Most small business owners view marketing as a necessary evil. They’d rather be doing almost anything else.

I believe marketing doesn’t have to suck. But what if you decide that marketing really isn’t for you? An old friend recently raised that question.

Introducing Mark Eckenrode

Mark Eckenrode is the ultimate career renegade. We met in 2007 during Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula class. I was a beginning copywriter; he was a certified guerrilla marketer.

Mark quickly became a mentor to me. He helped me to become a better marketer, raise my prices, and build a business that I love. That’s because Mark is one of those rare guys who approaches marketing with passion, creativity and the courage to break the mold. A guy who is, in his words, “powered by punk rock, Pepsi and the belief that one person can make a difference.”

Then Mark gave up marketing for a two-month hike around Thailand. (Think Eat, Pray, Love but with more testosterone and poisonous snakes.)

Marketing: Then and Now

While digging through some old files, I recently found a phone interview I did with Mark back in 2008. I was hoping to learn more about his business and his marketing philosophy.

‘What a great resource for the One Woman Marketing blog,’ I thought. Since the interview was so old, I emailed Mark to see if he was interested in doing a followup.

Sure, he wrote back, but it might be odd. After his experience in Thailand, he was preparing to retire from marketing and become a paramedic. Was I still interested?

Um, heck yeah?

The 2008 Interview: Guerrilla Marketing on the Web

This is the conversation we had in 2008. Don’t be fooled by its age – Mark gives a ton of great tips on guerrilla marketing for small business owners that still apply today.

Below you’ll find audio of our interview and a PDF of the transcript so you can print it out and highlight the best parts, like I did.  (Ignore the defunct web address mentioned in the podcast; the real file is below.)

Check back next week for part two, and a peek at Mark’s life now. You can also find him on his blog, Eaten By Tigers, or learn more about his marketing services at Clickfluence.com.

Download the MP3 (15:59 min, 14.6 MB)

Click the image at left to read the transcript in a new window, or download by right-clicking the image and choosing “Save to Computer.”