THE NEWS from the list "battlefront" is grim, as casualties mount among marketers who  use only "tried-and-true" mailing strategies. The days when one could roll out the big guns, take aim at a stationary target and score a big hit are gone forever.

Today, marketers must seek smaller, more elusive targets. Such targets are able to change without warning. In short, marketers must practice "guerilla" marketing.

There are fewer and fewer new lists on the market, and the ones that work well are being mailed to the point of saturation.

Business-to-business marketers are no less susceptible to this affliction. In fact. they may suffer from it even more than consumer marketers do, since the number of business response lists has always been smaller and the best business lists offer relatively fewer names than do consumer lists.

Traditional marketing strategy is doomed to fail on this new battlefield.

Here are 10 guerilla marketing tactics, you can install in your arsenal:

1. Mail more frequently to your own names. Your most active customers need to hear from you more often. You must try harder to keep marginal buyers from becoming inactive and to reactivate former customers.

2. When prospecting, vary your creative for both proven and marginal lists. If you mail the same prospects frequently, the least you can do is avoid the monotony of repeating the same mailing or the same formats.

Business-to-business marketers need to pay special attention to new creative approaches. Don't make, the mistake of assuming that taking creative risks is something only consumer marketers do. Some of the most exciting creative departures in direct mail today are business mailings designed to got past the mailroom and through the executives' screening process to receive the personal attention of the decision maker.

3. Give your customers a reason to stay connected with you. Create a value-added association, such as a buyers' club or a year-end bonus rebate or even a newsletter to assure long-term customer loyalty.

4. To figure out what makes your best customers tick and to clone them, do statistical
analysis. With it, you can determine who buys from you, when they buy, how they buy and sometimes even why they buy. Armed with this information, you can help keep your loyal customers and find others just like them.

5. Create your own prospects. If there are too few lists available, create some more of your own! Use association directories, space ads, trade shows and other vehicles to generate inquiries that you can add to your house mailing list, test, analyze and profit from.If you are already gathering leads and inquiries, it's time to treat this resource with more respect.

6. Look for opportunities in peripheral markets.

7. Expand your list selections. Don't fall back on old assumptions. You probably look
askance at inquiries or expires or even change-of-address names as sources of new business. They may not work for your regular offers, but they might pull well for other types of offers. You can use a less-expensive mailing piece to upgrade these prospects one notch at a time.

8. And while you're testing, develop alternative test vehicles. If you've always mailed two large catalogs a year, try a couple of additional mini-catalogs. If you've always mailed solo, try a co-op mailing or a package insert. Go ahead, confuse your competition. It's a great guerilla tactic!

9. Swap and exchange names. Ask your broker to arrange for you to trade expires or inquires with your "friendly competitors." What better source of new names could there be for your target market?

10. Test the "other" address. Business mailers may get much better response by mailing to executives at home (such lists exist), and consumer marketers might be surprised how effectively they can reach their customers at work (test the ship-to address, if it's in a business format). Catching the customer off guard is probably the oldest guerilla marketing tactic in the book.

With the USPS ready to fire rate increases at all of us next year, putting these tactics into place now will help you to be ready when the big blast hits. Meanwhile, the lean, mean marketing machine you'll create should be a profit booster even before the USPS drops its bombshell.