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Archive for September 2007

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REVIEW: Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson

Look! I’m doing a review! It’s like I’m a real journalist.

This is the Grandaddy of low-budget marketing books for home business. These books have been around since the early eighties and they’re just as huge then as they are now. On the cover of my copy it reads that he’s sold over a million copies of his books. I’d venture to guess that figure had gone up to a quadrazillion. Over the next little while I’ll be reviewing other Guerrilla books but I figured I may as well start with the one that started it all. (I read the third edition, which was written in 1998. There is also a 4th edition that came out in 2007.)

Case Study: Jarkko Laine – Insanely Interested In Everything

So I’m surfing the internet trying to avoid working, and I come across a link to this site. (I would love to credit the person who gave me the link but I didn’t know I was about to come across one of the awesomest blogs on the internet, so I wasn’t paying attention. Whoever you are, I’m sorry!)

Anyway, Jarkko Laine is a software developer in Finland who is Insanely Interested In Everything. That’s his tagline – his wife made it up. (A little shoutout to Jarkko’s wife, Mari – I have a husband like that and I know how you feel, honey.)

Brand Management at the Coffee Shop

How do you tell people who you are without saying a word? Go out for coffee!

There’s a coffee shop in my neighborhood. It’s pretty famous around here. They just opened up two new stores in the city. They’re considered a big deal.

Except they suck. Regular coffee costs two bucks. They are always out of something. At no point does anyone in their employ know what kind of bagels they have that day. I asked the owner if Viennese coffee was flavored, and he told me that it wasn’t – it was just regular coffee from Vietnam.

I have never been there without at least 5 people in line ahead of me. People love this place. They happily fork over their two bucks (we won’t even get into what lunch costs) for a cup of acceptable coffee in a Styrofoam cup that dribbles.

Why? Because they like what it says about them.

Home Business Case Study – Hello, My Name Is Scott

Can we take a minute to talk about one of my biggest pet peeves? Something that really sticks in my craw? (I don’t think I’ve ever said “sticks in my craw” before. What is a craw?) Lack of phone numbers on websites. It makes me batty. I would say that the primary reason I chose my web designer is because he had his phone number on his contact page. (That and he does awesome websites, but let’s face it, so do a lot of people.)

Anyway, Scott of Hello, My Name Is Scott fame has his phone number on his website. He has a home business office number, yes, but he also has his cell phone number. Yup, his cell phone. As in, the one that he carries around with him when he’s having lunch with his girlfriend.