From blog to book to software...John Jantsch Duct Tape Marketing
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I met John Jantsch via the blogosphere several years ago when there weren't that many of us small business bloggers. He was promoting a referral marketing program called Duct Tape buy telemarketing data Marketing via his blog and Web site. It began to gain traction among small business owners and, before you knew it, DTM was a book, and a best-seller at that. John was on his way to becoming a household name within the small business marketing community. His approach was practical, hands-on and something that could be put to use immediately.
Now, he's taken Duct Tape Marketing
. He has been working with Palo Alto Software for about a year and today announced that Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing is ready to go. Here are some links to give you background on the rollout: Press release annoucing the launch. Tour of features of the program. Palo
Alto founder Tim Berry
Talks about the program Palo Alto announces launch on blog Announcement on John's blog. I know many of you are fans of John's system. If not and you're a small business owner or entrepreneur you should be. Anyway, congratulations to John.
His is an American success story
And the stuff entrepreneurial dreams are made of.I finished reading Groundswell last night, the book co-authored by Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff and former analyst Charlene Li. I have to say it's one of the most important books on the subject of social media that I've read this year.
Research - The opinions shared
Suggestions made and advice given are based on solid research. What else would you expect from Forrester, right? Everything is well-documented and appended. Case studies - Charlene and Josh support the research with real world examples showing how organizations both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors are using the tools.
Social media to accomplish marketing
Business communication purposes. They showcase larger organizations like Dell, Best Buy and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, but do include a few references to small business. Writing - The book is very well-written. Again, you'd expect no less from Forrester analysts.
Only read one book
Social media marketing this year, Groundswell should be it. However, let me also suggest a short list of others. New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott - If I were teaching college courses on social media marketing, this would be the text book I'd use for the 101 class.
Gone by Geoff Livingston
Brian Solis. Citizen Marketers by Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell and of course. The Cluetrain Manifesto - It would be the text book for the social media marketing philosophy course! There are any number of books I could recommend. These are just the ones I've actually finished.