Our Guest: Sara Nay, Chief Operating Officer at Duct Tape Marketing

In this episode, Sara Nay discusses her role at Duct Tape Marketing and offers many insights into what she’s learned during her time working with the world’s greatest marketing consultants.  Sara shares about the importance of focusing on your strategic plan, knowing when to give up control, and expanding your online presence.

Conversation Highlights

  • How Sara balances teaching and managing clients at Duct Tape 
  • Learn the biggest challenges Sara faces in her role and the most common challenges her clients have faced since the coronavirus era began
  • The differences between “tactical” and “strategic”
  • How to manage giving up control for the greater good of the company and ways to avoid butting heads when working with family

Key Podcast Moments

  • [01:06] Roundtable Discussion: Living without travel
  • [02:29] Roundtable Discussion: Sara’s favorite family travel spots
  • [04:00] Roundtable Discussion: What’s on the horizon for you on the travel front?
  • [05:42] Sara’s role at Duct Tape Marketing and her background before joining Duct Tape
  • [08:26] What are the metrics or KPI’s that your performance is measured by?
  • [09:02] Teaching and managing clients: How do you balance those two roles?
  • [10:04] The biggest challenges that Sara faces as VP of Operations
  • [11:17] What prevents agencies from having integrators in place and how do you manage giving up control and butting heads with your father?
  • [13:09] How often are you typically drafting and reviewing the plan?
  • [13:50] Who does your team consist of right now?
  • [15:21] Tactical vs Strategic: What are the differences?
  • [19:45] Areas of the business model that a lot of consultants and agencies struggle with
  • [21:13] Most common challenges that Sara’s agencies have faced during the COVID-19 era
  • [23:13] Things that Sara is advising her clients to do or prepare for moving forward
  • [24:57] What does the future hold for Duct Tape Marketing?
  • [26:16] Who would be the perfect person to reach out to Sara?

Magic Marketing Quotes from our Guest

  • “The biggest challenge I’ve probably faced over the years has just been finding the right partners to work with… we’ve developed a partner program so our consultants are basically able to use hand-selected partners… really vetting those people and having those solid relationships is key because it helps us then, ultimately have better results for our clients.” 
  • “Is easy for me to say let’s come back to like what our ultimate goal is, where are we trying to go, does this fit this ultimate direction. No? Then maybe we need to table it and talk about it later. So having the actual plan in place helps us stay on track.”
  • “I think more companies, with everything that’s happening in the world right now, have realized a little bit is if they haven’t been putting that much focus on their online presence, it’s almost essential today to really be building it out and expanding.”

Resources Mentioned

About Our Guest

Sara Nay has been climbing the ladder of the family-owned marketing company and consultant network since 2010, where she started as the Director of Community. Now assuming the position of Chief Operating Officer at Duct Tape Marketing, Sara oversees company-wide operations, works to support the company culture and vision, and designs and implements business systems. She loves helping to create the best possible experience for small business owners in this world filled with competition.

Get in contact with Sara Nay

  • Email her: sara@ducttapemarketing.com

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