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Community Involvement the Wrong Way

Written by: Jay Conrad Levinson

Article Overview: There are wrong ways to demonstrate community involvement as well. If you volunteer to work on a committee but are never available for meetings, or if you sponsor a little league team and don't show up for games, you're proving yourself to be crass and superficial, probably sucking up the community to get business instead of working for it for altruistic reasons. Consumers are more sophisticated than ever these days. People know the difference between serving the community and serving yourself. If you're not willing to devote honest time and energy to your community, you're better off skipping this weapon and leaving it to the real guerrillas in your community. I just hope for your sake that none are your direct competitors.

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Community Involvement the Wrong Way

There are wrong ways to demonstrate community involvement as well. If you volunteer to work on a committee but are never available for meetings, or if you sponsor a little league team and don't show up for games, you're proving yourself to be crass and superficial, probably sucking up the community to get business instead of working for it for altruistic reasons. Consumers are more sophisticated than ever these days. People know the difference between serving the community and serving yourself. If you're not willing to devote honest time and energy to your community, you're better off skipping this weapon and leaving it to the real guerrillas in your community. I just hope for your sake that none are your direct competitors.

Your community is not merely defined by geography. Guerrillas become involved with their industrial community, though it may reach from coast to coast, or across the ocean. Digital communities are springing up all over the place as the world goes online. Whatever the size or scope of your community, the guerrilla rule remains the same: do unto others as they hope you will do unto them. As part of the community, they are hoping for your help, not your hype.

While you're involved with your community, be sure that you're attuned to their problems. Listen for the ouch. Guerrillas know that it's easier to sell the solution to a problem than to sell a positive benefit. That's why they position themselves as problem-solvers.

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Home > Entrepreneur-Advice > Jay Conrad Levinson > Community Involvement the Wrong Way
Article Tags: altruistic reasons, benefit, community involvement, consumers, digital communities, games, geography, guerrilla, guerrillas, hype, little league, problem solvers, sake, scope

About the Author: Jay Conrad Levinson
RSS for Jay's articles - Visit Jay's website

Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of the best-selling marketing series in history, "Guerrilla Marketing," plus 30 other books. His books have sold 14 million copies worldwide. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that today his books appear in 41 languages and are required reading in many MBA programs worldwide.

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Related Forum Posts
How do you "Give Back To the local or world Community?" How do you "Give Back To the local or world Community?" - Elie Wiesel: This is the duty of our generation as we enter the twenty-first century -- solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will define themselves not by their own identity but by that of others. We want to know what you do to give back to your community. When we say "Community" we mean the Human Community . . .around the corner or around the globe. Don't be humble here . . .This is where we'll all learn from each other. Don't be selfish . . .You BRAG we LEARN. Let's help each other ALL make a difference. . . . One person at a time. If you're not involved now, maybe you could learn how right here. It's never too late to do good.
Re: Top Banner Help Re: Top Banner Help - Hi Evan! Looks great! Funky background! What would it look like with the 'Entrepreneur Community' in orange?
Re: Why Franchises Fail Re: Why Franchises Fail - [quote="Nana":307g5e63]Another reason franchises can fail is due to lack of effort on the franchisees part. If the franchisee does not give it their 110% and purely imitates rather than innovates they will increase their chance of failure.[/quote:307g5e63] I agree. Sometimes franchisees rely too much on the franchisor. They think the franchisor will run their business. Wrong! The franchisee is responsible for manging day to day operations of his franchise location.
Your Intial Mistakes Business Your Intial Mistakes Business - Hi, When I started my business I had made a lot of mistakes initially. These helped me in learning the art of the trade and today when I look back, I feel that these mistakes were quite silly. I had made my learnings then and those learnings have helped me time and again. Some of the mistakes I made were - i. Wrong Time Management ii. Wasting money on glossy Brochures and Business cards iii. Believing what they taught me at school was 100% correct iv. Giving too much when it was not required...... I would like to find out what have been your faltering moments in Business when you had started and what/how did they help you grow. Regards
Top banner text orange? Top banner text orange? - Thanks Kevin - I believe Bennyboy meant changing the text "Entrepreneur Community" to orange instead of the background so I've put it on my list of things to try out. I don't have a good quality SEO for Africa picture to put in there but it's a good suggestion if we can grab one from an upcoming event!


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