| As a small business owner, one of your | | | | weight. |
| biggest challenges is marketing your product | | | | |
| and/or your website. You can play it safe by | | | | 6. Align the elements on your page. The |
| doing exactly what everyone else is doing. Or | | | | layout and structure of your print or web |
| you can embrace the low-cost, high-impact | | | | copy are essential to the overall look and |
| Guerrilla Marketing tactics advocated by Jay | | | | feel of your marketing message. If charts, |
| Conrad Levinson. | | | | illustrations and photographs appear randomly |
| | | | dropped into your copy then your entire |
| Guerrilla Marketers rely more on imagination | | | | effort will have a haphazard feel to it which |
| than large marketing budgets when it comes to | | | | will not engender confidence. Make sure that |
| creating memorable and effective campaigns. | | | | the borders of all elements are aligned with |
| They know that details matter, and that there | | | | each other and with the column structure that |
| are 10 cardinal rules which, if followed with | | | | supports your page. |
| zeal, will make every marketing effort stand | | | | |
| head and shoulders above the competition. | | | | 7. Less is more. Again, just because you |
| Adopting 10 cardinal rules will guarantee | | | | can do something does not necessarily mean |
| that print materials and web copy will stand | | | | that you should do it. Don't go overboard |
| out from the competition and yield big | | | | with graphics or with splashes of color or |
| results. | | | | distracting borders or unnecessary clipart. |
| | | | Go for a clean, professional look in |
| 1. Consistency. Avoid the temptation to go | | | | everything you do. |
| wild with type faces, sizes, and colors. Just | | | | |
| because you can do something does not mean | | | | 8. Use UPPER CASE type with restraint. |
| you should do it. Create an identity and then | | | | Subheads and headlines set in all upper-case |
| stick with it. Customers use all sorts of | | | | letters are harder to read than headlines and |
| shortcuts when looking for their favorite | | | | subheads set in lower-case type. |
| products, and colors and type style are two | | | | |
| of the easiest for them to latch onto. | | | | 9. Sweat the details. As all Guerrilla |
| | | | Marketers know, the profit is in the details. |
| 2. Embrace white space. White space is your | | | | Awkward sentence spacing, single words or |
| friend. White space makes both your print and | | | | lines at the end of a page, sentence |
| web copy look clean and easy to read. Having | | | | fragments, and misaligned graphics create a |
| sufficient white space around the edges of | | | | sense of sloppiness in the mind of your |
| your copy also tends to focus the reader's | | | | reader. |
| eye directly into your copy. | | | | |
| | | | 10. View it through the eyes of your ideal |
| 3. Write in short paragraphs. Keep | | | | customer. Always approach your print and web |
| paragraphs to no more than three or four | | | | copy (and everything else that you do) |
| sentences. Large blocks of unbroken type | | | | through the eyes of your ideal customers who |
| intimidates readers and causes them to look | | | | look at everything from the "What's in it for |
| elsewhere. Two paragraphs of three sentences | | | | me" perspective. |
| each are far more effective than one | | | | |
| paragraph of six sentences. | | | | That old saying that you only have one chance |
| | | | to make a first impression is especially true |
| 4. Make use of subheads. Subheads break | | | | when it comes to print and web copy. With a |
| long stretches of copy into short, | | | | website you have approximately 8 seconds in |
| easy-to-digest mini articles. Subheads also | | | | which to grab and hold your potential |
| provide alternative entry-points into your | | | | client's attention. With a print ad or |
| print or web copy and encourage readers who | | | | brochure you're lucky if a reader stays with |
| tend to skim content. | | | | you beyond the first four sentences. |
| | | | |
| 5. Create bullets and lists. Use bullets | | | | True blue Guerrilla Marketers know how to |
| and numbered paragraphs to break up copy and | | | | create a stellar first impression. Focus on |
| to highlight and emphasize points. Numbered | | | | these 10 cardinal rules, and you'll likely |
| lists are used when priority matters, and | | | | unleash big results on a shoestring budget. |
| bullets indicate that each point is of equal | | | | |