This is part of a series of posts that I'm doing about Guerrilla Marketing based on the book Guerrilla Marketing Weapons, by Jay Conrad Levinson.

Previous Guerrilla Marketing posts can be accessed by clicking here.

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The very first sentence in this chapter is very telling and should be taken literally: "Do everything short of illegal activities to compile a gigantic list of people...."

I often get asked how to create a database, so following are a few of my favorite ideas that many of my Clients have had continued success with.

1. The first place is your own neighborhood or farming area. Walk or drive around, record the address, make notes about each house -- flowers, paint color, trees, car in the driveway, children, whatever, something that catches your attention because of your own interests or your own family. Then when you get back to the office, send them a little postcard: "Howdy, Neighbor. When I was driving down your street today, I noticed your beautiful flowers. I just wanted to let you know that I'm a Realtor right here at 1234 Penny Lane, so if you or your family, friends, and business associates have any questions about real estate or need help selling or buying a home, please let me know."
2. Remember to have a sign-up area on all pages of your web site, not just the home page. I would recommend against the window that pops up every time someone goes to a different page on your web site. You'll lose them after three times. Just put a link at the top and bottom of each page: "Click here to register" or "Click here to sign up for my monthly email newsletter."
3. Don't neglect the sphere of influence (SOI) that you already have. This SOI includes your own family, friends, and business associates, even if they were former family, former friends, or former business associates. Hopefully you didn't burn any bridges with that divorce....
4. Contact your favorite title company representative (TCR). Many TCRs here are only too happy to provide a list of property owners in specific zip codes, or even as detailed as specific streets. Occasionally, you'll see in these lists a note saying "DO NOT MAIL." Although there is a DO NOT CALL registry, there is no such thing as a DO NOT MAIL registry, so feel free to mail if you'd like. What I do when I find a DO NOT MAIL request, though, is revert to #1 above for that address.
5. This is my favorite: Carry postcards with you so that if when you strike up a conversation with someone at the grocery store, gas station, or beach, you can give them a postcard along with your business card. The postcard is simply an invitation to visit your web site, your ActiveRain blog, and mail the postcard back with their email address to sign up for your monthly email newsletter. Make sure you include the URL to your web site and your ActiveRain blog. I can't tell you how many marketing pieces I see that say, "Visit my web site/blog" and don't provide the URL.

Feel free to contribute by leaving your own idea in a comment.

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