Gorilla Marketing:Gorilla Marketing Strategy, Gorilla planning, Gorilla tactics, Gorilla techniques,Marketing Gorillas

The Guerrilla-Checkup™ What is your market position ? Who's the 900lb Guerrilla in your market ?

A while ago an executive friend came by our office to try to figure out "just what" it is our Guerrilla marketing guys do for a living. (Have you ever tried to explain "internet marketing" to a friend?) What a challenge.

I tried to explain the concept to him on the phone, but he was totally lost by the depth and breadth of detail I was describing. He wanted to actually see the Marketing Guerrillas at work. I said to myself. "I need to show him something better than a zoo at feeding time," I can't monkey around with this... and wasn't sure just what to show him first.

So when he got here, I showed him some of our internet strategies and he was somewhat impressed, but then he saw one thing that almost knocked him off his feet. He asked, "what's that?" and pointed to my banana box containing a series of reports fresh off a recent analysis run for one of our hottest client sites. I told him it's a report for Top Bananas like him. A report loaded with facts, conclusions, corrective recommendations and ways to improve ecommerce and lead generation and sales.

"Yeh, it's our Top Banana Report." The name's one of those things that just kinda stuck. (I tell friends I make banana reports for a living, and some think I work at Chiquita - Top Banana they understand) <grin>

I showed him the different strategies we're doing for our businesses and how some of these were generating a "pile" of additional "bananas" for very little expense. He got so excited.... it scared me, but I could see there was something else bothering him.....

He told me he was afraid that only a "geek" could do that. "No," I responded, "only a properly trained Guerrilla like me," I said with a grin. He’s such a left brainer, then he pulls a huge dented and scratched programmable HP calculator out of his pocket. All the numbers were worn off the buttons and he even had the printer attachment in his brief case with a huge charger and spare batteries. So there he was.... crunching numbers for a couple of minutes.... with a scary frown on his face. It about drove me insane. "Damn...," I thought - "I just blew it". I was just staring at him with a big '????' on my face. Had that really bad feeling in my stomach.

Then to my greatest surprise he says to me; "You know, this isn't going to cost me but a fraction of one 30 second network TV spot ... and I can make an extra $400,000 on my current promotion using this. I’m talking about just this last thing you showed me ... that Top Banana Report." He didn't realize that Internet marketing costs per lead were that much lower than traditional media advertising. "I can really increase my market share using this media. I'll need to shift some of my marketing budget right away." He paused, you could have heard a pin drop in the office, "You’re a genius," he said. Then... I thought to myself..... not bad for a big ape like me. I stood there in shock completely paralyzed, not knowing just what to say. Then he said, "I'm losing sales standing here talking. How soon can you get started?" That was music to my ears.

This client has been the "Top Banana" in his vertical market on the internet and my good friend ever since. We actually overran his current production and sold out his factory's inventory. So he needed a bigger production capacity ... all because of a few Top Banana Report cycles. That's when the Marketing Guerrillas became reality for me. The rest is history. Now for the rest of the story. <grin>

A little background about the "Top Banana Report". When we first started coding competitive data reports for internet marketers, we had the savvy and tools to generate stacks of nearly real-time raw data. More data than the average person could use. I could also see in the data how a particular client was missing opportunities left and right. The data wasn't very pretty to look at, but was loaded with revealing insight to the dynamics of their internet position and that of their competition. I was so excited by what I had discovered, I couldn't wait to get the data in front of their people.

Well, most folks don't see patterns in raw data. For even the sharpest marketers, it's a little like looking at the bottom line on an eyechart from 100 yards away. My client's hardworking VP's just didn't have the time to wade through 200 pages of internet stats looking for answers. They wanted to see the facts jump out at them from page 1.

So, I learned the hard way don't ever -- and I mean ever --- show raw data without easy-to-grasp conclusions and actionable solutions. If you do, you might get handed a "clean out your desk" banana box. The original client who hired me to do discovery on a competitor got what he wanted, but as it went around the office it stirred up a turf war. As each VP looked at the data and began to see the company's many missed opportunities, they interpreted how they were going to handle the blame game, and pointed the political "gun" at my head... the easiest, safest target.

The division president could see missed opportunities that were costing them a small fortune each month, but my report wasn't written to identify the solutions to his underlings in black and white - it was written to convey facts. One marketing VP really didn't like what she saw. She actually "got it", but also saw the risk to her position. The Facts said to her, "Your Web site didn't get ranked well at all. Your agency isn't delivering. Your leads aren't qualified or traceable back to the media that drove it. Your competition does a much better job."

She didn't want to hire another agency. She didn't want to overhaul their site, or their data collection or their lead management procedures. She didn't take any more time to listen to me. She wanted me out of the building. So, she gave me a box - a banana box from the company breakroom. Yes she did... fired me that is, the same day I showed the raw data. The VP told me (as I was on my way out the door), "this data looks like a bucket of mashed bananas ... I don't have the time to sort through what's in there ... here's the perfect box for it."

She was right. I had given her a massive amount of information, but as with most long and detailed reports, it wasn't pretty, was as much an eyechart as it was a report, and wasn't packed with analytical conclusions you could "get" in 30 seconds. She had the facts, and it didn't make her look good. I was handed the "clean out your desk" banana box the same day, and out the door I went. I went home with my tail between my legs. It really wasn't very funny to me at the time, but now I look back and have to laugh at myself because I've realized the value of what I had developed.

From that point on, we've coded our "Top Banana" Reports to deliver facts fast and to clearly identify actionable opportunities for clients.

From that "Here's Your Box" day, I've been determined to make certain we turn raw internet marketing data into easy-to-see conclusions that can be acted on in a heartbeat. That same banana box is on my desk today. It's a constant reminder of the purpose of our reports.

What did I learn from this? If your an executive, it's no use really to tell you about keywords, pay-per-click, secondary platforms and hundreds of other possibilities. That's actually harder than trying to sell you a banana report. You must first see "where you're at" in the marketplace. So we made the "Top Banana Report" a product.

This is a marketing "check up from the neck up" if you will. It's simply a internet market positioning report that analyzes your vertical market on the internet (search platforms) , then determines how much penetration you have and at what cost. This is to see if your marketing is really healthy.

So if you are really serious about your marketing position on the internet and want to be a "Top Banana" in your market you'll need a "Top Banana Report" to see how well your doing!! If you would like more information about the "Top Banana Report" click here and " then select 411 on the "Top Banana Report". If you would like to know more about the Marketing Guerrillas and what we do...click on our logo in left menu panel. Let me thank you for your time today.

The following is an example of what a "Top Banana Report" might look like.

With this report you'll see where you're at as compared to the rest. I won't tell you how it works except to say its accurate within +-5% . We do many different marketing channels at the Guerrilla.

This client only has about 26% of the structured market covered on search platforms. The Guerrilla software has the ability to track all US search engines including many international markets. Last count we had over 300 markets in the system. The number changes daily as we add different databases for our clients.

We are also re-purposing many of the features of our software to meet client requests. Everyone is really still learning here. The software to date has well over a million dollars invested in its data base structures. this is one hell of a resource for your company to use for just a "few bananas".

So are you ready to see if your TOP Banana ?? <grin> This client thought he was top banana too ! BTW he's really a "Top Banana" now... because he hired the marketing Guerrillas to make it so. Where are you ?

Market Penetration Report

Client Summary 26% Structured Market

Created by Marketing Guerrillas

Phone 305-407-2613

Date:

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Poor

Status

Recipient:

Client: Call Cash Flow -vrs- Someone

Compared

X125

Rank

721

This report has been created with the Marketing Guerrilla's Market Penetration Software. If you've received this report from a third party, you can get a Guerrilla to help you by calling xxx-xxx-xxxx or visiting http://www.MarketingGuerrillas.net Copyright 2006

Report Overview Market Penetration 26% - Client (Call Cash Flow)
Ranking Date
Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Checked results
The first 15 results of each search engine have been checked.