Get the eBook Today!
The 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success. Just $4.99
Refreshed for the AI era, from 20+ years of helping small businesses actually grow.
30+ years of proven results
You're doing a lot of marketing. None of it adds up...
For $1M to $20M founder-led businesses that want clearer positioning, consistent execution, and a pipeline they can count on.
Our Strategy First™ framework is the tool that helps you make the decisions underneath good marketing — who you’re for, what you stand for, and how the work all fits together. Built in days, not months. Yours to own, with or without us
Prefer to start by learning the approach?
Press play & see how we work.
As seen In...
Marketing Agencies, Consultants, and fractional CMOs
Want to license Strategy First and bring it to your clients?
If marketing feels busy but directionless, you're not alone.
At $1M to $20M, marketing isn't always "broken." It's just not operational. And the hidden cost of that dynamic shows up in a few predictable ways.
- You have growth goals, but revenue still comes in waves.
- You've been through three agencies, two freelancers, and an SEO firm. None of them talked to each other.
- Your message sounds different depending on who's saying it.
- Sales keeps asking where the good leads are. Marketing keeps running tactics that don't answer the question.
- Reporting exists, but doesn't connect what to do next.
THE OFFER
Strategy First™. The marketing framework your team owns and runs.
Strategy First is the foundation everything else is built on. Positioning, ideal client, message, customer journey, channel priorities, and a 90-day execution calendar your team owns. You leave with a complete plan, not a slide deck.
We deliver it two ways: a single-day intensive with you and your team in the room, or a guided process over 6 to 8 weeks. Which one fits depends on your team and your timeline. We figure that out together on the call.
What it covers
- Ideal client and positioning
- Core message and differentiation
- Customer journey across the Marketing Hourglass
- Channel priorities and content plan
- A 90-day execution calendar your team owns
What you leave with
- A documented marketing plan in plain English
- The meeting cadence to keep it on track
- Scorecards your team uses every week
- SOPs your internal marketer needs to run it
- A direct answer to "what do we do next"
How it works
- Two delivery options: a single-day intensive or a 6 to 8 week guided engagement
- Pick the format together on the discovery call
- Pricing stated up front, before you commit to anything
- No retainer attached
- No upsell during delivery
You leave capable, not dependent.
You will leave Strategy First with a plan you own. If you never work with us again, the plan still works.
Most clients do continue with us, into installation and ongoing fractional CMO leadership. That is always a separate decision you make with full information. Never bundled. Never automatic.
Who Strategy First works for
Founder-led B2B between $1M and $20M, where the founder is still the marketing department by default.
This is for you if
- You own or lead a growing business
- You've tried marketing tactics in pieces and want strategic alignment
- You're ready to invest in a long-term marketing approach that builds equity and visibility
- You have someone running marketing internally and they need leadership, not more tasks
- You want to stop being the marketing bottleneck
This is not for you if
- You want quick fixes without structure
- You're looking only for ads or fast lead generation
- You prefer winging it over a defined plan
- You want someone to take over marketing tasks instead of building real direction
- You aren't ready to commit to a system
“Our business skyrocketed almost immediately. We finally had a clear roadmap, and our business is booming.”
Jake Schloegel
Schloegel Design Remodel
1000s of Businesses Are Thriving Using Duct Tape Marketing's
Strategy First™ approach
Comments from our business clients and certified advisor network.
“Our web traffic has improved significantly since we started using [Duct Tape Marketing] services.... Everything from initial consultation, ongoing consultation, and account management has been easy and straightforward.”
Cory and Janette Eckert
Alpine Ductless
“I truly had NO idea what went into building a brand, a website, and marketing a business. From SEO to targeted ads, social media presence to blog posts, [Duct Tape Marketing] has helped me make a dent in a saturated market.”
Elizabeth Turner
Fox Point Dental
“Our business skyrocketed almost immediately when we engaged Duct Tape Marketing to help with our marketing strategy. We now have a clear picture and roadmap for the future and our business is booming.”
Jake Schloegel
President & CEO Schloegel Design Remodel
2nd Edition | 7 Steps To Small Business Success
Your marketing (& you) deserve better
Most small business owners aren't failing because they don't work hard enough. They're failing because their marketing has no strategy underneath it. The 7 Steps gives you the complete framework to fix that.
Get the Ebook for $4.99About Duct Tape Marketing
Duct Tape Marketing was founded over 30 years ago with a simple mission:
Help small businesses grow through strategic marketing.
Today, the Strategy First™ fCMO+ Operating System is used by thousands of small businesses and hundreds of certified Duct Tape Advisors worldwide.
We believe marketing should be simple, clear, and within your control.
And not something you have to keep outsourcing forever.
True small businesses who've seen success with Strategy First™
AFTER STRATEGY FIRST
What happens after Strategy First
Most clients continue with us into installation and ongoing fractional CMO leadership. We call this the Marketing Operating System. It is the same plan from Strategy First, executed week after week, with the dashboards and meetings to keep everything aligned.
Some clients take the plan and run it themselves. We don't talk them out of it. The plan works either way.
The Marketing Operating System
Frequently Asked Questions
Strategy First starts at $10,000. Same price whether you choose the one-day intensive or the traditional three-to-four-week version. A two-payment option is available if that helps with cash flow. If you paid $500 for the diagnostic session that will be credited to your full Strategy First engagement.
No. Strategy First is a fixed-scope engagement. You walk away with the plan, the documents, and the tools.
If you want help executing it, that's a separate conversation. Most of our clients do continue with us into installation and ongoing fractional CMO leadership. Some take the plan and run it themselves. The plan works either way.
A complete plan, not a slide deck. The deliverables include a 40 to 60-page Strategy First document, your ideal client profiles, your core message and positioning, a customer journey map across the seven stages of the Marketing Hourglass, lead generation priorities, a content strategy, and a 90-day execution calendar.
Everything is documented well enough that your team or another vendor can run it without us.
Two formats. The one-day intensive is exactly that, one full working day with your team and ours. The traditional engagement runs three to four weeks across three structured meetings.
Either format requires a real decision-maker in the room. Other team members are useful but optional. Most of the research and analysis happens on our side between meetings, so the time commitment from your team is limited.
Strategy First is built for founder-led businesses doing $1M to $20M in revenue, typically 10 to 50 employees, in B2B services, professional services, home services, manufacturing, or distribution.
Below $1M, you're usually still figuring out the offer and the strategy work is premature. Above $20M, you probably need something heavier than what we deliver. If you're not sure where you fit, that's what the consultation is for.
Strategy First builds the plan. The Marketing Operating System runs it.
Strategy First is a fixed engagement that produces the strategy, the messaging, the customer journey, and the 90-day execution calendar. The Marketing Operating System is the ongoing installation and leadership that turns that plan into weekly execution.
You start with Strategy First. Whether you continue into the Marketing Operating System with us is a separate decision.
Duct Tape Marketing is founded on the simple belief that marketing is the most important small business system.
Copyright © 2025 Duct Tape Marketing
