Press Release - Nov.,
1994
By Judy Temes
Simple tactics, constant effort net big
returns.
Twin Computer Training's Robin Fiddle and
Mandi Fiddle Bergenfeld used guerrilla marketing to reach clients
like Ammirati & Puris/Lintas, where they help train Jeff Jackson,
a vice president. David Fischer hangs his photographs on the walls
of his children's boutiques in his neighborhood. Frank Wright goes
to mother's groups. Robin Fiddle and her twin sister Mandi Fiddle
Bergenfeld have a catchy name. Al Calaci swaps limousine rides for
free radio time.
They are all guerilla marketers. These New York area business owners
have found that marketing is not always about money. When struggling
to launch a small business, or keep it afloat, a big marketing budget
can in fact do more harm than good. By reason or necessity, many
small business owners are finding that marketing on a shoestring
can produce results.
"Instead of investing money, invest time, energy and imagination,"
says Jay Conrad Levinson, the California writer who coined the phrase
guerilla marketing in a series of four best-selling books on the
subject. For those ready to take up that challenge, Mr. Levinson's
book's- as well as dozens of others-are probably a good place to
start.
If nothing else, for an investment of under $20, many of these books
are chock-full of advice from how to choose a name to the benefits
of serving Customers free coffee and doughnuts.
Guerilla marketing can begin with a good name. Just ask 27-year-old
Robin Fiddle and Mandi Fiddle Bergenfeld. Tired of corporate life,
the twin sisters launched their own software company in Manhattan
and New City, N.Y., four years ago. What could be more appropriate
than dubbing it twin computer training? Today, the twins are grossing
$300,000 a year and boast clients like Ammirati & Puris/Lintas,
one of Madison Avenue's hottest Advertising agencies.
But effective marketing is not all in a name, and it's not as simple
as some of the popular marketing books suggest. It's not a grab
bag of tricks from which to pick and choose. And for the uninitiated,
it is an art fraught with peril.
The Fiddle twins are not prospering just because they have a catchy
name. They work seven days a week training, writing manuals, answering
middle-of-the night calls from frantic clients. For any marketing
program to work-be it guerilla or otherwise-it must begin with a
good product worth selling, and sellers who offer service worth
buying.
"We don't do 'get-em in, get-em out,' " says Robin. "For
us service is the key." Some 85% of their business is from
repeat customers.
Twin Computers took another step before doing anything else. The
sisters defined what market to target, in their case Manhattan based
corporate users. "If you lose your focus, you won't be good
at anything," says Robin. |
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