e Week of the Dog. For five days and evenings this promotion would offer free events, live music, free pet and human treats.

We invited one of the nation's best-known pet artists to make a personal appearance, sign autographs and meet the public. We had ongoing live music with local guitarists. We invited the founders of the franchise, who were also famous authors and had a large following. One evening we featured lessons in dog training. One afterno

Guerrilla Marketing is not rocket science. It doesn't take a genius to understand the concept: Unconventional marketing campaigns, using minimum resources to get maximum results. Or in other words, promoting your business to the max on low-budget or -- even better -- no-budget terms.

I like to think of Guerrilla Marketing in terms of The Three I's: Ingenuity, Imagination, Innovation. Be creative and original in your marketing approach. Dream up something that perhaps has never been done before. Be bold and daring. Use everything that is available. For your promotions, use national holidays, enlist the services of local dignitaries, provide needed services to the community, support local charities.

Here is an example of the use of The Three I's by our advertising-marketing firm in Sedona, Arizona -- a small town (11,000 population) with millions of visitors each year. Our client was a unique pet store, part of a small national franchise which is primarily dog-oriented. The store is located in an area of heavy tourist traffic in Uptown Sedona.

Our client was about to celebrate its grand opening and needed a short, multi-faceted campaign to introduce the place to the community as a whole. The problem for the client -- and for most businesses in Uptown Sedona, a kind of tourist ghetto -- is that most locals refuse to shop in Uptown. Parking is difficult, tourists stumble around with glazed eyes bumping into each other, and prices are generally high.

The challenge: How to lure the locals (dog owners, primarily) while bringing in a steady stream of pet-owning tourists who would take the doggie products home and maybe continue the relationship via Internet and mail order? We started with the first "I," Ingenuity. The year 2006 was the Chinese Year of the Dog, so we came up with a promotion called The Week of the Dog. For five days and evenings this promotion would offer free events, live music, free pet and human treats.

We invited one of the nation's best-known pet artists to make a personal appearance, sign autographs and meet the public. We had ongoing live music with local guitarists. We invited the founders of the franchise, who were also famous authors and had a large following. One evening we featured lessons in dog training. One afternoo

thing that perhaps has never been done before. Be bold and daring. Use everything that is available. For your promotions, use national holidays, enlist the services of local dignitaries, provide needed services to the community, support local charities.

Here is an example of the use of The Three I's by our advertising-marketing firm in Sedona, Arizona -- a small town (11,000 population) with millions of visitors each year. Our client was a unique pet store, part of a small national franchise which is primarily dog-oriented. The store is located in an area of heavy tourist traffic in Uptown Sedona.

Our client was about to celebrate its grand opening and needed a short, multi-faceted campaign to introduce the place to the community as a whole. The problem for the client -- and for most businesses in Uptown Sedona, a kind of tourist ghetto -- is that most locals refuse to shop in Uptown. Parking is difficult, tourists stumble around with glazed eyes bumping into each other, and prices are generally high.

The challenge: How to lure the locals (dog owners, primarily) while bringing in a steady stream of pet-owning tourists who would take the doggie products home and maybe continue the relationship via Internet and mail order? We started with the first "I," Ingenuity. The year 2006 was the Chinese Year of the Dog, so we came up with a promotion called The Week of the Dog. For five days and evenings this promotion would offer free events, live music, free pet and human treats.

We invited one of the nation's best-known pet artists to make a personal appearance, sign autographs and meet the public. We had ongoing live music with local guitarists. We invited the founders of the franchise, who were also famous authors and had a large following. One evening we featured lessons in dog training. One afterno

tore, part of a small national franchise which is primarily dog-oriented. The store is located in an area of heavy tourist traffic in Uptown Sedona.

Our client was about to celebrate its grand opening and needed a short, multi-faceted campaign to introduce the place to the community as a whole. The problem for the client -- and for most businesses in Uptown Sedona, a kind of tourist ghetto -- is that most locals refuse to shop in Uptown. Parking is difficult, tourists stumble around with glazed eyes bumping into each other, and prices are generally high.

The challenge: How to lure the locals (dog owners, primarily) while bringing in a steady stream of pet-owning tourists who would take the doggie products home and maybe continue the relationship via Internet and mail order? We started with the first "I," Ingenuity. The year 2006 was the Chinese Year of the Dog, so we came up with a promotion called The Week of the Dog. For five days and evenings this promotion would offer free events, live music, free pet and human treats.

We invited one of the nation's best-known pet artists to make a personal appearance, sign autographs and meet the public. We had ongoing live music with local guitarists. We invited the founders of the franchise, who were also famous authors and had a large following. One evening we featured lessons in dog training. One afterno

icult, tourists stumble around with glazed eyes bumping into each other, and prices are generally high.

The challenge: How to lure the locals (dog owners, primarily) while bringing in a steady stream of pet-owning tourists who would take the doggie products home and maybe continue the relationship via Internet and mail order? We started with the first "I," Ingenuity. The year 2006 was the Chinese Year of the Dog, so we came up with a promotion called The Week of the Dog. For five days and evenings this promotion would offer free events, live music, free pet and human treats.

We invited one of the nation's best-known pet artists to make a personal appearance, sign autographs and meet the public. We had ongoing live music with local guitarists. We invited the founders of the franchise, who were also famous authors and had a large following. One evening we featured lessons in dog training. One afterno

e Week of the Dog. For five days and evenings this promotion would offer free events, live music, free pet and human treats.

We invited one of the nation's best-known pet artists to make a personal appearance, sign autographs and meet the public. We had ongoing live music with local guitarists. We invited the founders of the franchise, who were also famous authors and had a large following. One evening we featured lessons in dog training. One afternoon and evening we had a pet psychic who would commune with your dog. This proved so popular we had to quickly hire a second pet psychic to handle the overflow.

To address the issue of luring the locals, we used the second "I," Innovation: All local dogs were welcome to attend the events if they were accompanied by a human. Somehow this brainstorm worked out, in spite of some canine territorial disputes. For the official grand opening and ribbon-cutting evening, we invited the Mayor, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and the entire City Council. Free wine and snacks were served. It was a memorable occasion.

We got fantastic coverage in the local media for all of the events. We also made good use of the third "I," Imagination, by bringing the local Humane Society into the picture. Their director wrote an entire column about The Week of the Dog, and cooperative links between our client and the shelter were established during the event and for the future.

All in all, using The Three I's and some local marketing savvy -- plus a minimum expenditure for advertising -- our firm created an extremely successful marketing campaign for our client that has lasted to this day. We give the credit to Guerrilla Marketing -- maximum effectiveness on a minimal budget.