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When the goal is to grow your one or two person business into a regional or national player in a major industry, word of mouth doesn't cut it as a marketing technique, believes Kevin Enders, president of Enders Racing Engines in Phoenix. Enders builds customized engines for professional and hobby racing cars.
What does work, Enders contends, is true guerrilla marketing. This is especially effective in quickly evolving industries, like his, where players typically do not have marketing programs in place.
"Perception is reality. Blow something up bigger than life, and it's real," said Enders. "When you have success of any kind, be sure everybody knows about it."
The strategy facilitated Enders' alignment with a major player in the automobile industry, Ford Motor Company. The relationship proved to be the catalyst for building name recognition for Enders Racing Engines.
When Enders learned that a Ford program for the Drivers Independent Race Tracks (DIRT) circuit had failed in the first year, he and Kim Abold,...