Guerilla Marketing

My business, Athletic Lab, has been open for almost a year now. Business has picked up slowly but steadily throughout the year. Overall, a little slower than my usual fatally optimistic expectations but growth is good nonetheless and we’ve moved beyond the proverbial tipping point that all businesses must reach before they either fail or succeed (we’re succeeding :)). One thing that’s helped with current growth is that I now have an assistant helping me out so that I can hand off some duties to allow me to work ON my business rather than just IN it. More importantly, he’s been able to work ON the business as well as I have him doing guerilla marketing all over town. Handing out flyers at sporting good stores, soccer matches, and business parks; talking to soccer moms, runners, and businesses around the Triangle; helping me set up and spread the word at expos at sporting events. The hard work has been paying off as we’re getting more interest than ever before. This is a great contrast to the lousy returns (nothing?) we’ve had from advertising in a local magazine and online. I’ve known all along that business would thrive when people knew we existed. Because I was completely new to the area and had to build client base from scratch it took a while. But increasing word of mouth from existing clients and the current guerilla marketing led by my assistant has proven far more effective than more traditional routes.