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DuctTapeMarketing.com
April 17, 2007
In this issue:
Resource #1
- Lead Generation Machine -
New Product
Resource #2
- Duct Tape Marketing Affiliate Program
Main Article
- Feeding the Small Business Ecosystem
Resource
#3 - Duct
Tape Marketing the Book!
Free Magazine -
Free subscription to PRWeek Magazine
Further Reading -
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords - Perry
Marshall
Featured Listening -
West
-
Lucinda Williams
Add your articles to the
Duct Tape Marketing
Article Directory
Participate in the Duct
Tape Marketing Forum
Coming Soon - Duct Tape Marketing Resource Directory
Duct Tape Marketing On the Road -
see the schedule of
speaking events
You can always view past newsletter issues here!
Featured Resource #1
NEW
-
The Lead
Generation Machine
Could
Your Business Stand a Consistent, Predictable, and Growing Flow of Highly
Qualified Leads?
Create a Non-Stop Flow of Highly Qualified Leads for Any Business - The Duct
Tape Marketing Small Business Marketing
Lead Generation Course
Featured Resource #2 - Duct Tape Marketing Affiliate Program
   
I get lots of requests from business owners and marketers
who would like to resell my growing suite of small business marketing
products and earn a commission.
So. . . I've created the Duct Tape Marketing Affiliate
Program to allow approved marketers to easily offer all of the Duct Tape
products to their readers and clients.
You can visit the
affiliate center to enroll
and get the ad banner code you need to
paste ads for each product on your web pages and emails.
You can also visit the
Duct Tape Marketing
product catalog to learn more about each of the products currently
offered. As we add more products you will automatically have the ability to
offer these to your readers.
Want
to discuss this idea? Join me for a free webinar sponsored by WebEx,
Wednesday, April 18th at 1pm PST (2MST, 3CST, 4EST) – I want to hear from
you about how you or others around you are using technology to build your
small business ecosystem. –
Enroll here
Featured Article
Feeding the Small Business
Ecosystem
Your business
is a system of interdependent parts each feeding on the next to
determine your ultimate success
 Forgive
what may seem like a bit of a theoretical argument today. Sometimes you have
to step back and get a sense of the biggest picture in order to understand
how all the simple, practical parts relate.
Small business is often held together with sweat, creativity and a heavy use
of duct tape. (In case you ever wondered where I came up with the term Duct
Tape Marketing.) That’s the outer reality of small business. The inner
reality, the part that most don’t see and even the owner of the business
might not understand, is more like a living breathing ecosystem.
I didn’t really excel in science in school, but to me the parallel is
obvious. In an ecosystem the many parts are dependent upon each other for
success. In a small business this is equally true and just as hard to
measure and control.
There are lots of small businesses out there that appear healthy and happy
on the outside but are being held back by some component of the overall
system. The very first thing you must do is acknowledge this idea of
dependant parts. If one isn’t thriving, isn’t even noticed, others will
suffer.
It’s very hard to have a healthy business if the employees don’t feel
appreciated. It’s very hard to have a healthy business if clients don’t know
how your business is unique. It’s very hard to have a healthy business if
your referral partners don’t know who makes an ideal client for your
business.
There are countless examples of growing businesses that ignore what I’m
suggesting, but I wonder if they are fun places to work and do business
with?
Thinking strategically about your own small business ecosystem requires
understanding who all the players are, the experience you want them to have
with your business, and the tools you need to employ to make this
integration happen.
First let’s take a look at the major players in the small business
ecosystem.
You may have some combination of:
-
Suspects – folks you’ve identified that
might need what you do
-
Prospects – those who have responded to
your lead activities
-
Clients- someone who has purchases
something
-
Advocates – purchases lots and tells others
-
Associates – your staff
-
Vendors – companies you might purchase from
-
Partners – companies that might help you
produce a product or co-create services and clients
You can define what each of these is in your
business, but the strongest businesses understand that they need to embrace,
feed and sell each – sometimes in order for one to thrive. For instance,
your clients will become stronger advocates or referral sources the more
they feel connected to your community of clients, associates and partners.
One of the ways to create these connections among all of the members of your
ecosystem is to have and communicate in no uncertain terms your firm’s
unique core message. That message should contain a clear statement about
your brand and how it’s unique and who should care. The goal then becomes
finding ways for your clients, advocates, partners, and associates to
connect to this brand in a way that feeds them.
Technology and a host of new media tools have made the important task of
feeding and integrating all of the parties in a small business world much
easier.
Let’s cover a few examples:
-
Blogs allow you to produce frequently
changing content and interaction with clients and prospects
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Websites allow you to give access to a
great deal of educational content
-
Web apps like Basecamp allow you to
collaborate with clients and partners in real time
-
Online meeting tools like WebEx give you
the ability to hold instant virtual sales presentations and peer-to-peer
client conversations
-
Podcasting can open up doors to new media
and give a true voice to the people in your firm
-
RSS technology allows you to create dynamic
content that can be personalized to the individual
-
CRM systems give you the ability to track a
prospect’s education process and know when they need more
-
Social software can give your clients the
ability to generate marketing content for you and about you in an
environment of trust
-
Autoresponders can provide education and
training whenever it’s requested
-
Intranet styled offerings and even chat
platforms make remote and virtual communication with your suppliers and
associates simple and seamless
-
Content management systems can give your
firm’s employees and clients access to your entire searchable library of
documented knowledge
-
Streaming video and video screen capture
makes providing simple help and training a snap
I suspect you get the point from the list
above, but, of course, technology itself isn’t the answer. It is the
beautiful way in which you tap the power it possesses to help meet and
exceed your client’s expectations, build a thriving community of partners,
associates, and advocates around your business, and generate and close more
deals, more profitably.
To do this you must embrace new tools, new media, and new technology and
figure out how to bend them to serve the goals of feeding your unique small
business ecosystem.
Want to discuss this idea? Join me for a free webinar sponsored by
WebEx, Wednesday, April 18th at 1pm PST (2MST, 3CST, 4EST) – I want to hear
from you about how you or others around you are using technology to build
your small business ecosystem. –
Enroll here
Related article -
Using Web Applications Instead of Software to run
your business
. ~ ~ ~
 John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of
Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
published by Thomas Nelson.
He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com
You may reprint this article in its entirety if you attribute the article to John Jantsch and include the information about the author above.
Featured Resource #3
 Duct
Tape Marketing - The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
-
foreword by Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth, afterword by
Guy Kawasaki, author of Art of the Start - Hardcover, 304 Pages, Nelson
Business.
Check out the
book
Sample review on Amazon.com
"The
Duct Tape Marketing book covers pretty much everything you need to know
about marketing for small businesses. And make no mistake, while the
concepts might be the same, the practicalities of marketing in a small
business vs a large one are very different. Small businesses have limited
budgets and staffs so their marketing has to be practical and this book
shows how.
The book covers creating a marketing foundation (which so many small
businesses forget to do), packaging up the business, tools for generating
leads and then converting them to sales. It also talks about the use of the
internet including websites, autoresponders and blogs.
It really is that good."
Featured Reading
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords
- Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd
Google AdWords is an advertising
platform made for many small businesses. It's a great tool for testing, for
launching new sites, for generating leads and closing deals.
But, it takes a little know how to
make it work for.
Perry Marshall is one the
"Internet Marketing" good guys and may be the world's most knowledgeable
expert on the subject.
Featured Listening
West
- Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is quite likely
the current queen of honky-tonk blues mixed with jazz and folk. Her songs
have been covered by Emmylou Harris and Mary Chapin Carpenter to name a few.
But it's that voice that will
really get to you. On West she tones some of the musical experimentation of
recent releases down and focuses on ripping your heart out with themes of
love and loss.
This might be her best effort to
date!
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Harness the
Internet -
Market Your Small Business More Effectively
- program includes 3
- 1 hour audio sessions with
John Jantsch, workbook, and transcripts from each
session.
Visit
the Catalog to
select the version you would like to receive.
The Duct Tape Marketing Small Business Marketing System
This complete small business marketing program contains 15 workbooks, 12
audios CDs - packaged in a Duct Tape Marketing 3 ring binder. This is the
same tool I use to coach my clients.
Find out more.
Featured Resource - The Duct Tape Marketing Workshops - Does Your
Group Need a Practical Small Business Marketing Speaker?
I am available to present small business marketing workshops, seminars and
keynotes to groups and associations.
Find out more here
-
Referral Flood - How to generate a flood of new business without
spending one dime on advertising
The complete referral marketing system with over 50 real world referral
tactics, examples and forms. Order
now!
Resource - Get Local Search Engine Traffic
Don’t Let Your Small Business Get Left Behind in the Local Search Engine
Game
Get your local business found online automatically by local prospects with a
Duct Tape Marketing Local Search Engine profile. One of the best ways to get
your business found in your town by local prospects.
More
Blog Lightning - How To Create and Promote Your
Blog In A Flash
Drawing from my experience creating blogs, including my award winning Duct
Tape Marketing Blog, I have launched a complete step-by-step guide that
takes you by the hand and shows you exactly what to do to instantly create
and promote a successful blog for your business.
You also get 14 video screencast tutorials that allow you to watch over my
shoulder as I actually do the steps I outline in the system - It does not
get any easier than this! - Order
Blog Lightning
Request Your Free Magazine
BtoB Magazine
Delivers timely editorial on all disciplines of business - to - business
PR Week - Hurry
this one won't last - this is the bible for PR related issues
Duct Tape Marketing Podcast
Tune in each week as I interview some of the brightest business experts,
authors and entrepreneurs. Subscribe and get the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast
delivered to your iPod or other mp3 player.
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Fast Company as a must listen to podcast
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