one of Jay's great stories involves a guerrilla furniture store

owner in a shopping mall. The stores to either side of him had

big clearance sales going on. Each store had a huge banner over

their respective entrances touting their sales. The guerrilla

put a sign over his door that simply said, "Enter Here."

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Another side bar: Your sensitivity should not be limited just to

your prospects, customers, and competitors. Expand your

sensitivity to include your communities and economy.

Economic trends will help you determine which tactics and

weapons will be most effective. And sensitivity to your

communities will help your identity as someone who is committed

and involved. Some time I will do an article about marketing

benefits that resulted from my commitment to whole Spam

issue!!

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The next two characteristics of a guerrilla marketer go hand

-in-hand. They are ego strength and aggressiveness. Ego

strength is not egotism. Rather it is quiet confidence that

comes from knowing who you are really and living that self -

having an identity rather than an image. It is this ego strength

that makes commitment possible.

The aggressiveness of a guerrilla is not stereotype

used-car salesman aggressiveness. Rather it is the

aggressiveness that makes a marketer do extra-ordinary to

get and keep customers. It is giving of more value than any

of your competitors. It is willingness to "go extra

mile" for your prospect. It is following up with your customers

regularly, offering them more and more value - more and more

reasons to stay loyal to you!

This aggressiveness is best used in combination with next

characteristic, which we've hinted at already. A guerrilla has

generosity. There is a testimonial on our web site that one of

you sent to me which says, "Thank you for your time and

generosity." It means we went beyond normal expectations and

gave value beyond what monetary compensation demanded.

Testimonials like that are what keeps us going day to day!!!

The next to last trait is my personal favorite. Don't ever

believe old saw that "you can't teach an old dog new

tricks." To be a great guerrilla marketer you have to be engaged

in constant learning, especially on Internet, where things

change so rapidly. I'm 52 years old, have several degrees, but

these last six months have been more of an learning experience

than all eight years I spent in college and graduate school.

Just writing these articles has been an education. Never stop

learning.

The last characteristic is probably hardest for most of us.

I know it is for me. As a guerrilla marketer, you must take

action. All of above characteristics are useless if you do

not put them in action. Not only do you have to "talk talk,"

you must "walk walk."

One final note: a great guerrilla marketer is not necessarily

born. She can be self-made! Do an honest self-analysis. Which of

these characteristics are your strong points? Which are weak

points? Concentrate on improving those that need work. You can

be a great guerrilla. You just need to take action.

If you need any help or morale boosting or advice, feel free to

write me at mailto:john@3r-marketing.com. My in box is always

open to you!

Oh yeah, we're all allergic to being poor and it stuffs us up so we can't smell.

Am I trying to cut anybody down here? No, not really. I mean, I love both fishing and Internet marketing. It's just that I've always made my points on opposite side of fence. If I tell you I caught a big fish, I'll back that up by getting it out of freezer and having you over for dinner.

In truth, some of BIG marketers DO deliver what they promise. You do need to be careful, however, because there are plenty that don't.

Realize that even though sales copy is written so that is sounds like their deepest desire is to help you out, true overall objective is to make sales. That's ok, that's what we are all trying to do. I like making money just as much as next guy. I'm just saying be sure you know exactly what you are going to get for your money before you spend it. Don't buy into something on hype of what it might do for you. Demand to KNOW what it WILL do.

There are marketers who deliver on their promises and do their best to be supportive of their product or service, however, there are plenty that are too concerned about making next sale to follow up on yours.

Make sure you are getting what you want before you buy. If you're not sure that you will, ask questions. If they are unwilling to answer, more than likely their fish isn't as big as they said it was.

As for real fishermen, there's only been one that ever fed as many people with his fish as he claimed he could.

That was Jesus, and he over delivered.

As far as I know, though, Jesus isn't involved in Internet marketing, so trust carefully.