by Natalia Jones

Created on: March 24, 2009

Guerrilla marketing, much like its namesake "guerrilla warfare", depends largely on unconventional methods, to defeat an often large and methodical enemy (or in the case of marketing; competitor). Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book "Guerrilla Marketing" actually coined the term and the associated definition.

The idea behind guerrilla marketing is actually quite simple. Often, small companies or start-ups have a difficult time gaining market share because they must compete with larger firms that are not only already established, but may also have marketing budgets as large as the small company's entire revenue. This is hardly a fair fight in a situation where he who has the money rules the world.

To combat the larger company's big budget, one must turn one's disadvantages into advantages. In guerrilla warfare, large national armies have been conquered by small bands of organized fighters. This is because they did not allow their opponent's size to intimidate them, rather they recognized the rigidity of the larger army and arranged themselves into small tight combat groups that attacked the larger army on several different fronts forcing them to divide their artillery and focus on a broad area.

Guerrilla marketing matches the competitor's big budget with large investments of time, energy and imagination. The following are just a few no cost ideas to market your business;

Ask clients for written testimonials. This speaks louder than any amount of self promotion you could do. People pay more attention to what actual users have to say as they feel like this person identifies with their needs.

Submit a press release to your local newspaper. There is no need to pay for a PR professional to prepare one for you. Do the research yourself and write your own press release. This is a free medium that has the potential to reach a vast audience. You need to remember though to adhere to the PR guidelines and not give the newspaper any reason to overlook your story.
Work on a great answer to the question "what do you do?" ready for your next networking opportunity. Being prepared does not mean reciting a speech, be careful not to turn people off by sounding like you are launching into a sales pitch, but at the same time have a polished even witty answer ready for your next tte-tte.

Build a solid referral program. Gaining business from referrals is actually easier than finding completely new clients and yet so many people neglect this aspect of marketing. Referral programs are also

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