Tip for July 1, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 4 Introducing the fourth of ten tips to help Guerrilla Marketers write more effective headlines and titles. Identify your intended TARGET MARKET in your headline. This makes your headline irresistible to those who are members of it. "Special offer for Teachers!" "Coaches--Learn how to Double Your Fees!" "Bring Your Union Membership Card!" "Do you Hate to Exercise?" If your headlines isn't read, your body copy probably won't be!

Tip for July 2, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 5 Stress the benefits readers will enjoy if they take the action you request them to take. " Lose Weight, Guaranteed!" " Save On Your Long Distance Charges" * Photoshop Made Easy" " Instant Newsletter Copy Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for July 3, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 6 Use metaphors so readers can visualize the benefits they will enjoy. Metaphors are easily remembered and communicate at a glance. " How to Mine Gold from Your Database * Converft Your Expertise Into a Profit Bonanza * Passive Income Converts Everyday Into Payday! * New tools to add to your Marketing Arsenal" Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for July 4, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 7 Include a CALL TO ACTION in your headlines. " Act now and save 20% on next month's seminar! * Register Today and Immediately Get Started * Click to Hear What Clients Have to Say * Attend Tonight's Telecourse and Learn how to Enhance Customer Loyalty Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for July 5, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 8 Combine a SHORT HEADLINE with a LONG SUBHEAD. Use the subhead to elaborate on the relevance of the headline. Provoke curiosity in the headline and introduce the solution in the subhead. * Write Once, Sell Twice: Secrets of Making More Money with Info-Products * Make Them Laugh: How to Use Humor to Increase Sales * The Dangers of Safe Marketing: Why Profits Are Greater at the Edge Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for July 6, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 9 Stress simplicity and ease of use. MAKE IT EASY. Emphasize how your solution almost "operates itself." * Hands-Off Headline Writing! * Let Your Computer Automatically Respond to E-Mails * Teach Your Mailing List To Update and Maintain Itself! * Write Your Next Speech at the Beach Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for July 7, 2004

Effective Headlines and Titles, Part 10 COMBINE TECHNIQUES. Combine specificity with an imperative voice, or add metaphors to attract your target market's attention. * 6 Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting * Tell Your Boss "I Quit!" in June, and Offer Him a Job in July * Become the "Shakespeare of Direct Response" in 90 Days * Become a Magnet for Highly-Paid Executives Needing Help with Speeches Headlines are the key to the success of everything you write.

Tip for July 8, 2004

Lessons from a July 4th Fireworks Display, Part 1 An accident occurred at the Rochester, NH, fireworks display--an event approximately 20,000 people paid to attend. At about 9:30 PM, ten minutes into the show, a shell exploded close to the ground, injuring two workers bad enough they had to be taken to the hospital. The organizers did something right, and something wrong. First, the mistake. It was obvious something had gone wrong when the lights came up and the ambulance entered the field. However, there was no official announcement of what had happened, and whether or not the event would resume. Attendees didn't know whether to remain or leave. The impression was that "nobody was in charge." Most people left. At midnight, the show resumed, but only 100 people remained. Tomorrow, what they did right, and the implications.

Tip for July 9, 2004

Lessons from a July 4th Fireworks Display, Part 2 Here's what the firm did right: even though the "show had gone on," long after most people visited, the fireworks firm presenting the fireworks for the local civic organization repeated the show--for free--Monday night. Anyone could attend for free. Smart thinking. Although 40 minutes of professional fireworks probably cost the firm a lot of money, it ensured that they would be invited back next year. And, by repeating the show for free, without hassle, there will be less chance that residents will boycott next year's fireworks. The reality was that attendance was probably much lower last night than the first night. But, the bad taste of the original experience was offset, for most people, by the fact that the firm "did the right thing" last night. Indeed, many banded together to make the free performance possible. The company that runs the fairgrounds, for example, didn't charge the organization or the firm for use of their facilities....a good lesson in fusion marketing.

Tip for July 10, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 1 Guerrilla Marketing Design is PURPOSEFUL Guerrilla Marketers view design not as a matter of subjective likes and dislikes but as a strategic tool intended to achieve specific goals. Guerrillas avoid unnecessary decoration. Every mark on the page must serve a purpose. Guerrillas make design decisions based on how efficiently their designs communicate a desired message to a specific audience. Accordingly, Guerrilla Marketing design begins with a plan, based on a careful analysis of message, audience and competition. .

Tip for July 11, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 2 Guerrillas design for RECOGNITION. Guerrilla Marketers refuse to get lost in a crowd or be confused with their competition. They recognize that their customers and prospects are bombarded with thousands of competing messages each day. Accordingly, Guerrillas choose colors, typefaces, and layouts that project a distinct, easily recognized image that sets their message apart and accurately reflects their values. Their designs project a consistent image throughout all of their marketing. Consistency is achieved by using a unique combination of colors, type, and layout throughout their print and online communications. This consistency multiplies the impact of their marketing dollars.

Tip for July 12, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 3 Guerrillas design for READABILITY Guerrilla Marketing Design is reader-friendly design. Guerrillas recognize that readers are in a hurry and that anything that interferes with easy reading sabotages the delivery of their message. Guerrillas make reading easy by paying close attention to colors, layouts and the way text is placed in columns. This involves making the right typeface, type size, and line spacing decisions, as well as making the right spacing, hyphenation, and punctuation decisions.

Tip for July 13, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 4 Guerrillas design for SIMPLICITY. Guerrillas design for simplicity. Guerrilla Marketing Designers realize that readers quickly can lose interest when reading extended text, like articles, memos or proposals. Accordingly, Guerrillas maintain reader interest by breaking information into manageable, bite-sized chunks using techniques like subheads, lists and sidebars.

Tip for July 14, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 5 Guerrillas design for SELECTIVE EMPHASIS. Guerrillas know when to whisper, when to road. They use design to help readers separate the important from the merely supportive. Changes in typeface, type size, type style, and color are used to highlight important information rather than decorate an otherwise dull page. Guerrilla Marketers recognize that "less is more" when it comes to selective emphasis. They use discretion when choosing a different typeface design, changing a type size, or setting type in bold or italics.

Tip for July 15, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 6 Guerrillas design to be VISUAL. Whenever possible, Guerrilla Marketers replace words in paragraphs with storytelling visuals such as charts, graphs, lists, organization charts, tables, and timelines. Guerrillas use visuals to communicate comparisons, relationships and sequences at a glance.

Tip for July 16, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 7 Guerrillas Design for EFFICIENCY. Guerrilla Marketers are penny-pinchers. They choose formats and designs that are easy to produce, print and mail. They thoroughly master their software and take advantage of timesaving features like text styles and keyboard shortcuts. Their designs communicate the maximum information to the greatest number of customers and prospects at the lowest possible cost. Guerrillas understand that two well-used colors communicate better than four poorly used colors.

Tip for July 17, 2004

Ten Commandmants of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 8 Guerrillas recognize design's LIMITATION. Guerrillas understand the limitations of design. They recognize that design cannot compensate for a lack of planning or message content. Fancy typefaces, bright colors and attractive layouts are worthless in the absence of meaningful messages delivered to the right audience at the right time—at the lowest possible cost.

Tip for July 18, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 9 Guerrillas design freely DELEGATE Guerrilla Marketers recognize their limitations and work around them. They often hire professional designers to create visual elements with long shelf lives—like logos, templates and styles—but prefer to do as much of the day-to-day production themselves as possible. They hire web designers and programmers to set up their web sites, but prefer to do their own daily maintenance.

Tip for July 19, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design, No. 10 Guerrilla designers are CRAFTSMAN Guerrilla marketers are proud parents, and work hard at it. They are passionate about the integrity of their designs. They recognize that the tiniest details can undermine the effectiveness of their message. When they run out of space, they edit to the bone--ruthlessly eliminating unnecessary ideas, sentences and words--rather than reducing type size or line spacing in order to "fit everything in."

Tip for July 20, 2004

Ten Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design (Bonus Commandment) Guerrilla designers are PENNY-PINCHERS They choose formats and designs that are easy to produce, print and mail. They thoroughly master their software and take advantage of timesaving features like text styles and keyboard shortcuts. Their designs communicate the maximum information to the greatest number of customers and prospects at the lowest possible cost. Guerrillas understand that two well-used colors communicate better than four poorly used colors.

Tip for July 21, 2004

Reward customers: Salesman to customer who just bought a bed: "Oh, by the way, why don't you go over to our linen display and pick out a set of sheets. They're on us." He could have bundled a sheet set with the package, but that would defeat the objective. For the reward to be effective, it must be something beyond the customer's expectations. Guerrillas send every customer away feeling as though they just hit the jackpot. In the Reward Stage, guerrillas secure their position with customers by always rewarding them for their business.

Tip for July 22, 2004

Visit the Dropout: When someone drops out, don't bother to send them a "sorry-we-missed-you" letter, or even a second renewal notice. Visit them personally. Get nose-to-nose, or at least phone, and ask why they're leaving. Ask what you could have done differently to have kept their interest alive. Never take a single member for granted.

Tip for July 23, 2004

Get an 800 number. People are seven times as likely to phone if the call is toll-free.

Tip for July 24, 2004

Narrowcast your marketing message to a specific group who want, need, or have to buy your products. Advertise to remind rather than to impress. Repetition is key; mail postcards weekly for a month instead of a single multi-page brochure blitz. Enclose a business card with everything.

Tip for July 25, 2004

Watch your people, and reward them for providing exceptional service.

Tip for July 26, 2004

Sales Incentives #1: Discount A reduced price is one of the most effective sales incentives you can offer. Discounts should be used with restraint, however, because a steady diet of discounts, educates your clients and prospects to expect a discount, erodes your profits, and fails to differentiate your firm from your competition. Discounts can be combined with other incentives and work best when there is a close and strictly enforced deadline.

Tip for July 27, 2004

Sales Incentives, #2: Delivery and shipping Symbolic price incentives can take the form of relatively low cost, but highly visible, concessions such as free delivery or shipping. Free shipping of products like books can give you a competitive edge over local vendors. Free delivery can give you a competitive advantage over local discounters when selling large, bulky, and heavy products, like home appliances, big screen televisions, furniture, etc.

Tip for July 28, 2004

Sales Incentives, #3: Supplies When selling products and services that consume supplies, like ink jet cartridges, laser toner, or paper, consider bundling some of the supplies. Be creative in defining offering consumables. For example, if you are offering a high-priced seminar, "supplies" can include a free luncheon, a free tote bag for handouts and other materials distributed during the session, or even a hotel lodging or breakfast vouchers.

Tip for July 29, 2004

Sales Incentives #4: Terms Payment terms can be used to create an incentive to immediate purchase. Instead of requiring full payment, the billing period may be extended in several ways. One type of incentive may be an immediate discount for full payment. Or, the first payment may not be due for 30 days, or payments at 30, 60 or 90 days may be made without interest fees.

Tip for July 30, 2004

Sales Incentive #5: Financing Financing differs from terms in that the buyer pay a third party, like a bank or finance company, rather than directly paying the seller. Financing incentives can include no down payment, no payments for 6 months to a year, or interest-free payments.

Tip for July 31, 2004

Every dollar spent on marketing is an investment, so expect a specific rate of return. Be clear about your goals and track your response rates in registrations per hundred calls, or sales per thousand brochures.

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