John Jantsch presents Duct Tape Marketing as a systematic way for small businesses to make their marketing “stick” even when money is tight.
21st Century Marketing is O2O
The first thing to remember is the internet and digital interactivity now represent the center of the marketing universe and according to Jantsch most marketing decisions must start and end there. Jantsch suggests that for small businesses to compete with larger, we need to tweak the relationships between on and offline focus and become O2O: Have an online presence that drives the customer to an off-line transaction. Find the customer where they are—online, then drive to engage them in person.
Decide Who Matters.
We need to build our marketing strategy around a narrowly defined ideal client. Using an ideal client profile as the basis of our strategy also allows us to focus on how we will serve our customers and how to attract them. After we determine our ideal clients and the best way to serve them, we need to determine if that customer is a viable market. We divide this by asking a few questions. Is the market large enough to support our business growth goals? Can we easily promote business to the decision-makers in this market? and Does this market value what we do enough to pay a premium? If the answer to these questions is yes then we’ve found a viable market.
Decide to be Different.
Customers need a way to compare and contrast, and if we don’t give them one, they’ll default to price. We need to find something that separates us from the competition. A one-of-a-kind way of doing business, something different from competitors relating perhaps to financial transactions, customer engagement, delivery, post-sales support. Anything that effectively positions us in a unique way is the goal.
Effective Marketing Eliminates the Need for Selling
Duct Tape Marketing moves the focus away from selling and toward educating prospects that have already expressed an interest in our business. The Duct Tape Marketing lead conversion system relies on three distinct components:
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Discovery. In discovery, the central goal is to discover if a prospect actually fits our ideal target market. Jantsch states that If we've done a good job in marketing up to this point, you will attract qualified prospects. The discovery phase is begun by a prospect’s call, e-mail, or appointment. It is important that we have a systematic way to handle these requests.
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Presentation. Jantsch calls for what is called an internal seminar. The internal seminar is a partly-scripted presentation made within initial client meetings. Having an understanding of what we will say and what questions we will ask removes the risk of assumption and ensures key points are presented. The presentation can lead to a connection with our client or it won’t. But it ensures that if we do connect, it is the right connection.
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Transaction. The final leg of the lead conversion system is a planned transaction process. In other words, a thought-out and consistently executed way to take the order, deliver the goods, or execute an agreement. Make this step easy and we’re well on our way to repeat orders.
Marketing Is Everyone’s Job
One final important thing to keep in mind within the Duct Tape Marketing method is that everyone needs to be intentional in their marketing. And also that everyone is a marketer. By giving our staff enthusiasm for what we do, we can deliver that enthusiasm to our customers.