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Guerrilla Marketing, 4th ed. - guidebook to focused marketing, excellent blog advice

Over the last 26 years (since 1983) Jay Conrad Levinson came up with the idea of "Guerrilla Marketing". Levinson's books are one of the most popular way to learn "small marketing". He has developed direct marketing techniques for the business owner directly to his consumer. When Levinson first introduced his techniques they seem like he was addressing small business owners, the proverbial corner bakery and neighborhood plumber. As the marketing landscape changed with Internet techniques his idea has been adopted in the business blogger community. Blogs are essentially a "small business marketing" on the Internet. With very few exceptions, blogs are the format to communicate a very narrow message to a specific audience. Professional blogs are not tied to publications or organizations and serve as the unofficial / informal channel. In strict terms they are not real frontal marketing tool. The sit between the "roumor e-Mail message" and the "one-on-one office meeting". They also come with all the conviniences of Internet content: always available, searchable, indexed...

What Levinson has done over the years is develop a large set of ideas and techniques. He is taken the marketing techniques used in large corporations and reduced them to a smaller scale. Starting out with the core idea "marketing is not only crucial but also a serious component in running a small business". The idea is amplified with techniques and examples of how to think and act like a guerrilla marketer. When Levinson started out marketing was limited by tools which amounted to the office typewriter, a printed brochure and the xerox machine. I wonder what percentage of small business owners had PCs and good printers in 1983. Putting technology nostalgia aside, Levinson has been updating his ideas constantly. Besides adopting a blog of his own, he has been publishing newsletters and expanded his books to so many areas it is hard to imagine a blogger who will not find something useful in guerrilla marketing.

If you are a guerrilla marketer blogging is one of the best methods in use now. Essentially blog articles are your voice, a blog is your distribution channel and the Internet is your market audience. Guerrilla marketing is not just for plumbers and bakeries. Product managers in big and small companies blog with product features and announcements. Companies as big as Google, eBay and New York Times blog to vent out informal information. Some bloggers have made their business a true media outlet rivaling traditional newspapers (in print and on the web).

The most useful attribute of the blog is the acceptable format. Articles are layed our chronologiclly and take up most of the space. The standard format is simple, readable and acceptable. Content is what counts, if you can cover a topic with interesting information you can gather an audience. If you can write well, people will come and bring their friends and will keep you in mind. If you can keep tabs on an industry, interpret and explain news events, teach or train in a certain field - this is the way to do it. If you have something to promote which is useful: a professional service, a unique product or anything useful to someone - take a look around and see if anyone already covered it. If not, it's yours.

So how do we use blogs for guerrilla marketing? How do we guerrilla market a blog? Take a look at Jay Levinson's books [Amazon], site and blog and have a wack at it! also books on: [B&N] [Borders]

Reading blogs: learning from others in your domain

Many domain experts write articles or publish blogs under their name. Some use blogs to promote their books and professional work. Some are an extension of their position, in the style of a CEO blog (university professors, company executives). I consider these bloggers the early adopters of the format into the traditional business and academic domains. These are excellent resources to read and study as references and inspiration. Well researched blog strategy books are yet to come. This situation of early adopter examples (primary resources) and yet-to-come published guides is not unique to blogging. Most new web and technology products are in this state at their early life. If you are interested in blogging I suggest: start reading, taking notes, keeping tabs, analyze and formulate some rules you can follow. This work will help you understand the use and ability of writing a blog. The technical books will help you get a feel of the technology.

Selecting what to read is the first step in understanding blogs. The biggest problem here is what to read, there are just too many blogs which are not useful. Just like selecting books, pick the writing which is right for you. Some use author selection, academic writers in business speak to business people. Some use reviews, the Internet offers a few resources for authoritative and popular writers. If you want to learn from specific domain experts, be careful of the top blog listings of general or simply popular reviewers. The web is full of "top 50" and "top 100" blogs lists. But these may not be what you want to read. Top blogs are usually rated by the number of readers or a rating system like Technorati, Business Week editors, or Time Magazine's top 25 blogs. But this is probably not what you need to write a business blog and promote your message. Try domain experts in you area. Search in the blog indexes for key words which represent your own domain. Blogs are the big shift from broadcasting and populism to narrow casting and specialization. I will go more into this as the ideas of business blogging develop into a coherent description here.

My blogging favorites which are not at all related to the business of blogging come from business and media. These are known domain experts (some call them thought leaders). Here is a short list:

Clayton Christensen [blog]: authored "The Innovator's Dilemma" one of the most insightful little books on how technology and ideas either get stuck or move forward. More of Spencer Johnson for thinking executive (Johnson wrote "Who Moved My Cheese").

Steve McConnell [blog]: is an early Microsoft developer and manager. Authoring some of the most useful books in programming he developed a set of ideas for the software industry. McConnell's "Code Complete (2nd ed.)" is one of the most comprehensive volumes on programming and managing software. Take a look at all his books and his blog if you want to learn about software, the engine fueling our technology world.

Jakob Nielsen [blog]: is the "pre"-blogging blogger. His "alert box" newsletter articles are a testament for what steady serious writing can do for an idustry and a career (for over 13 years). Focusing on his usability message his articles are samples of ongoing work first published in "Designing Web Usability".

Don Norman [blog]: Nielsen's partner and the proselytizer of complexity (as opposed to Nielsen's simplicity). His book "Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things". Besides being the "complex" counterpoint to Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman's writing is a fascinating exploration into the world of real-practical-imaginative product design. While the Internet has been the world of virtual design product design and all the implications of use seem to have takes a back seat. Than we are suddenly hit with the Nintendo Wii and Apple iPod and realize that there is still simple and creative innovation in the product design.

Upcoming Bloggers in Business

Jim Collins: Christopher Meyer: Set Godin: