"Marketing is the differentiation of yourself against your competition. Advertising is the cost of being boring."
That is according to an article I read in BrokerAgentPro roughly a year ago. The article went on to say that, if a person marketed themselves properly, they would never need to advertise because everyone would already know who they are and what they do. The article also went on to say that, if you don't know the difference between the two, you should hire someone that does. And, I couldn't agree more!
I enjoy marketing. I guess that is why I blog. It's a good way for me to differentiate my company versus other companies in this same market space in a way that reaches my customer base quickly, efficiently, and in a format that they understand. And...it's FREE! What could be better? Especially when you consider that my company does no advertising at all (aside from the gazillion websites we have out in the interwebz).
One aspect of marketing I really find fascinating is the underground, sometimes subtle, sometimes "in-your-face" marketing that has been affectionately called "guerrilla" marketing.
Below is a couple examples of very successful guerilla marketing campaigns.
In this example, the information on the tear-away "teeth" is for a new dentist office that opened up about a block away from this pole.
This photo was taken by a passenger at an airport turnstyle. If you saw this while picking up your bags, do you think you would remember it??
On occasion, I have posted tweets on my Twitter account about different guerrilla marketing ideas that I have come across. As a result, I was asked to compile a list of some of them and write a blog about them.
But, before I started writing this, I posted a status update about a guerrilla campaign on our Facebook fan-page. It quickly insighted a response! (You can see the entire conversation here -- Real Estate Client Referrals fan-page)
"Is this both acceptable and smart?" asked one fan.
"Annoying" and "Obnoxious" said another.
Yet other fans said things like "I like the way you think." And, "I love it!"
Guerrilla marketing isn't for everyone. And, some of these suggestions are simply just too risky for some to attempt. But, if they didn't work, you wouldn't hear about them. Keep that in mind as you read through this list...
Place business cards (mini moo cards, for example) in the sugar packet containers at restaurants
Go to the local computer store and change the home page on the browsers to your website
Have a rubber stamp made of your twitter handle (Or your website!!) and stamp it on all of your money; Also, if you are attending an event where you would hand out a business card, take $50 in $1 bills that have been stamped with your website. Hand them out to people as if it was your business card.
Use that same stamper and stamp a book of post-it notes. Place those post-it notes anywhere people can see them.
Go to the library/book store and put a business card in every book that relates to your field; IE -- Own a restaurant supply store? Put your cards in the cook books. You're a contractor?? Put cards in all the Do-It-Yourself repair books.
Slip business cards into the magazines at your salon, doctors office, dentist office, etc.
Go to the beach and write your company name in the sand in huge letters
Buy cheap plastic magnetic letters (like for your fridge) and put your website on anything metal -- doors, poles, road signs. The letters are cheap...so if they fall off, no biggie...and they wont cause permanent damage to whatever you put them against (except maybe a hard-drive).
Get sidewalk chalk and draw feet or arrows to your office on the sidewalks and streets around town. As you people get close to your office, write an offer. IE -- "10% off if you mention you saw this!"
Use that same sidewalk chalk and write your website or company name in parking lots/cross walks/ETC
Fliers!!! Flieers are cheap and can be distributed ANYWHERE! Put them in businesses (that will allow it), parking lots, street poles, bus stops, anywhere people can see them.
Put ads in local free papers (if available in your area) IE -- the Nickel
Get blank business cards made up with only your website address on it (or twitter handle). Hand them out whenever someone talks about a website (or you talk about a website)
Put an add in the personals in our local paper -- "MWM real estate agent seeks buyers for 145 Shady Lane; Must be in good humor and have decent credit". (There is some obvious personal safety issues associated with this one. I would do this because Im 6'2" tall and weigh about 320 lbs. But, if I were a 5'1" blonde lady that weighed 110 lbs, I might feel like this would not be safe for me to attempt. Be safe, people!)
Use pictures in your blogs titled with your key search words. Trust me, it works! You have to write the post anyway...may as well make it pop AND get some SEO juice from it. Get temporary tattoos made of your website and wear them in plain view. People will take notice, I promise!
Add the phone line from a brokerage that closes to your phone system -- I just spoke with an agent that worked for RE/MAX after calling a phone number that was listed in YellowBook as Century21. It turns out the C21 brokerage closed. So, the RE/MAX office had the number added to their inbound lines. GENIUS!! Now, all of that advertising that the C21 office did is supporting that number!
Yes, it is true. Some of these suggestions simply wont work in your market. Some of these suggestions might just be "too scary" or be deemed by some as "a waste of time". (They used to say that about blogging, too. Just saying.) Yet, other people may think that these are bold attempts at being different...'thinking outside the box' to the 10th power.
Either way, these simple, yet effective, types of marketing will make people talk about you and your business. And, isn't that the goal of marketing?? If you believe that "there is no such thing as bad press", then this underground "guerrilla" marketing might just be the thing for you!
If you would like more information on Real Estate Client Referrals, please click on this link. Or, you can contact Clint at 800-977-7058 or follow us on Twitter.
Working where I do, I have an opportunity to speak with agents all over the country about their local markets and the trends that are happening there. One conversation I had yesterday prompted me to pose a question on our facebook page about open houses. 
8 Ways To Use Photos To Promote Your Business - and best of all, most of them are FREE or LOW COST!
3.) Get Into Video - You can create a local video with your digital still photos in a matter of minutes. We like Real Estate Shows but there are other great sites out there that will help turn your photos into a short video. We also use a Flip video camera for some videos but still like to use digital stills. Once you create a local video, Real Estate Shows will upload it directly to your You Tube account, or you can save the video to you computer and create CD's or upload to other websites.
5.) Post to Facebook - it's easy to create a photo album on your Facebook profile, so how about creating one of your local area? We have on one Missoula, Missoula Nightlife, and Montana Living.
7.) Upload Photos of Local Businesses & Food to rating sites such as 
8.) Twitpic your photos or post them to Posterous - People love to look at photos and I'm still amazed at how many people click on photos when I sent them across Twitter. Kevin uses Twitpic but I use a Posterous site that I set up - 
Cheri -- Again, that was the consensus earlier re: getting new buyers
Cathy -- Agreed.
Peggy -- Stroke of luck having the next door neighbors doing an open house. ;-)