Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Are you a coach or a consultant – does your business hire coaches or consultants?
The answers to the question above seems to spark a bit of passion in entrepreneurial circles depending upon the definition one uses of each.
To me a coach is charged with holding a client accountable to stated actions, goals and courses while [...]

One of the best reasons to blog is to open up an interaction channel with your customers, prospects and contacts. The fact that your readers can comment and add relevant content to your site via blog comments is a major breakthrough in the communication process. It’s why everyone is talking about social media these days. [...]

David Allen, author of the wildly popular book Getting Things Done, and the almost cult-like GTD system, is my guest for a recent episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast.
I think David’s pretty brilliant, although you would probably never get him to admit it – his brilliance comes, in my opinion, from his consistent message [...]

It’s a pretty accepted fact that finding ways to do more business or get more referrals from your existing customers is a smart way to build a business. But as the din of noisy demands captures your attention it’s easy to forget all about those existing customers until they pick-up the phone and reorder.
I advocate [...]

Market research is a challenge for many small businesses. The data that you may need to conquer your corner of the world may not exist in a tidy database, yet marketing strategy should be well informed with real information.
One of the best methods of market research available to the small business in my opinion is [...]

Customer rewards programs, the kind used by the airlines for example, have been around for a long time, but I think the concept is grossly underused by small business owners.
The drive to earn a higher status or exclusive membership is very strong and full of marketing potential when used correctly. (I was in the Atlanta [...]

My friend Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies has compiled a free report outlining ways to use the popular business networking site, LinkedIn, to increase your sales.
Many people are drawn to the promise of millions of connections on LinkedIn but suffer from the “now what” syndrome once they get signed up. There is [...]

The annual Earth Day celebration is a nice opportunity to focus on some of the not so earth friendly practices that small business owners can easily fall into.
Without a doubt small business owners can and should 1) recycle, 2) shut down computers at night, 3) turn out the lights, 4) ride a bike to work, [...]