The following short story is a great example of how thinking “out of the box”  can get you new business even in a tough economy.

A savvy restaurant owner knew the value of asking the question, “What other businesses do my customers patronize?“

Realizing that competition was fierce in their neighborhood this owner used imagination rather than pure marketing dollars to spread the word of her terrific food. Here was her Guerrilla strategy:

She distributed coupons for two free dinners to all the hairstyling salons within a one mile radius of the restaurant. Of course the stylists checked out the restaurant. Because the food was as fantastic as advertised … the hairstylists talked it up to every one of their customers at the salon!    And as you know lots of information is exchanged at a local hairstyling salon or barbershop.  News spread fast and her business became the talk of the town!

Creative huh?   Ask yourself what other other businesses do your customers patronize and see if you can use this strategy in your business.

——–

Want to learn more low cost, high impact strategies for getting new customers and start a new business coaching others?

The next 12 week Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification starts Monday January 11 at 7EST.

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Although specific estimates vary, online researchers agree that email recipients make quick decisions on whether or not they will open and read promotional emails. Obviously, if they like, want, need, and/or are actively seeking the products being offered, they’re far more likely to open them. But emails come with their own special challenge, the subject line – that short, information burst that can make you or break you.

Like direct mail envelope “teasers,” emails’ subject lines must grab the recipients’ interests and increase the chances that they’ll open the messages. That’s why you’ll want to work on getting yours just right.

Start getting ideas scanning your own inbox.  Jot down any that catch your interest and then see how you can tweak them to suit your needs. You can also look at headlines in your local newspaper, magazines, websites, and the like and see it you can covert any of those into intriguing subject lines.

Then use these tips to fine-tune your choices.

1. Keep them short and to the point. Less is definitely more in this instance, especially since overly long subject lines will get cut off from view anyhow.

2. Don’t divulge too much information. Add intrigue.  Build curiosity. Make them want to open your email to find out more. For example:

-       Zach, have you heard this yet?

-       The Psychology behind the $40 Pet Rock Craze

-       When $100 per hour is just okay

3. Use your recipients’ first names, unless it’s awkward or sounds forced. For example:

-       John, will you help me?

-       Mary, you’ll want to print this email.

4. Ask questions, such as:

-       Is procrastination killing your business?

-       Do you believe in this deadly marketing myth?

5. Include your product or service’s number one benefit and make sure it’s relevant to your target audience, like”

-       One tip for losing ten pounds in one week

-       5 Free Ways to Sell More Houses

6. Avoid sending off “hooey” and spam alarms with exaggerations, or hints of high pressure sales tactics, such as:

- Triple your…

- My dear so-and-so

- Your e-commerce business

- Earn thousands at home

- Making Money the easy way

- Immediate action required

Adapted from Guerrilla Marketing On The Internet by Mitch Meyerson, Jay Levinson and Mary Scarborough

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Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program Starting January 2010

In this 2 minute video you will learn three tips that will definitely help you in tough times.

by Craig Valentine, 1999 World Champion Of Public Speaking.  He is the co creator of the World Class Speaking book and Certification Program.   Get Your Free World Class Speakers Audio Toolkit

If you want to drastically improve your very next presentation, it is important to understand 4 of the pitfalls that keep most speakers in a ditch out of which they can never seem to climb. If you see where these traps are, you can easily avoid them. As a result, you will clear your pathway to a powerful and persuasive speech.

Here are the 4 costly mistakes:

They close their speech with the question and answer session

Never close your speech with the Q&A session, because people remember best what they hear first and what they hear last. If you end with the Q&A, you lose control over the last message your audience receives and much of your hard work is undone. It is still a good idea to have a Q&A session, but it is not a good idea to end your presentation with it. Instead, hold the session about 80-90% into your speech and then close the speech in your own powerful way.

They open their speech with a whimper

Most speakers open with statements like, “I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me to speak at this prestigious occasion. First I’d like to thank Bob…” What is wrong with that kind of opening? Frankly, it’s boring. It’s boring because it’s expected. Instead, come out in an unexpected way by jumping right into your message. Take the “sitcom” approach and start the show first and then transition to the opening theme song.

One good way to do this is to immediately dive into a story. That will catch your audience off guard and you will have their attention. Another effective way is to ask a question. For example, I start some speeches with the following question: “What do you think is the number one thing that stands in the way of most people living their dreams?” This immediately gets my audience’s attention and prompts them to think and to get involved with the speech. Questions work extremely well because they take your audience members from passive spectators to active participants and that definitely raises the energy. Once you finish your planned opening, it is then fine to go back and thank the people who brought you there.

They lip-synch

I once had a CFO of a biotech company say, “Craig, we need you to coach us with our presentation. We already have the presentation, but we just need to know what to say.” That might seem confusing but I knew exactly what he meant. He meant that the company already had a slide presentation but they needed to know what to say between those slides. Once I worked with them, they came to realize that they had to look at their major points first and then determine if slides were even needed to reinforce them.

Most presenters who use slides simply verbalize the same points that are made on the slide. The key to understand is this; if you say the same thing as your slides, then one of you is not needed! You are doing the equivalent of lip-synching your presentation. The best time to use slides is for real visuals such as charts, graphs, and diagrams that help clarify what you say verbally.

They don’t master the essence of public speaking

Bill Gove, the first President of the National Speakers Association, once said that public speaking is being able to “tell a story and make a point.” That indeed is the essence of public speaking. If you want to become the kind of speaker others line up and sign up to see, then make an effort to master storytelling. People make decisions with their emotions backed up by logic. Stories reach those emotions and get people in a frame of mind to take action. When you become a master storyteller, you help other people see new stories unfold for their own lives. Like the old saying goes, “Facts tell and stories sell.”

If you avoid the 4 pitfalls that trap most speakers and you work on the suggestions above, you will find yourself far ahead of most of the people who ever stood up to say anything.

Craig Valentine is  starting a brand new Coach Certification Program for Speakers and Entrepreneurs September 21 For the Full Story–>  World Class Speaking Coach Certification Progran

If you are like me you have heard about the 80/20 rule for years. You know it, it’s called the Pareto Principle – 20% of your activities account 80% of your results.

Well as Bob Dylan said about 40 years ago, “the times they are a changing”. In my opinion the more accurate reality of this notion is the 90/10 principle. Why?

Simply this… Technology has seduced us all into many new activities that didn’t exist a few years ago (creating websites, watching videos on I pods, viewing webinars on our computers). It’s endless and very very addictive.

While cool and exciting, it has also turned us into culture of multi-taskers. I think we are developing what I call “technological ADD”. You know it — you live it. You listen to teleconferences while you are checking your email and IM’s, scan through hundreds of channels on your TV while eating and talking, talk on the phone while cleaning, text while driving (I hope not) …this list goes on and on. You may even get restless just doing two things at once because we are so addicted to these new forms of stimulation.

How Does This Affect Your Business?

Big time. Your audience is distracted too and they are hardy even listening when you talk (remember they are multi-tasking). And with Twitter and other social media platforms thousands of people are all talking at the same time!

So if you want to get results you must be more specific and strategic than ever about what you focus your time on. I propose we change the 80/20 principle to the 90/10 principle.

What does this mean for you? Become much more intentional with how you spend your work time. Ask yourself: What 10% of my activities account for 90% of my results? Then focus on these everyday and learn to say no to distractions!

It isn’t easy, but as they say in the recovery world “one step at a time”. If you do you will be surprised at the results.

Place a comment and let me know if you agree or not.

by Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching

www.MitchMeyerson.com

Last weekend I was invited by Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who’s Got Your Back? to a private dinner with him and about 20 other successful entrepreneurs at the NSA Convention in Scottsdale, AZ.   Hosted at the Tuscany Restaurant at the Marriott this dinner was all about really connecting with others, something that is becoming less common in today’s rushed world.

Keith stood up before dinner and set the tone for authenticity, purpose and fun.  There were stimulating conversations on the trends in social media and even political discussions on how we got into this recession.

During this dinner and Keith’s presentation at NSA I really experienced on a deeper level how important it is to have key people in your life that you connect with on a very real level.  People who “have your back”.

Here are a few key points in his presentation.. But I encourage you to get his book — it is excellent. (Click here)

1) Relationships are the “secret sauce”,  the key to success in business and life.  Develop a small group of 3-4 key people (he calls this a lifeline group) who are really there for you for support, encouragement, feedback and accountability.  Take safe risks and stretch with these people.

2) There are 4 mindsets for cultivating deep and meaningful relationships:   1) Vulnerability  2) Generosity  3) Candor and 4) Accountability

If you think about each of these concepts you can see they chart towards more connected relationships that will ultimately combat the superficiality that often exists in today’s fast paced world.

3) These are not just principles, you need to “walk the talk”.  The thing that struck me about Keith that evening was that he doesn’t just write about relationships he builds them on a daily basis by giving, engaging and raising the bar on living a big and fulfilling life.

What can you do today to take you relationships to the next level? Who’s got your back?

Mitch Meyerson  is the Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching and Author of 9 books

Look at the first picture where the car traveling from right to left crashes through the guard rail

and turns 180 degrees over the ditch and lands facing the other way…

Now take a look at the full picture — all the way to the bottom!

Amazing…
Mitch

www.MitchMeyerson.com

By: Michael Tasner, Internet Marketing Expert, Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach

Some of you have heard of it, others might think from the name it’s some type of fish. Squidoo.com is the brainchild of expert marketer Seth Godin. It’s quickly becoming one of the most trafficked web sites in the world and is a must use for any Guerrilla Marketer.

What is Squidoo?

Squidoo is simply a collection of sites, or len’s as they call them. These len’s can be on any topic (from the environment, to laptop bags, or web design even the upcoming elections) and both business and personal in nature.

The user fills the lens with relevant content, audios, pictures, links and even videos to make it not only informative, but attractive.

Why Should You Use Squidoo.com to market your product/service?

Do a search for laptop bags in google, check out the number 1 result – A Squidoo page. This Squidoo lens is beating out companies that have been trying to get in the top ten of the search engines for years for that phrase.

How did they do it? Simple; content on a site that Google loves. Let me repeat that statement: Google LOVES Squidoo.com because it’s full of content. And if Google loves Squidoo.com, they also love lens’s that were built on the Squidoo.com platform.

How Can I Get Started with Squidoo.com?

Visit Squidoo.com, sign up and create a lens. It’s just that easy! You can create a nice looking lens in under an hour. The key to creating a nice lens is to keep it information driven and fresh. As guerrilla’s know- if you deliver value first, people will respect you, keep coming back for more, and eventually buy from you!

Also, visit SquidU for a plethora of free information.

Happy Squidooing!

Internet Marketing Expert, Michael Tasner is the President of Taz Solutions Inc. a full service web company devoted to helping businesses make more money. Check out http://www.tazsol.com for more details and to learn how their team of experts can help you.

Join Mitch Meyerson this Thursday Feb 14 as he interviews marketing innovator Seth Godin!

It’s 2008…and the rules of marketing have changed.

Do you know what to do to increase sales, generate buzz and be
the best in today’s crowded marketplace? Do you know how to
choose the best marketing and sales strategies?

It’s critical that you do. Choose the right ones and you’ve got
sales and people talking about you. Choose the wrong ones
and…well, you’ve lost time, money and possibly even your
reputation.

There is a solution. Seth Godin has written about it in his new
book called Meatball Sundae. And, you have a special opportunity
to hear him talk about that solution.

On Thursday, February 14th at 1pm ET, join NY Times bestselling
author, Seth Godin, along with Keith Ferrazzi, Andrea J Lee, and
Mitch Meyerson (that’s me) for a powerful panel discussion and
discover the one thing that will make or break your marketing
efforts this year.

Click here to register at no charge:

www.sethgodinbooktour.com

Not only will you get to hear from Seth and me, but you will also
get to hear strategies and tips from:

* Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone
* Andrea J Lee, author of Money, Meaning and Beyond

Can’t make the live call? That’s ok. Go ahead and register
anyways, so you can get access to the recording of the call.

See you there,
Mitch

By: Michael Tasner, Internet Marketing Expert, Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach

There has been a ton of buzz around a social networking web site; Facebook.com. The question of the day is: Does it make sense to have a presence on Facebook?

In most cases, the answer is YES, and we’ll tell you why!

Facebook is a social “utility” that connects people and businesses. It started off as a web site for college students, added high school students and is now open to everyone and anyone in the world. It has grown to over 65 million users and is ranked the 7th most visited web site in the world according to Alexa.com

While the site is primarily used for students, businesses have been jumping on Facebook.com like there is no tomorrow. We only see the number of subscribers to continue to get larger and larger, and now is a prime time to get started with Facebook.com.

Instead of giving you a full list of which businesses SHOULD BE on Facebook.com we are going to tell you which ones shouldn’t be as the list is much shorter:

-Businesses that have a hard to explain product/service
-Highly proprietary businesses
-Inappropriate sites/businesses for all viewers

That is pretty much it, we recommend all the other types of businesses get on Facebook.com: mom and pop businesses, web businesses, corporations, real estate companies, one man/women operations, people selling businesses to business, business to consumer and so on. The list is a mile long!

As a Guerrilla you should be using Multiple Streams of Traffic to generate leads/sales so why not use the most popular social networking web site in the world?

Head to Facebook.com and spend a few hours creating an information packed profile that others while find useful. That’s the key – put out information people want and they will find you some way or another!

Internet Marketing Expert, Michael Tasner is the President of Taz Solutions Inc. a full service web company devoted to helping businesses make more money. Check out http://www.tazsol.com for more details and to learn how their team of experts can help you.