Page 291 - Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Marketing

on a wall-sized calendar. This calendar should include all of your foun-
dational marketing work, such as creating or revising your Web site, as
well as any planned lead generation tests and promotions.

At first you may feel overwhelmed by the amount of start-up-type
work involved in creating many of the tools described in this book,
but nothing will change until your marketing changes.

One of my favorite books is by Anne Lamott, titled Bird by Bird.
In the book, Lamott explains that the title came from something her
father told her. Facing a deadline for a school report on birds, she felt
overwhelmed and asked her father what to do. She explains that his
advice was to take it bird by bird. The same holds true for your market-
ing. You’ve got to map out a plan and then complete it a step at a time.

Create a Monthly Marketing Theme
Another planning tool I like to employ is to give each month of

the year a marketing theme. This allows you to focus on building the
tools and systems that you need for that theme. So March becomes the
month to build your referral systems, and April is the month to build
the tools you need to kick your PR program into gear. You don’t need
to do everything in a week or two. But do something well each month,
and the progress you can make in six months may carry you for years.

Make a Daily Appointment Habit
You are in the marketing business. You are the chief marketing

officer. You can’t do that job by squeezing in some spare time on
Friday. Make an appointment and block out the time every day to do
some marketing activity. Write an insert for your marketing kit, call
three reporters, schedule a meeting with strategic partners, research a
mailing list, and pen five thank-you notes. Now, that’s what I call a
good week in the marketing department. It won’t happen until you
make it a habit. Figure out how to get that time on your schedule, and
don’t cancel the appointment.

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