Small business marketing toolbox

» Small Business Blog Contest from HP

HP ran a little blog contest on its SMB Community Wiki and let readers pick the top their favorite blog posts arranged in the categories of marketing, entrepreneurship, innovation and management, and productivity.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 8:00:00 AM

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» The Microsoft Small Business Summit

Mark your calendar. Entering its third year, the Microsoft Small Business Summit, a nationwide, online event that runs for four days is coming. This year it runs from March 24 through March 27. Summit registrants can participate online from home or office.

I have been asked to kick the summit off with a session on small business marketing so I hope that lots of Duct Tape Marketing readers will be joining me live online on March 24th at 9am PDT!

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Posted by John Jantsch on Friday, January 25, 2008 at 11:33:00 AM

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» Audio interviews with expert authors

As part of an ongoing monthly series sponsored by the Duct Tape Marketing Coach network I have been conducting some fascinating interviews.

I started off with Guy Kawasaki talking about how and why he created Truemors, talked Search with John Battelle and Awakening the Entrepreneur Within recently with Michael Gerber.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 10:41:00 AM

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» 2008 - the year of the personalized social business network

Look, I don’t really think that the mySpaces and Facebooks of the world are that important for the typical small business as they stand today. There may be very practical business reasons for some to actually use these and other social networks, like LinkedIn, for business gain, but most people that have jumped on the social network bandwagon have found themselves left with a “is this all there is” kind of feeling.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 10:38:00 AM

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» Don't lose your prospects as hello

No one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy. Most of what passes for marketing materials and copy is doomed from that start - it loses the interest of the prospect at “hello - I’m hear to sell you something.”

Your marketing materials should be designed in such a way that your prospects are guided logically along a path of education, trust building and relationship development.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Sunday, December 02, 2007 at 11:23:00 AM

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» SCORE some help from these counselors

I had a chance to visit with Ken Yancey, CEO of SCORE for this episode of the the Duct Tape Marketing podcast.

SCORE is an underutilized resource for small business owners who are just starting and want to get some help from a season, often retired, business owner or executive. And did I mention it’s free!

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Posted by John Jantsch on Sunday, December 02, 2007 at 11:21:00 AM

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» Pre-Write Your Email Responses

Email is awfully invasive, no way around it these days, but it’s also awfully effective for all types of communication and response.

One of the ways that I’ve found to get a little bit of control over the beast, while also making sure that my responses are well crafted, is to pre-write email responses to many of the common requests I receive.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Sunday, December 02, 2007 at 11:19:00 AM

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» Marketing isn't just for customers

Most small business marketers think in terms of marketing as a way to get a keep customers. While that is indeed correct, effective marketing is also a great way to attract and keep great talent to your business. No matter how hot your products and services are your growth will be tied very directly to the your ability to get people who are passionate about your company and its story working side by side with you.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Friday, October 26, 2007 at 6:35:00 AM

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» Your Marketing Materials Should Educate

Your marketing materials should be designed in such a way that your prospects are guided logically along a path of education, trust building and relationship development.

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Posted by John Jantsch on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 7:39:00 AM

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» Are You Making What You're Worth?

There is only so much time in a day right?

So it just makes sense to focus as much of your time as possible on the things that produce the highest payoff.

Most small business owners are do-it-yourself types and get sucked into doing the littlest silly work faster than you can say “Oh look, the copier is jammed again.”

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Posted by John Jantsch on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 7:36:00 AM

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