The 7-Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Strategy

Don’t leave home without this. Leave home? Don’t even go into business without this. Go into battle with neither offensive weapons nor armor, but don’t go into business without a simple marketing plan. When you have clearly focused on your market or markets, you can clarify your market position. Then you should measure the position against four criteria: (1) Does it offer a benefit that my target audience really wants? (2) Is it an honest-to-goodness benefit? (3) Does it truly separate me from my competition? (4) Is it unique and/or difficult to copy? Before writing your marketing plan, practice thinking big. At this time your imagination is not a limiting factor, so open your mind to all the possibilities for your venture. Unless you are completely satisfied with your answers, continue searching for a proper position. When you’ve answered the questions to your own satisfaction, you’ll have a sensible position—and that should lead you to your goal. An accurate market position requires clear, constructive goals and effort. Positioning is the key to marketing. No guerrilla would think of doing a speck of marketing without a proper marketing plan that includes a positioning statement.

Guerrillas create strategies with seven simple sentences:

1. Sentence one explains the purpose of the marketing, the physical action you want your prospect to take – such as clicking to a Website, visiting your store, clipping a coupon, calling a toll-free number, looking for your product next time they’re shopping, taking a test drive, asking their doctor about your product.
2. Sentence two explains how you’ll achieve this purpose. It describes your competitive advantage and benefits.
3. Sentence three describes your target market—or markets.
4. Sentence four, the longest, lists the marketing weapons you’ll employ.
5. Sentence five describes your niche, your position, what you stand for.
6. Sentence six reveals the identity of your business.
7. Sentence seven states your budget, which should be expressed as a percentage of your projected gross revenues. In 2006, the average U.S. business invested 4% of gross revenues in marketing.

The 7-Sentence Guerrilla Marketing Strategy

About the Author Jesse Byron

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