Page 25 - Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Marketing

Our mission was to radically change the way small busi-
ness owners thought about marketing and our “marketing as a
system” strategy became how we would do that.

Like most effective strategies, the gap in current offerings and
positioning was what offered the clear opportunity. Connecting
your strategy will also include a careful study of the competitive
environment—and that of other unrelated industries—in order
to fill a need with your innovation or differentiation.

Let me return once again to Sun Tzu and The Art of War—“All
men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is
the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”

Now, before you determine whether Facebook is better for your
business than LinkedIn or if direct mail is still an effective way to
generate leads, start at the point where you will ultimately create the
greatest possible impact—strategy!

Fuse Online and Offline to Drive Ultimate Engagement

From a marketing strategy standpoint, one of the things that must be
considered is how prospects and customers have come to adopt the
Web and social media. Firms that are taking full advantage of this
transition are fusing offline tactics with online tactics to do much of
the relationship building required to engage customers.

As I continue to watch this phenomenon, I’m more convinced
than ever that it’s one of the primary strategies that every local busi-
ness needs to adopt as an intentional, overarching marketing strategy.
It’s not a matter of looking at the Internet and social tools with an
eye on sales. It’s one of tuning your entire marketing process in a way
that fits how offline buyers make decisions and grabbing that piece
of business.

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