Guerilla marketing

This book is slightly dated. The edition I read was published in 2005. That is before smartphones and social media became all the rage. Things have definitely changed since then. This book still has some value since it focuses on principles. The execution certainly has changed but the principles are still the same.

The basic premise of the book is small businesses don’t have the resources that big businesses do and shouldn’t try to compete directly with them. Small businesses need to be very tactical in where and how they invest their limited funds. They need to think like guerillas and play to their strengths. They need to be able to move fast to take advantage of opportunities. They need to take advantage of their close relationships with their customers. They need to measure everything to make sure they are making smart investments. There are a couple of other principles, but those are the big ones.

There are a couple of sections to the book. The first section, The Guerilla Approach, is most useful because it outlines the principles very well. The last section, The Nature of a Guerilla, also covers some philosophy. The rest of the book is about the application. It can be kind of dry. There’s a lot of details about various marketing methods. It will certainly give you some ideas. This section is also where the book’s age shows the most, especially when it comes to its sparse treatment of social media.In spite of its shortcomings, the book is still worth reading.