1. The successful leader has a vision
2. The successful leader communicates well
3. The successful leader supports and guides the employees
4. The successful leader believes in his/herself
5. The successful leader creates the atmosphere that encourages others to grow and thrive
6. The successful leader manages by walking around
7. The successful leader acts and reacts in an honest manner
8. The successful leader creates and fosters a learning environment
9. The successful leader perseveres
10. The successful leader shares successes

For more information about each of these, see The Entrepreneur as Leader.

Is your message, product or service worth talking about? We certainly hope so, because a recent study conducted by eMarketer.com concluded that 53 percent of online traffic comes from recommendations made by family members and/or friends. This confirms what guerrillas have always known: Positive word-of-mouth “buzz” is the best advertising money can’t buy–whether offline or online! So every single business person in the world should be spending a great deal of their time strategizing ways to acquire and retain profitable customers using word-of-mouth marketing–especially since the internet makes it so much easier!

Guerrillas are particularly fond of using three of the very best online word-of-mouth tactics–viral marketing, tell-a-friend programs, and online publicity.

Guerrillas Go Viral

Viral marketing is nothing more than a method for encouraging large numbers of people to spread marketing materials to family members, friends and associates. It’s like planting seeds, adding water and watching them grow! Because so many of the best internet distribution channels are free or extremely low-cost, viral marketing is a guerrilla’s best friend and should be an integral part of your online marketing efforts. And how do you “go viral” quickly? Simple. Give something valuable away for free.

Guerrillas Use Tell-A-Friend Programs

If you’ve spent any time at all on the internet you’ve certainly been asked to provide the names and e-mail addresses of others you know who would also be interested in visiting websites. This is a great way to make it easy for people to recommend your site to their family members and friends! All visitors have to do is enter the requested information and an e-mail with your website’s URL and a short message is generated. And since the e-mails’ “from” lines are from recognizable e-mail addresses, they’re not likely to get blocked by spam filters and are not considered spam.

Guerrillas Generate Online Publicity

As an alternative to utilizing traditional advertising, Guerrillas love using the internet to create buzz about themselves, their products and services, and their companies. That’s why so many smart online entrepreneurs take advantage of free and/or low-cost and highly effective traffic generation strategies, such as online press releases.  If you want to get the biggest bang out of your online PR efforts, let the following rules of thumb guide you.

* Use an assortment of weapons. It’s hard to get anyone’s attention using one channel. Use a combination of online and offline strategies and tactics such as recording a radio interview and putting it on your website. Put your web address on your business cards, mention it in your voice mail greeting, and include it in every one of your offline ads.
* Find out what people are talking about. Then write a press release that ties you, your company, or your products and services to the story or topic. Just pick up any national newspaper or visit online news sites to find out what subjects are hot.
* Send out press releases often. One-shot attempts won’t get you anywhere, so any time you have news worth mentioning send out press releases.
* Add a little controversy. Nothing is worse than a boring story, so go ahead and add a little pizzazz to your press releases. There’s nothing wrong with controversy, as long as you don’t go overboard. So stick your neck out, stand up for something, and shout it to the world.

Guerrillas Set Up E-Mail Signatures

Here’s a strategy that’s so simple you can have it up and running in less than ten minutes! Open your e-mail program (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Entourage, GMail, Thunderbird) and go to the “Tools” tab (or “Preferences” on Macs) and set up a signature file–or “sig file.” Once there, enter whatever information you’d like to appear at the end of all of the e-mails you send, like your name, e-mail address, contact information, active link to your website, graphic, and/or marketing message.

A Personal Experience

When I was in college, I had to take marketing 301.  In this class we had to form a team and build a marketing plan.  Our professor had a couple of ideas and resources, but one of my teammates had a friend who had developed a cool pool fountain, so we decided to put a plan together to market it.  Later, we presented that plan to our class and it went over wonderfully.

So why hasn’t the church jumped on an idea like this?  Maybe because it is a business class and church is not in the business of being in business.  Well, it is time to realize that in some ways the church is a business.  And there are times when it needs to engage in solid business practices.

While I do not like an attractional church model, if you are going to build an entrepreneurial ministry, there may come a time when marketing and advertising must be done.  A great resource could be the local college down the road.

Advantages

1.  You get a lot of work done for you by people who are focused on marketing and who are working to get a good grade.

2.  You get energy and experience as the professor will work with the young, energetic team, offering insights, wisdom, and experience.

3.  The resources (think money) needed to obtain this plan are often insignificant.  It can happen for free or an insignificant charge.

4.  You get to build relationships with those who are most likely un-churched, including the professor.  In fact, he/she may be the first point of contact.

5.  You get your ideas and messages out to a whole group of people (think class of students as well as their social network), most of whom are un-churched.

Disadvantages

1.  You are still working with college students.  Their enthusiasm is often inconsistent and their expertise and experience limited.

2.  It is a college semester and the team may not be able to spend as much time on the project as a marketing company.

If you are willing to be a guinea pig, you might get a great proposal – best case scenario – or at least a starting point – worst case scenario – in marketing your entrepreneurial ministry.

A recent article on innovation at Entrepreneur.com gives us a small look at the innovation process.  I think the author offers some good suggestions.  Take a look:

Innovation is not a brilliant idea; innovation is a process. A brilliant idea becomes an innovation when it’s turned into a product or system that produces significantly improved results. There are four steps and four leadership roles that emerge during an innovation process:

1. Creating–Everything starts with an idea, and there’s no question that every organization needs new ideas to remain competitive and deal with the rapidly changing world. The most talented people don’t have to work at coming up with ideas; they see possibilities everywhere. They don’t see things as they are, but how they could be. Of course, not all their ideas are brilliant; in fact, some are really off-the-wall. But that doesn’t deter the “Creators.” They just keep seeing those possibilities.

2. Advancing–Many great ideas have died on the vine because they weren’t picked up. Fortunately, there are people who have a natural talent for recognizing good ideas and running with them. That is, they’re more focused on implementation than on creating ideas, and they also have a talent for interaction. Because they make things happen, they’ve developed the ability to sell others on an idea and get it running.

3. Refining–Before the “Advancers” charge off and implement an idea, it would make sense to have a workable plan that has no holes in it. “Refiners” often play the devil’s advocate role, asking the challenging “what if?” questions. It’s important to keep refiners focused on developing a plan to make the idea work rather than just focusing on why it won’t work. If you can’t make it work it will become apparent. The refiner’s talent for analysis and attention to detail are often undervalued because they tend to challenge both the creator and advancer–but don’t implement a new idea until you’ve listened to their input.

4. Executing–One of the primary reasons great ideas fail to create an innovative change is a lack of follow-through. Implementation of the plan step-by-step–ensuring that all team members follow-through on their responsibilities–requires the talents of the “Executer;” they’re focused on the day-to-day realities of what must get done, and making sure it does get done. Only when the executer has completed their part of the process can the innovation be considered complete and a success.

The reason many organizations fail at innovation is because leaders don’t understand that innovation is a four-step process, and the talents required at each step of the process are very different. So different in fact, that it’s unlikely for one individual to excel at more than one of the four steps. This means that for innovation to succeed, it needs to be a team-based process. But not all teams have team members with all of the required talents.

As you consider ministry outside the box, consider this process.

Entrepreneurial ministry will often find itself in being for-profit, not non-profit.  Regardless the same mentality must apply:  ministry has a business side.  The government views ministry this way on some levels, and this must be taken very seriously.  So in the inaugural post of Entrepreneurial Ministry, I want to give you 5 reasons why you should incorporate your entrepreneurial ministry:

1. Personal Asset Protection-By incorporating or forming a limited liability company, you make a distinction between your personal assets (house, checking account, auto, etc.) and your business. If your ministry is sued, and you are incorporated, in most cases your personal assets will have a degree of protection not afforded under sole proprietorships or partnerships.
2. Increase Credibility with Clients and Customers-A business that has “Inc.,” “Company” or “Corporation” after its name generally indicates a higher degree of professionalism and seriousness of purpose. This can be particularly useful if you intend to sell shares of stock to raise capital.
3. Tax Deductions-A corporation can reduce the amount of tax that is due to the IRS by deducting any costs that are related to the business in the pursuit of profit. These charges can include operating expenses and advertising costs, as well as the salaries, bonuses, and medical and retirement payments paid to employees.
4. Ability to Raise Capital by Issuing Shares of Stock-If a corporation needs more capital, the owners can issue shares of stock to investors. Capital can be raised in this way whether a company is a startup or is an established firm that is looking to expand.
5. Corporations Are the Most Enduring Legal Structure-A corporation is the oldest legal structure. They are entities that continue even if an owner dies or decides to sell a business. Because of its long history, there is also a wealth of case law to refer to in the event of a corporate lawsuit.