published come true.

You can contact them here: customerservice@vervante.com or sales@vervante.com and although there is no affiliate relationship please tell them I referred you so they will know how much I value their services.

If you have any questions about Vervante, just post them in the comments below. Or, if you have suggestions about other services, please share them.

It’s important that you begin to take a look at higher priced products or services that create value for your clients, that you can add onto. This is the best way to serve your clients on a better and bigger level and to make a lot more money while creating a lot less sales. Enjoy the process. It works.

One loan program that I’m familiar with is the SBA Loan Queue. What is that? It’s money that President Obama signed in, I believe it was September of 2010. It’s the Small Business Jobs Act – and so there’s money there with the Small Business Administration helping to finance small businesses.

The second one that I know about is 7(a) Loan Program. That’s financial help for your business, and it does have some very specific requirements.

The third loan is one that has been around forever; it’s called the CDC/504 Loan Program. What is that? It’s long-term financing, and it’s to develop the economic growth within a community. Lots and lots of my clients and people that I have coached over the last 30 years have gone in that direction.

Then the fourth is a microloan. If you don’t know what a microloan is, it’s a smaller, short-term loan to a business that certain businesses can qualify for.

Again, I want you to go to http://www.sba.gov and check these out. I just want to familiarize you with the options for small business loans. These are four very, very available for you, and you ought to check them out, get some information and see if having a loan is right for you.