Know how to make a cat a better hunter? Stop feeding it. Give a cat its fill and find him playing with the mice! Time and time again it’s a marketer’s pet peeve to observe a business totally succeed on a comfortable plateau - which to some may be the goal - while watching new opportunities lazily come and go. Another name for plateau is flat line.

It’s a funny thing that happens when a business is chugging along. Projects and product is moving, work comes walking through the door rather than chasing it - we’re on cruise control baby! Believe it or not there are perils in this situation, the difference between becoming a fat cat or a hungry hunter!

Don’t get me wrong, I might be mistaken calling it a “fat cat syndrome”, that would imply the person sits back, and prints money… not quite! A fat cat can also be someone so busy that they’ve quite chasing new business, the thing that guarantees a bright future! Why would I work on new business when I’m so busy with current business?!

I admit, I struggle with this myself! Luckily I’m reminded by annual slow periods that I have to prepare for. Working 12hrs a day is no excuse, you have time for the minimum you have to do, and it all comes down to a few things:

Reply to your email regularly.
It’s odd, but when I contact a busy business and I get a timely response I’m flattered! Don’t let your customer base think they are imposing on you for some of your time - give it to them! The best system is to clear your inbox in the morning, concentrate in the afternoon - whatever works!

Value past clients as much as future clients
Like any commodity, it’s easy to devalue your client commodity as its abundance goes up - it doesn’t work that way! If a client asks for advice after you’ve closed the project, give it to them. If a problem turns up with your product, drop everything and fix it! So many businesses take their clients for granted and think they could almost stand to lose a few! A free service to your client has huge value to your future business!

Make lists!
Sounds silly, but I can’t live without them, especially while we are concerned with the little things! My lists are broken up into two categories, “large projects” and “small tasks”. This is where finding time for the little things comes together. You have to take a break from any big job you do, the key is to jump to the small tasks between the large ones. By the end of the day you’ll be amazed at all you’ve accomplished! (According to my wife my list of the little things isn’t long enough :)

Force it
Sometimes you have to say “I don’t have time for this but it has got to be done”. What you paused will always get done. Do you think I have time for enewsletters?! Ha ha!

So, stay hungry and stay ahead! You may be comfortable cornering the market now, but someone is looking to take it away - so stay on top of things! Paranoia will take you far!

I find there are no excuses in marketing as far as budget is concerned. Budget may affect what you market with, but it should not affect whether you market or not.

If you don’t read any further, check out this wiki: Guerrilla Marketing - it might lead you on an interesting quest… and I imagine I’ll lose half of you right now for good :).

Guerrilla Marketing is basically creative marketing without boundaries of what you’d consider “regular advertising”. Think of it as the independent film of advertising - your way and on your terms. A sign company will tell you that you should put your logo on this sign at this size and in this place, when you might put your logo on the rear end of donkey standing in front of your business and get 1000x the reaction… however practical, you get the drift!

There are mild forms of guerrilla advertising all around us; the Little Caesar’s pizza kids on the side of the road holding a sign, garage sale signs on the boulevard, even the Manitoba CanadInns shining their spotlights into the sky - all the same, all creative, all a little different!

The internet as a constant source of invention and accessibility seems to be made for this type of advertising. Creativity is eliminating the need for large amounts of money with the addition of social networking, a perfect transmitter for those ideas - gasoline waiting for the next hot idea! We’ve all been drawn in by some “viral” piece of information and therefore continued to pass it on. Like I’ve mentioned before, referrals are cheaper than any form of marketing and social networking takes referrals to the extreme!

No detailed ideas today, I don’t want to ruin the fun! Replace the value of money with the value of an idea - heck, let’s just say it - your next gimmick! What can you do with what you have on hand to make the most impact?