How does small business compete with big business and their big marketing budgets? GUERRILLA MARKETING. The father of Guerrilla Marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson, coined the term to describe ways in which small businesses can use unconventional marketing tactics, the stuff they don't teach you in business school, to compete with big businesses. Small businesses don't need big marketing budgets to spend money on advertising. They can use their energy to to create buzz as well as an array of low-cost marketing avenues to market their business, their products, and their services.

Jay Conrad Levinson, along with Seth Godin, wrote a series of Guerrilla Marketing books that have gone on to sell millions of copies worlwide and have been best sellers for many years. Titles include, "Secrets For Making Big Profits From Your Small Business," "Dozens of No-Cost Tactics To Promote Your Business And Energize Your Profits, and "The 50 Golden Rules For Small Business Success."

A Guerrilla is defined as a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, which consists of surprise attacks and raids on the enemy. Guerrilla marketing derives from this. However, it has nothing to do with attacking your competitors. Business is about competition and all is fair in business competition (as long as you do it legally).

So what is guerrilla marketing? What tips, tricks, or tactics come of it? Examples of guerrilla marketing include the following:

• Writing a column for a local newspaper
• Creating publicity stunts
• Using business cards in creative ways
• Sending off-season greeting cards to existing customers
• Making product or workmanship guarantees
• Providing proper sales training to your sales staff
• Writing creative press releases
• Using free classified ads on the internet
• Offering free trial periods
• making appearances on talk-radio shows