Extreme Marketing and Promotion : Promoting and Protecting Your Small Business

1. Get over it. That’s life. Throw up your hands and say “whatever.”
2. Live with it. Mold your world around the situation and make the best of it.
3. Deal with it. Fix the problem. Make the situation work for you.

Most people choose one or both of the first two options. Winners choose the third; they take charge and make things happen. And that’s what Extreme Marketing is all about! This book is the culmination of everything I’ve done, seen done, and thought about doing over the past sixteen years. It’s marketing taken to its next level – marketing with a wild twist. It’s what everyone else wishes they could do but didn’t do because they didn’t know what to do, or believe they could do it. Cross that imaginary line and come with me on this journey to your full marketing potential.

While DJing at several big nightclubs over the past sixteen years, I’ve had to come up with some of the wildest stuff ever done just to get people in the club’s door. I spent my days playing the Corporate America game working for such marketing giants like AOL Time Warner, Conseco Direct (formerly Colonial Penn), and Prudential. I’ve learned the ins and outs of the image and direct marketing games. I’ve noticed that most big companies are full of slow-moving morons who fear their own shadows. Big companies are a great place to hide if you have no clue what’s going on in the real world. I’ve watched many big companies make many costly mistakes. Some learned from them, others keep making the same mistakes. And now I can share these experiences and insight with you.

The world has changed a lot over the past ten years. The Internet has matured. Home video has become mainstream. Hit TV shows like “Survivor” have developed almost cult-like followings. Formerly “traditional” companies like Geico and KFC along with dozens of “dot coms” have cluttered our airwaves with wild commercials. Now, more than ever, there is a world of noise to compete with! And that’s why you must learn to be extremely effective and ruthlessly efficient in all of your marketing plans.

You don’t have to spend millions to spread your marketing message like the big companies do; you only need to know how to make some noise. And when smaller venues make a lot of unexpected noise, that’s news. You don’t have to be connected; you just need to know where to start. And you don’t need to be a genius; you just need to know where to find resources that can guide you along.

This book starts with basic marketing principles. You’ll need to have a basic understanding of these principles before you can fully explore Extreme Marketing. We’ll then move into traditional marketing. Finally, we’ll graduate to extreme marketing. And we’ll show you how to protect yourself against the dangerous, over-the-line extreme marketing of others. We’ll also visit other important topics such as radio advertising and room dynamics. There’s all kinds of neat stuff in the pages that follow.

If there’s one great piece of advice I can pass on, it’s this one. I don’t remember where I got it, but I’ve lived it for years:

“No matter what – do at least one thing per day, everyday, for your entire career.”

That’s one marketing task. Even if it’s as simple as picking up the phone and calling a local office building to let them know about your special offers, it’s one thing that will help build and maintain your business.

Do what no one has dared to do. Do things that don’t even make sense. Do things that make people laugh and smile. Do things that p*ss off conservative people (unless they’re your primary customers). Do things that people can’t help but talk about. Let’s explore this bold new frontier of marketing and lets get people’s attention once again!