Regular visitors to this blog may note a slightly different look today.

I have migrated this entire blog to WordPress. I am very excited about the expanded possibilities this platform gives me. The folks at WordPress have been a great source of help in this process, which in my case was not an easy one.

You may notice some funky stuff as the redirects and database imports settle in but then it will be back to the fun stuff of running a blog. You shouldn’t need to change any of your subscription or link details although the new URL for this page is now http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog

6:00:49 PM    

I am moderating a panel of film industry icons next week during the LA Film Festival. You can join in during a live online session - I want lots of Duct Tape readers asking questions! The event signals the kick-off of an aggressive effort by OPEN to build an online small business community that features a collection of ideas, expertise, and resources you need to grow your business.

Event Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - Time: 7:30 pm PST
Panelists: Sydney Pollack, Lawrence Bender, and Nancy Meyers

Get your questions ready — you’ll have the rare opportunity to submit questions for the panelists and simultaneously connect with other small business owners through a live chat.

This event can only be viewed online — sign up for free today.

6:00:49 PM    

Retail can be a tough business. Competition is fierce, location is everything, and the buyer is fickle and expensive to reach.

That’s why successful small retailers perfect the art of loyalty, referrals, word or mouth, promotion, and community building.

You know, as I read that list I wonder why service businesses don’t take a page from this book. Is there anything on the list above that would hurt your marketing efforts. Of course not.

All it takes is looking at your marketing from some new perspectives.

• What if you offered gift certificates for your services?
• What if you mailed those gift certificates to your loyal clients and encouraged them hand them out?
• What if you offered bridal or baby registry? (C’mon, get your neighbor’s kid a tax return for their wedding - way better than a toaster)
• What if you held over the top events for your clients? (I know a remodeling firm that buys out a Christmas tree farm for that year’s clients)
• What if you had a holiday, client only, sale or new service introduction?
• What if you held education forums aimed at very specific niches of your clientele? (single women, parents with kids going to college, sports minded families, people learning to be more green.)

Another benefit of some of this kind of out of the box thinking is that it presents great opportunities for some PR. Are there any other service businesses in your town offering bridal registry? Be the first - the media loves a first.

A little creative thinking and this list could really get interesting. Pay attention to folks like Apple, Urban Outfitters, Target, Ikea and those local main street superstars that seem to thrive in the shadow of Wal-Mart in every town across America.

What other ways could service businesses use these tactics?

6:00:48 PM    

I am helping AT&T build their small business advice portal called OnwardSmallBiz. The growing resources being made by the Fortune 500 aimed at the Fortune 1,000,000 set is a very encouraging recent trend.

I am acting as AT&T’s small business marketing expert so stop by and ask me a marketing question here.

6:00:47 PM    

Here’s how it all started. Hey girls, “I just signed up for a Facebook account.”

“Dad, that is so lame, what are you a stalker?”

“No girls, Facebook just opened up their API to third party developers and now businesses and application developers have unprecedented access to their 20 million users.”

“Whatever”

The move by Facebook, dubbed f8, should put small business marketers on alert. Now is the time to start learning how to navigate and use the Facebook platform and the coming storm of applications that are on the way.

I am building a network of cutting edge small business marketers on Facebook and invite you to join me to network, communicate, learn.

If you don’t have a Facebook account, go get one and start poking around. (Send me a friend request with DTM in the request) If you already have an account, send me a friend request with DTM in the note and join the Duct Tape Marketers Group.

This is an evolving space so look at your time here as learning and discovery.

Some good backstory links for you:
HP’s Eric Kintz on the marketing potential of facebook
Alec Saunders - Using Facebook polls
Facereviews - Reviews new Facebook applications
Techcrunch covers new platform launch

Update: My UK readers tell me that the title of this post suggests that pissed used by itself suggests a state of drunkenness and that I really mean pissed off. I wish they would learn to speak proper English.

6:00:46 PM    

The folks at WordPress have convinced me to make the switch to the WordPress blogging platform and everything should be ready to migrate very shortly. (Just a few bugs to work through.)

In collaboration with Cory Miller, a talented WordPress theme design, and in anticipation of my move to WordPress as my blogging platform, I’m releasing a new free WordPress theme specifically tailored for small businesses looking at starting a blog.

We’re calling it the Duct Tape Business Blog theme.

Here are some of the key features:
* Three column layout
* Newspaper and magazine Web 2.0 feel
* Widget ready
* Sample ads ready for your products and services

Take the theme for a test run here.
Download the theme here.
Support and details here

6:00:46 PM    

I am moderating a panel of film industry icons next week during the LA Film Festival. You can join in during a live online session - I want lots of Duct Tape readers asking questions! The event signals the kick-off of an aggressive effort by OPEN to build an online small business community that features a collection of ideas, expertise, and resources you need to grow your business

Go behind the scenes and find out how this panel of successful producers has used networking to build connections, market their businesses and more to become some of the most successful business owners in the entertainment industry. No matter what type of small business you run, you’re sure to get insights, ideas, and insider advice you can use.

Event Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Time: 7:30 pm PST
Host: Peter Bart, Vice-President, Editor-In-Chief, Variety
Online Moderators: Susan Sobbott, President of OPEN from American Express® and John Jantsch, Ducttapemarketing.com
Panelists: Sydney Pollack, Lawrence Bender, and Nancy Meyers

Get your questions ready — you’ll have the rare opportunity to submit questions for the panelists and simultaneously connect with other small business owners through a live chat.

This event can only be viewed online — sign up for free today.

6:00:45 PM    

I wanted to dig in a bit and help listeners understand more about the power of Google Analytics so I interviewed Avinash Kaushik, currentedly listed as Google’s Anaylytics Evangelist and author or Occam’s Razor blog. on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast.

Kaushik is the also the author of the book Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, published by Wiley.

This free service just keeps getting better and our discussion highlighted a couple features that I was not that familiar with and I consider myself a bit addicted.

1) Site Overlay - Pick a page and the tool will show you link by link click rates on a copy of your actual page. This type of visual really drives home user patterns.

2) Goals - Setting up paths that you want users to take and then tracking how they get to and take a desired action or goal.

If you’re just getting started or want to know more about how to V2 read this article: Google Analytics Is Re-Launched: Do These Five Things First In V2

6:00:44 PM