The full title of this book by Susan Drake and Colleen Wells is
“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guerrilla Marketing: Get creative… and get the word out about your product or service“.
In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the Four Stars level. This means I think it is Good.
Here is my book review.
A book of unconventional marketing tactics but it’s not directly connected to Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing ideas
This book has no direct connection with the Guerrilla Marketing concepts created by Jay Conrad Levinson for small businesses since the mid 1980s.
It’s a bit naughty to jump on the Guerrilla Marketing brand name but guerrilla marketing is also a term that has slipped into general use to reflect unconventional marketing techniques that step outside of the normal channels and may be used by large or small businesses (Think Hoover and hoover for vacuum cleaners.
For clarity I’m capitalising the brand but using lower case for the techniques). For example if a company paid graffiti artists to promote their brand in inner city subways, it would be considered a guerrilla marketing technique but it wouldn’t be an approved Guerrilla Marketing technique because graffiti is illegal.
In some ways it is very flattering to become known as the generic term for a product or service. However I can’t help but think that Susan Drake and Colleen Wells are practising guerrilla marketing by riding on the back of the strength and great reputation of Guerrilla Marketing.
What Is In “The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Guerrilla Marketing”?
Forget about what you may have learnt from any Jay Conrad Levinson books you’ve read, this only makes passing reference to him for developing the name.
Part One – a general introduction to marketing
1 – What is Marketing? This covers the 4Ps of marketing and why customer loyalty is the ultimate goal.
2 – Why Is Marketing Necessary? A quick look at why people may choose to buy one product over another.
3 – Traditional Marketing Techniques? An overview of traditional marketing techniques
4 – A Whole New World. In a world full of marketing messages, marketers must find innovative ways to create attention and stimulate interest.
Part 2 Modern Marketing Marvels
5 – People Who Know People: Influencers. Who can you use to influence your target market and potential customers.
6 – The Power of Buzz Marketing. How can you make word of mouth marketing work for you?
7 – Stunt Marketing. Can you shock people to attract attention?
8 – Experiential Marketing. Give prospects the change to experience the product
9 – Ambient Marketing. How can you be in the right place at the right time?
10 – Stealth Marketing. A warning against trying to trick the prospects.
Part 3 The Internet and Technology Solutions – this section is inevitably out of date.
11 – Viral Marketing. Use the Internet to spread word of your product. Similar to word of mouth but people pass on a funny YouTube video or a quirky program.
12 – Social Networking Sites and Message Boards. Be where people talk and share thoughts.
13 – Social Marketing with Blogs and Podcasts. Communicate informally with your audience and develop a personality to create your own community.
14 – Mobile and Proximity Marketing. SMS messaging with the added twist in proximity marketing that you can receive local offers.
15 – Email marketing. There may be too much spam but email marketing is low cost and can be very effective.
Part 4 The nuts and bolts of guerrilla marketing
16 – Analysing your situation. Helping you to assess whether you should rely on traditional marketing methods or consider guerrilla marketing techniques.
17 – Assessing your target.
18 – Choose your weapon. Which form of guerrilla marketing is right for you.
19 – Creating and spreading the word.
20 – Free (or nearly free) guerrilla marketing
21 – When to call in the professionals
22 – Measuring guerrilla marketing
23 – What not to do: bad buzz.
24 – Making existing customers happy
I like the book and believe that it makes a good addition to any small business marketing library. It is recommended for you to buy if you are looking to learn about unconventional marketing techniques. Because coverage is wide, you are likely to want to move on to more specialised resources but it is a good book for helping you to expand your thinking about the ways that you communicate your marketing message.
It is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
There are many thousand of business books, you can see the full list of my reviews at Business Books Reviews by Paul Simister. I’ve also narrowed these down to a list of the 12 Best Business Books For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs.
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