Week #3 – MBA 6101 – Guerrilla Marketing, Chapter 3: The Sixteen Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing

In Guerilla Marketing; Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits From Your Small Business, Levinson offers sixteen concepts at the foundation of successful marketing. Outlined by Levinson, these precepts can be summarized in sixteen words plus one: commitment, investment, consistent, confident, patient, assortment, subsequent, convenient, amazement, measurement, involvement, dependent, armament, consent, content, and augment. The “plus one,” as critical as the preceding sixteen, implement.

According to Levinson, following these concepts all but guarantees (as Levinson states, about 90%) a step in the right direction towards a successful marketing strategy.  And while realize the impact may take time, Levinson cites his experience with a marketing campaign for Marlboro that took years to bear results, the sixteen concepts (plus one) will have an effect.       

While Levinson cautions readers against selectively adhering to specific concepts, there are standouts on the list.  For example, commitment.  According to Levinson, “mediocre marketing with commitment works better than brilliant marketing without commitment.”  Commitment indicates that you (or your client) are vested and engaged in the plan. And while the journey is not guaranteed to be without hurdles or obstacles, commitment to “a powerful [marketing] plan for your purposes” will bear results.       

A second concept that stands out on Levinson’s list is investment.  Levinson emphasizes that marketing should be understood as a “conservative” investment. 
Like investing in an established stock, results are not (usually) instantaneous.  Rather, like a conservative investment, the value will fluctuate over time, but growth (typically) is slow and steady. 

Another of Levinson’s concepts that’s notable is consistency.  While Levinson is okay with changing offers, headlines and prices, it’s critical to maintain a consistent identity.  Being a consistent marketer means keeping a consistent media presence, messages, and “graphic format.”  According to Levinson, consistent marketing “breeds familiarity, familiarity breeds confidence, and confidence breeds sales.” 

The final stand-out concept is confidence.  According to Levinson, being confident trumps quality, selection, price, and service.  While confidence is a key trait of the guerrilla marketer, it is also important to maintain a confident, strong media presence regardless of channel, and to instill confidence in your customers or clients through your products or services.