Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

John - heck yeah! I'm a new marketing entrepreneur, and there's nothing more intimidating than starting a brand new business. So I started by thinking local - joining the local chamber of commerce and targeting a few dozen companies that are smack in the middle of my area of expertise. I sent them a brief letter (not a lot of huffing and puffing) with a little info about me and what I do, a link to my website and blog, and 2 business cards - one for them and one to share. I've already had several people call or come to the site just to check things out. And even if they don't need me right now, they'll remember me when they do, because I talked to them as business owners, not as a "mailing list". Thanks for the reminder that old school doesn't have to be yesterday's news.

I agree with you!

You can't over look the simple offline marketing ideas like making some calls to past clients or a hand written note because that stuff often has a deeper impact and will leave a lasting impressing in the mind of the client.

That said, there is something to be said about the far reaching impact online marketing has because the client know all about you before you say a word to them in person. That makes selling more like order taking.

One of the things that we have started doing is hand delivering proposals when feasible. Rather than wisking the PDF through email, we schedule an in person meeting where we walk the prospect through the proposal.

Personal contact is still something humans need; it reassures us that we really exist.

We should ask ourselves -- What happens when someone breaks-up with the mail order axiom that people don't respond as much in summer months as during the dark winter months? The people who read their junk mail in the summer may very well be the most serious ones. When I'm seeing information requests drop off during summer days, I know those who do inquire are not just information collectors or someone stuck at home with a cold, playing on the internet. There are more strong leads among the few.

I'm just starting up a new web development company. A part of our marketing plan is to use postcards that have a quick presentation of how we can help clients, plus the offer of a free 1 hour web consultation. We guarantee 5 concrete suggestions for improvements that the recipient can use as they see fit.

The plan is to send them to potential clients with a short handwritten personal note on the back. That will be followed up with a call a few days later to open a dialogue with the contact in question.

I'm looking forward to trying this out as a strategy. Anyone else got any suggestions?

Hello John!

We continue to be amazed at the number of businesses we see just drop the types of marketing that worked well for them in the past for the 'New Effective Marketing Techniques' appearing online. What most Entrepreneurs and Managers seem to forget is- when a new marketing opportunity comes up- you simply ADJUST the budget to include the new forms of marketing...you don't drop everything to embrace the new opportunity!

You should always use ALL forms of media to market your product or service...online, direct mail, radio, TV, cable, billboards, etc. Find out which are the most effective for you and shift the majority of your budget to those. This still allows for you to have some money available to keep testing the other marketing options.

Most Entrepreneurs and Managers wouldn't put ALL of their 401k money or other retirement accounts into just one investment...so why do they continue to do it with their marketing budget?

So that’s 2.5/10 in the most-emailed list. These high-CTR articles generate the most page views => ad inventory => cash for the Times. Print newspapers allow for honest, unbiased reporting of facts because you only have to “sell out” the front page to sell papers on the newsstand (you don’t need to sell out anything for subscriptions, fidelity 401k which are locked in.) On the internet they get to fight over pageviews with everyone else. What to do? Surface the popular content box prominently on every page, creating a massive positive feedback loop that highlights partisan op-eds, human interest fluff, pop culture reviews, personal health and finance, and mild pornography.