As Chief Marketing Officer for Guerrilla Marketing International, I am constantly learning new marketing tactics and strategies. There is always something new to discover and share with you. I love to teach others these guerrilla marketing tactics because I know that they can bring people more profits! I know that these strategies work 100% of the time when deployed correctly, and that is exciting to share! Today I want to highlight a few guerrilla marketing strategies with you. I hope that you’ll also take the time to check out Guerrilla Marketing Training. I’m hosting a no cost webinar on Thursday, February 24th, and I hope you join me! Click this link to register and to learn more: http://www.gmarketingtraining.com/profits/

Here are 3 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons you can use right now:

• A sense of urgency. Customers want a pleasant experience, and often times that means a quick and painless experience. Show the customer that you care and want them to be satisfied by showing a genuine sense of urgency when it comes to their service.
• Case Studies. Demonstrate the amazing job that you do as a company by showing prospects and potential customers examples of your work!
• Flexibility. Sometimes certain situations and circumstances make it necessary to be flexible. Customers appreciate this a lot, and it will give you a good reputation if you can help a customer out.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing, Marketing Insights | No Comments »

Today, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military. The revolution that has taken place has been at the forefront of world news since January. Although I do not wish to comment on the events themselves, there has been an interesting element to this revolution that is unique, but I think it shows the future of political and global happenings.

Social media and technology had a major impact on the revolution in Egypt. The protest movement had leveraged social media’s powerful marketing to educate the world, facilitate demonstrations and help the world follow what’s happening in Egypt. It is amazing how networks such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook were able to spread the word of what was happening. The constant stream of updates, images, messages, etc that was flowing through the internet expressed the passion that protesters are feeling. I think that this is the first event that utilized social media to spread the event like wildfire, and I’m sure it will not be the last.

I think this goes to show how much of an impact social media and technology have on our lives. It will be interesting to see what the future holds.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Marketing Insights | 2 Comments »

Working from home is becoming increasingly popular. With each new technological advancement, working from home becomes easier and a more convenient option. For many, working from home is a privilege. You can work where you want, how you want, and often, when you want. There is flexibility and a sense of freedom that is not possible in a formal office setting. However, that being said, there are challenges to working from home. Difficulty focusing, effective communication and productivity are just some of the issues that people face when they work from home.

Here at Taz Solutions, we are a virtual company, which means we all “work from home”. For some, that means a home office, a sitting room, or a coffee shop. Anywhere with internet access can serve as their work station. We’re experts at working from home, so here are some tips for taking on the challenges associated with a virtual office.

• Minimize distractions. This may be an obvious one, but it’s important. Distractions come in various forms, and can be deadly to your productivity! Keep your work space quiet and clean. Do not be near any non-work related technology, such as a T.V. If you live with others, set boundaries when it comes to work, and if you have children, find a daycare, a spouse or a babysitter to watch them.
• Use your time wisely. Being productive can be a challenge even for those working in an office. Have time on your side by scheduling out your days/weeks as detailed as possible. Promise yourself that you will keep to your schedule and make important deadlines.
• Work in blocks. Some of our clients are productivity experts, and we have learned that you can be most productive if you work in time blocks. It is best to work for 45-50 minutes straight, and then take a 15 minute break.
• Don’t multitask! This if my last tip, but it is certainly not least. Multitasking is a productivity killer, but it can be hard to resist! When you work from home on your own, it can be easy to switch from task to task without finishing one first. This makes it harder to be effective at one task in particular, so you lose productivity and mistakes can be made. Commit to one thing, and turn off or avoid distractions such as email or phone.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Keys to Success | 2 Comments »

Today is a very special day for my team and I. After a year of hard work, I am excited to announce for the first time ever we have re-launched our Guerrilla Marketing Association. The association has been live since 1999, but we did a total overhaul to make sure it was technology friendly and jam-packed with content you can use to instantly start increasing your profits.

http://guerrillamarketingassociation.com/

We are so proud and excited to share this incredible membership site with you! Here are a few of the benefits you will receive from being a member of the association:

• Exclusive content that cannot be found anywhere on the planet, period - content so valuable that, when deployed, it could be deadly to your competition.
• It’s the only place (besides the live events done at Jay’s home) where you can interact with him and get your questions answered.
• Each month we will go into extensive detail on one of the 200 weapons, showing you how it can be deployed to work in any business.
• It’s a perfect extension to my books, showing you how to further apply the tactics learned in the books.
• Members get discounts to other guerrilla training, as well as special offers from other companies we have partnered with.
• And so much more… expert articles, a forum to interact with other guerrillas, guerrilla goodies and beyond.

Because we truly feel this is going to change your business for the better, we want you to test drive the association FREE for 14 days. That’s right, no cost. If you love it (and I’m sure you will), great! After the 14 day trial it’s only $97/month and you can cancel at any time. If you feel it’s not for you, simply cancel and your card won’t be charged.

We hope you take advantage of this special offer! Click here to sign up and learn more: http://guerrillamarketingassociation.com/

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing, Keys to Success | No Comments »

Social media marketing has attracted a lot of attention the past few years because of it’s ability to drive a large amount of traffic to your web site. Facebook and Twitter are the top social media outlets that marketers are using. However, social media marketing is not restricted to Facebook and Twitter.

Other social media sites that are making their mark and can prove beneficial for promotion include StumbleUpon, MySpace, Reddit, You Tube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Yelp, Digg, Delicious and many more are to come.

Each of those social media sites mentioned has a strong user base. When used effectively, they have the potential to generate a good amount of traffic similar to Facebook or Twitter. To acheive those results, it is important to understand what specific purpose a social media site can serve. If it matches with your own objective, then it is right platform for your business promotion. For example, if your target is music lovers, then MySpace is the ideal choice for promotion of your music site.

Each of these sites have specific attributes which must be considered when creating your social media marketing plan. Instead of targeting a large number of undefined users, it is wiser to target those who are actually in need of products or service that you provide. It will not only save time and effort but will enable maximum exposure to your target market.

It is worthwhile to do a little preparation and research in order to realize the benefits offered by Social Media Marketing.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Online Marketing | No Comments »

By now, almost everyone has started marketing their products and services on social media. The question is, are they doing it right? There are tons of different methods and tips for using social media for marketing, it can be very confusing, especially for a newbie. Instead of delving into difficult and complicated tutorials, here are some quick tips for social media that you can apply right now!

• bit.ly or tinyurl.com. These two web sites are life-safers for those of you marketing on Twitter! As you know, Twitter has a character limit of 140 for each tweet, so adding your web site to the end of a tweet can be a challenge. These sites shorten your url into a much shorter url so that you can more easily fit it into a tweet. Plus, it’s free.
• Link bait. This tends to be easier said than done, but if you have a great, interesting product or service, this shouldn’t be hard! It means that you naturally attract backlinks for your web page by getting people to talk about your products/website. Post something interesting, eye popping, question-generating, intriguing, etc, on social media. That way, people will talk about it, blog about it, discuss it on forums, etc. It’s a way to start buzz!
• Google analytics. Set up an account on Google Analytics so you can see how well your social media efforts are doing. You’ll be able to see how many visitors are coming from the social media sites you are marketing on. Track your results and adjust your plan so you get maximum results!

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Marketing Insights, Online Marketing | No Comments »

Although every business does it’s best to avoid upsetting a customer, it is bound to happen at some point, and every business should be prepared. Angry customers are a part of life, and while they are unpleasant, they are an opportunity for you to show your true customer service colors! It’s rather easy to have great customer service when customers are being friendly and easygoing, but it can be a challenge when a customer is being difficult. Here are some tips for how to handle an angry customer.

• Listen. This first tip is the most critical. When customers are angry, they want you to listen! The worst thing you can do is not listen or try to talk over him/her. Actively listen to what the customer is saying by being quiet and responsive when appropriate. Never interrupt or correct a customer. If he/she is wrong or misinformed, wait until after the customer has finished talking to talk. Ask questions if appropriate to get the full story.

• Apologize. Make sure it is clear to the customer that you are sorry and that you want to fix the situation. If you are not sure whether you can actually fix the situation, let them know that you will try your best. Never promise to fix it if you cannot follow through with that promise.

• Present them with a possible solution. Give them a option that will hopefully appease them, or even delight them! This is a great opportunity to “wow” them by completely fixing the problem. If your company is completely in the wrong, it is smart to go above and beyond to keep them as a customer. If you can turn an angry customer into a happy one, they will be more likely to spread the word about your great customer service.

• Follow up. This shows the customer that you care. It can be as simple as an email or phone call. If you want to keep the customer, you need to follow up, especially if a mistake was made on your side. Ask them how they are doing. You can even thank them for bringing an issue to your attention, if that is the case.

Remember, don’t take the words from an angry customer personally! Deal with it the best you can to keep customer satisfaction and retention high.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Business Strategy, Keys to Success | 1 Comment »

Each year, I send out a highly confidential email to our clients that lists the trends from 2010 and what is coming in 2011. One trend has been on this list for four years running; content. Every one of the search engines has held true to the statement that content is king online. The only difference is that they have made advancements on the different types of content they can “read” and index.

One way to out market your competition is to simply produce more content then they are producing. The only issue that seems to get mentioned repeatedly is time. Where do I find the time to produce videos and articles and blogs and Facebook updates and twitter updates and still have time to focus on the other 4000 other things that need to get accomplished during the day?

Here’s the secret formula: start with video. Each month, I want you to produce 25 short videos that are one to three minutes in length. Each video should be a standalone topic. For example: How to fry a turkey, How to make great gravy, 3 Pumpkin Pie Secrets Exposed. The video quality is irrelevant. As long as the audio can be heard loud and clear it doesn’t matter if it is shot in HD or 720. To keep things simple pick up a Kodak ZI8 camera and a good (I like Sony) wireless microphone and you’re in business.

After the 25 videos are done (this will take you less than 2 hours) get the videos transcribed. These 25 videos are the perfect length for blog posts. Now you have 25 blog posts, enough for the entire month.

Armed with these 25 blog posts, hire someone from odesk.com (or a similar service) with the project titled ‘Content Spinner’. You’re looking for someone to take the blog posts and re-write them a bit to be used as articles. After a few hours of work (that someone else is doing) you now have 25 articles for sites like Ezine.

Hang tight; there are still a few more uses for these videos. Using a service like Garage Band (which is a Mac program) you can pull the audio from the video, thus giving you 25 short podcasts for sites like Itunes.com

Last but not least, pull some of the tidbits of good information from the blog posts as articles and you have hundreds, if not thousands, of tweets.

All this content (including the original videos that should be submitted to all the video sites) comes from just 25 short videos on topics that your target market would find interesting.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Keys to Success, Online Marketing | No Comments »

As Chief Marketing Officer for Guerrilla Marketing International, I am hosting a free event with Loral Langemeier on January 26th. It’s in beautiful Sacramento, California! Spend a few hours with the nation’s top business experts on putting more cash in your pocket and taking your life to the next level.

From Loral you’ll discover:

• New ways to create MORE CASH
• How to FOCUS your goals to get results
• What SEQUENCE of ACTIONS is right for you
• Who you really need on your TEAM
• How to acquire the right MINDSET
• Where to find NEW CASH

And I will show you 7 Ways to Double Your PROFITS Without Spending A Dime By Using Guerrilla Marketing!

Don’t miss out on this free live event! Click here to learn more and to register.

http://liveoutloud.com/loral/sacramento/

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Fun Sites | No Comments »

Creativity spread too thin!
Being a graphics designer is a heavy responsibility especially when you are the sole provider of great looking designs for your team. And if you have ever been in art class then you know how hard it can be to create on the spot with grades at stake, or in the real world with money at stake.
Being in the industry for several years I have seen many different types of clients and scenarios, and how they interact with developers and designers. I’m not a designer myself, original ideas about creativity do not flow from me, just copied and altered ones. Through my experience, I have found 4 ways to help keep the designers I work with productive and making our sites look beautiful.

From canvas to paint
Ideas for design should always start out big and rough and should be constantly fine tuned. Thus allowing the client to see progress and have the overall preferences that are desired to come true. Clients should have final approve of the designs so that there are no disputes.

Share your work with the class
And by class I mean the client and stakeholders. Communication is key! Allow for variety in the mock ups. This is especially important in the early stages of website design because sometimes the client doesn’t always know what they want. Having a variety of mock ups to choose from allows for input and refinement.

Ask for criticism
Though it may be hard to accept sometimes, you can’t please everyone all of the time. Don’t take the criticism personally, but rather take the time to understand the reason for the criticism and if you can’t figure out why a point was brought out, then ask. Perhaps the client doesn’t know what they need or is wrong in an suggestion, if this is the case then tactfully prepare a explanation of why you did what you did.

When the brush runs dry
After designing a few sites, it may become evident that you are doing the same thing over and over again. That can become discouraging and it may sound something like this: “Header, logo, navigation, body, sidebar, dummy text, footer.” That’s boring, and it doesn’t aid creativity. So challenge yourself to look at interesting websites and see if you can put a new spin on the day in and day out work. Try new things and see what works!

I’d like to dedicate this post to Maureen Sanchez who keeps painting beautifully no matter the pressure.

Posted by Michael Tasner
Filed under: Keys to Success | No Comments »