Building An Unstoppable Multi-pillar Business

Jay Conrad Levinson, in his books Guerrilla
Marketing Weapons and Guerrilla Marketing
Attack, points out that there are easily hundreds,
if not thousands, of tools/methods you
can use in your marketing. He points out that
your competition is probably only using a few.
He also emphasizes that if you just use a few
more - effectively - you will dominate your
industry.

Jay Abraham gives the diving board versus
the Parthenon analogy. In the analogy, each
method a business uses to obtain new business
is a pillar that business is built on. He points out
that most businesses only use one primary method
(or pillar) for bringing in customers. If that method
collapses or fails, they go out of business. He then
teaches businesses to effectively utilize multiple
pillars for deriving business.

We all seem to understand what both of
these "Jays" teach :-) What's difficult for many
of us is applying it. How do you use as many
different tools, approaches, and methodologies
as you can in your marketing efforts? How do
you build a strong, multi-pillar, approach to
generating new business?

Perhaps the best place to begin is with what you
are already using and what your competitors
are already using. Begin by making a list of
the methods you currently use to promote
your business and a list of tools that you
probably could use. This list will likely include
things like: ezine ads, writing articles, publishing
your own newsletter, postcard mailings, package
inserts, banner ads, link exchanges, writing and
distributing a low-cost book with the intention
of it going viral, creating and distributing
low-cost software with the intention of it going
viral, an affiliate program, pay-per-click search
engine campaigns, listings in specialized search
engines, forming strategic alliances with other
businesses, etc.

After you have you list, take the methods one at
a time and carefully examine them. Ask yourself
if you are currently using them with any real
success. If you are using them and you are not
having any success with them, you need to
determine why. It could be that the method is all
wrong for your business or situation. If it is then
you need to stop wasting time with it.

Look around and see if others use method you
are trying with greater success. If they are, or
seem to be, try to determine why they are having
greater success with it. Perhaps the easiest way
to do this is to email them or call them and
arrange to consult with them or to share insights
on ways to improve both of your businesses.
If you do this, be prepared to compensate them
for their time.

Look at each of the methods on your list and
use the same system of honestly asking yourself
if this is working for your business. Your goal is
to find a few core methods that work best for you.
Then you focus on really using these. For example,
articles work really well for me. So I focus on
getting my articles in as many article directories,
ezines, and on as many websites as practical.

After you have one method down to a science
and it is working semi-automatically for you,
then-and-only-then go on to refining the next
method. This is the best way to really focus on
implementing methods that do and will work for
you. It's also an excellent way to identify methods
that are nothing more than time wasters for you.

To further leverage your effectiveness, don't
overlook automation or hiring other to implement
your successful methods. For example, I use an
article submission service because they reach some
potential customers that I would probably otherwise
miss. It only takes a few publishers running my
article or one extra sale to cover the investment. To
me this makes economic sense.

Begin today, examining the pillars, tools or
"weapons" you have in your marketing arsenal.
Keep using those that work, discard those that
don't, and then add new ones from time to time.
Soon you will have a core set of methods for
deriving business, and surprisingly, it will no longer
be a struggle. The business will seem to take on a
life of its own. Once a method is fully refined and
set into motion, they become semi-automated and
you can then look for new methods if appropriate.