Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerilla Marketing, is a lousy writer. Also about half of what he says is filler and half the rest is baloney.
He does make important and valuable points. And his book, besides the catchy title, was a breakthrough book on small business marketing.
You’ve seen me write about differences between marketing at the Fortune 500 level and in the typical small business. That’s what Guerilla Marketing is all about. It’s about being fast and flexible, innovative and smart.
One thing he says that I disagree with and have disagreed with often: That the small businessman can’t afford to guess wrong in his marketing.
The chances are small that anyone is going to hit a home run the first time at bat with their marketing. So let’s not set an impossible goal.
The small businessman can’t afford marketing that HAS to work.
If you have to get something working RIGHT NOW, you’d better do half a dozen things at a small level. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. See which of them works, then pour the coals on that.
It’s common to have an approach that’s highly reliable, but requires time and refinement. Internet marketing is like that. You take your best shot at the website design, construction and content, and at the search engines.
Then you spend anywhere from a couple of months to a year, tweaking things to a point where it is really humming. So best if you have some time to make it all work, not that you are going out of business if it doesn’t succeed RIGHT NOW.