Jay Conrad Levinson introduced the concept of Guerrilla Marketing many years ago and it is now a huge brand in its own right. They challenge typical marketing methodology and adapt delivery to fit the Guerrilla process.
According to the principles of guerrilla marketing, thinking in terms of ‘economising’ your marketing spend doesn’t necessarily mean trying to save money. Rather, the focus is more on trying to achieve the greatest possible return on what is spent on your marketing.
Guerrillas are inclined to see two types of marketing – expensive and inexpensive. As far as the guerrilla marketer is concerned, expensive marketing is the type whose results do not cover its costs. Inexpensive marketing, regardless the actual size of investment, is the type whose results produce returns which exceed the investment. Guerrillas have the insight to appreciate that economising your marketing spend has everything do with the results you achieve than actual cost.
In fact, guerrilla marketers are great proponents of careful spending and prudence. They appreciate the difference between spending on disposable or inessential goods or services whose benefits are short-term or temporary and making an investment in something which will yield long-term and continuous benefit. This might be debating whether to spend money on expensive card stock and print finishes for brochures which will date themselves in 18 months or investing heavily in a customer relationship management system that would be used every day.
There is an obvious difference between the expected return that can be achieved from the two types of marketing. For relatively low cost disposable purchases, guerrillas will rarely waste time and energy debating what to do – some expenses are necessary in order to do the job; so long as the expense is justified and kept as low as possible. However, for those costs that are really more correctly seen as an investment the wise guerrilla will make the time and effort to ensure that as much saving can be had as possible at the start, and rest assured that the expected return will more than offset the cost.
Economising your marketing spend can perhaps best be viewed not as making a series of purchases, but rather as making a series of acquisitions. You will undoubtedly have to make purchases here and there which will only ever be able to be viewed as costs. But, there will be instances where you will acquire skills, knowledge, equipment and tools that will represent benefit which far exceeds the cost. If you open your mind and stretch your expectations to may find that you can acquire these things in several different ways, not just buying them outright. Developing your skills so that you do not need to rely on specialists you would otherwise buy-in is a great way of making an investment in your marketing that will likely deliver greater returns.
However, there is also such a thing as false economy. Guerrillas must be able to recognise when it’s appropriate to spend money to achieve the desired result. It may be far more effective to buy-in a professional graphic designer to achieve the right visual appeal rather than risk the potential damage that could result from amateur-looking material. Or it may be necessary to have a professional web-designer construct a website who truly knows what they are doing and understands all of your design and functionality needs, rather than have to rebuild your website 12 months later because it isn’t up to the task and does not deliver a good user experience.
To be more guerrilla-minded, you could pay a designer to develop several templates which you can easily adapt and use or ask your web-builder to incorporate a content management system for your website. Looking for ways to invest your marketing spend wisely can achieve greater economy than just saving money. Test your marketing spend on a small scale before committing to large investments; learn from your failures and appreciate that what you learn is also an investment in your future success.
A guerrilla knows that money is not the key to success or happiness, but that having enough of it, and investing it wisely, can enable them to have the right key made. Economising and careful spending on your marketing is more about the returns you gain on your investment and less about just saving money.
To find out more on Guerrilla Marketing, visit www.gmarketing.com. If you would like to have a chat about your own marketing please email us.
