BARBARA LEWIS

September 23, 2002

BECOME A HEALTH ISSUES GUERILLA

SOME HELPFUL TIPS

By Barbara Lewis

Do you need to be a guerilla?

I am not talking about those fantastic large animals that Sigourney Weaver, (playing the role of Dian Fossey) brought to our rapt attention in the film, Gorillas in the Mist.

I’m talking about human guerillas. The activist types who do not take "no" for an answer.

Someone, (maybe even you) with an alternative idea to impart or a health-improving product to promote may be tired of bashing your head against a huge wall.

Maybe you have a deep concern about a poorly-tested drug that the pharmaceutical industry is shamefully touting. Or you want to make a strong statement about how a complex new disease is being misdiagnosed or overlooked. Then you most likely need to employ some guerilla strategies. Otherwise, all that head-banging will lead to a giant headache and no progress.

Look, we all know it’s tough to get a counter-message across in this culture. I mean, what are the odds of beating up on Big Money or Big Hype?

The more conventional marketing methods are likely to fail - calling newspapers, TV stations, radio show hosts - and so you need to decide: are you going to take that extra step?

Just so there is no mistake; when I refer to guerilla strategy I do not mean the abrasive throw-all-good-taste-to-the-wind kind of behavior that is rampant these days. Nor am I referring to "spam" e-mail that is sent out willy-nilly to all and anyone on the internet, no matter what their level of interest. I am also not advocating any kind of illegal activity.

Although, it will likely come as no surprise to you that some people become so frustrated with their failure to be "heard" that they do the unthinkable.

A recent story along these lines involves the lead singer of a rock band. Huge record companies pretty much dominate radio these days with their own artists, so getting airplay as an independent musician is unlikely.

One Brazilian singer recently held a radio disk jockey (DJ) hostage at gun point for over an hour while he forced him to play the band's music for the listening audience. In the end, the DJ was not harmed, the music was played and the singer got a taste of fame. Imagine that!

Being an independent musician myself, I can understand this man’s frustration.

Good guerilla strategy to get a message across to the public takes imagination, media savvy, a willingness to think outside of the box and a lot of time and patience. Lots of patience!

As a newly independent musician in the early 90s, I remember reading with disbelief how one successful non-mainstream vocalist who ran her own company estimated that 80% of her time was spent on business (mostly marketing) rather than on creating and performing music. Now I see that she was not far off the mark.

So what kinds of tactics does the guerilla use?

The answer to this will be as individual as the product or message. What works for me as a musician may not work for those parents whose mission is to spread the word about about a diet that is helping their sick child.

But there are general tools that all guerrillas will need to explore.

The internet, for example, has given many of us the opportunity to put our work (ideas, interests, and concerns) before many sets of eyes, either on a regularly updated Web site, with a newsletter sent by e-mail, or by sending e-mail to lists of people who may find our message of some interest.

There are those who use only e-mail, and this can be very effective. Some of these motivated individuals send many e-mail messages each day by to ever-expanding lists of interested people.

They come up with snappy titles like, IGNORE THIS MESSAGE!!! or PLEASE HELP THIS CHILD! One e-mail that I was moved to open immediately was titled, WOMAN WILL BE STONED. PLEASE SIGN PETITION!

Who could ignore that message? (Sadly, it was true.)

Does this barrage of e-mail work?

It can. When I find the original message plus 10 or 15 forwarded versions of the same message in my e-mail box, the impact becomes clear. One person originated the message and many others passed it along. I sometimes wonder how many hours of the day these determined folk spend at the job. Must be a lot.

But the internet hasn’t been the holy grail of marketing that many thought it would be several years ago. With so many Web sites and so much noisy advertising, the lower-budget message, again, becomes easily lost.

I (and many others) have found that greater success comes when a well-chosen group of marketing tools are integrated. For example, your "campaign" could involve all of these: sending your message to e-mail lists: developing a simple, focussed web-site; using classified ads in appropriate newspapers; getting small-mentions in well-targeted niche magazines or doing an interview on the right radio show. Never underestimate a step-by-step approach that will ultimately yield success. Too many people think they can capture an audience almost immediately and are not willing to take the time to build one in a variety of ways.

You could also write your own weekly/bi-monthly column on a Web site that reaches your specific kind of readers.

Sometimes the best guerilla tactic is the simplest. One New York City woman who taught a course in a healing/holistic approach to acting had a small but effective poster that she posted anywhere actors were likely to congregate. Singers tend to go these same places, so I saw the sign all over the city in strategic spots.

At the end of a year, I had seen the sign so often that I had unknowingly memorized the phone number. A friend asked me one day about just such a course, and I reeled off the woman’s name and her phone number! Effective, low-cost marketing.

Much of the success of guerilla strategy has to do with attitude. I call this attitude the "Three Ps of Success." Passion: knowing that you have something worthwhile to offer, coupled with a strong desire to make it known to others; Patience: a willingness to work patiently and consistently over time to come up with the right mix of elements; and Persistence: the agreement you make with yourself not to give up until the job is done.

When it comes to health issues, you need to come at your target audience in many different ways because the obstacles are so daunting. My experience is that people who don’t use the Three Ps don’t succeed. You can’t be a guerilla without them.