Guerilla marketing finds new and innovative methods for reaching customers outside of more traditional channels like TV and billboards.

Where traditional marketing aims to generate sales or online traffic, guerilla marketing is only focused on the bottom line. In other words, a campaign’s success is measured solely by the profit it generates. Which, actually, makes good sense—you’d be shocked by how frequently a big company breaks a sales record thanks to a marketing campaign, but still loses money because the campaign was too expensive.

Another difference between the two marketing methods is that traditional marketing is usually a monologue, whereas guerilla marketing is a dialogue. A traditional TV commercial is an example of a monologue: the marketer transmits one message and consumers have to accept it as-is. Guerrilla marketing, however, brings both sides into conversation. An example might be an online contest where people are asked to give feedback on your business as part of their entry. You can then respond to this feedback with personalized messages, which starts a dialogue. It’s precisely this dialogue that gives small businesses an edge over bigger corporations: small businesses can take the time to respond individually to each customer.

Growth hackers know that there’s a reason some things go viral and others don’t. All they need is a few simple questions to figure it out.

1. Why should customers share this?
2. Is sharing easy?
3. Is this product worth talking about?

Whenever people share your content, it’s like they’re doing you a favor for free. So to really make it worthwhile for your customer, you have to give them something they want to share. You can do so by following a simple, two-step process.

First, make your product worth sharing. And second, encourage them to do it! Here’s an example from Groupon. Groupon launched a Refer-a-Friend campaign that gave customers a $10 credit when a referred friend made their first purchase. So essentially, Groupon encouraged and rewarded its customer base to spread the word.

Attentiveness is a simple but powerful pillar of customer service, no matter what business you’re in. Start being more attentive by dividing your customer base into smaller groups based on common needs or preferences. This will allow you to create specific customer profiles.

Next, collect some information. Ask yourself: What are my customers’ preferences, what do they expect from me and how can I fulfil their needs? Here’s a shining example of amazingly attentive customer care:

Say there’s a man who visits his local bar two or three times a week. The bartender knows the man’s regular beer and often listens to his complaints about work. Once the man asked for popcorn, and since then, the bartender’s always made sure to put a bowl of popcorn on the bar when he sees the man walking in. This simple, human, attentive behavior is exactly what turns customers into regulars.

When optimizing their website, most companies look to design agencies. The problem, however, is that a good design agency can’t necessarily optimize your site for conversion rate or revenue. While they may excel at creating a sleek looking experience, they usually don’t know what your website’s business goals are. In fact, many design agencies have no clue which criteria are most important for creating a successful website. This is apparent in the very first question design agencies ask their new clients: “What do you want your website to look like?” But, really, the most important criterion is how the website works and how that affects revenue.

Another huge mistake designers make when redesigning a client’s website is using the HiPPO Method for decision-making: deferring to the “highest-paid person’s opinion.” When designers present their concepts to the client, the final decision is often left in the hands of one person, such as a department head or C-level executive. Yet, despite their fancy titles, such people are not always knowledgeable enough to make these kinds of decisions. Instead, designers and companies should formulate hypotheses about which page design will produce the highest conversion rate, and then test it to see if certain designs and layouts yield more conversions.

While in the womb, a fetus is able to perceive sounds from the external world. So, if a mother likes a specific tune, she’ll share with her baby the positive emotions she has while listening to it. And because unborn children are able to recognize melodies – including the jingles of advertisements – hearing or recalling such melodies later in life will trigger the same positive feelings.

Once we’re born, the media bombards us with hundreds of brands every day, in web advertisements, in video games and on TV. In fact, a Nickelodeon study found that children are exposed to so many ads that by the time they’re ten years old they will have memorized 300–400 brands. Of these hundreds of brands, children will form relationships with some that last well into the future.

Such relationships are often formed because children believe that brands help them to establish friendships with others. One preschooler in a 2009 study demanded to have LEGO because he believed that otherwise, none of the other children would want to play with him, or even like him.

Without overthinking it, just write something. Start by scrawling down, “This is an ad about . . .” and follow it up with whatever comes to mind. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll discover the words you needed.

Another trick is to put yourself into the customer’s head by thinking hard about how they’ll feel when using the product. If you’re working for Hollister, for example—a company that sells casual clothes for teens—you’d want these teens to feel cool, comfortable and, most of all, confident. Why does this work? Because emotional appeals are far more powerful than rational reasons when we buy goods and services.

After determining what feeling you want to evoke, you’ve got to get into the right headspace. Sam Bennett once had to produce work for a magazine called Family Life, and show that raising a child is one of the most moving things you can do. The catch: he’d never raised a child himself. And so, he sat down to read a book about the joys and insanities that come with parenthood and sifted through photos of happy families. The right mood hit him, and soon he struck gold, with the tagline “Life is short, childhood is shorter.”