Building a business customers can trust

By Emma Peterson.

Heidi J. Ellsworth joins Duct Tape Marketing to explore how community, content and authentic relationships can help small businesses thrive in the age of AI.

In 2005, Duct Tape Marketing launched a podcast. The goal was to “help small business owners and the marketers who serve them build clear strategies, simple systems and a steady flow of leads.”

Now, over two decades later, they are the most popular small business marketing podcast with over 1,200 episodes on topics ranging from SEO and email marketing to referrals and business growth.

The podcast is hosted by John Jantsch. John is the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing agency and the author of “a highly regarded blog that Forbes has recognized as one of the top 5 for small business marketing.” On a recent episode of the podcast, he sat down with Heidi J. Ellsworth and Sara Nay.

Heidi is the president and CEO here at The Coffee Shops® and has developed multiple award-winning media and community platforms serving the roofing, coatings, metal and outdoor living industries. Sara is the current CEO of Duct Tape Marketing, where she works on expanding their operations with a focus on “turning marketing from a constant source of frustration into a repeatable business asset.”

In the episode, Heidi, Sara and John discussed how small businesses can build trust with customers through online communities, directories, networking and content. As Heidi put it, “We always say people do business with people, right? They want to know who they’re doing business with, and they want to feel good about buying from you and trust.” This is all especially important in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) as these different programs amplify businesses that have an extended and consistent online presence beyond a singular company website.

Overall, this is a must-listen for anyone looking to combine “offline relationship-building with online content and AI tools without losing the trust that got them there.”

Listen to the episode today!