• Forbes.com/Wired, Thursday, June 15, 2006 1 PM

Small businesses should avoid traditional media in their marketing efforts and instead concentrate more on "out of the box" tactics like guerrilla marketing to ensure a significantly better ROI on the advertising dollars. That's the message from adman turned author Jay Conrad Levinson, who wrote Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits From Your Small Business, and is a 12-year veteran of major ad agencies, including J. Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett. Guerrilla marketing is all about efficiency, but that doesn't always mean spending less. Companies tend to allocate about 4 percent of sales on marketing, although some crafty guerrilla marketers may go as high as 8 percent, Levinson says. The real investment here is the time and sweat spent understanding the needs of your customers and coming up with creative ways of communicating your value proposition. "Broadening your search isn't as important as aiming your message at the right people," says Levinson. He also points out that guerrilla marketing isn't just about the medium--it's also about the message. It's not enough to offer people a way to lose weight or stop smoking when your competitors are offering similar services. Instead, tap into your customers' timeless fixations with vanity and fulfillment. Show them that, by quitting smoking or eating right, they'll find love, earn the cheers of their spouses and kids, have more energy, or simply live happier lives.

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