National "Make A Referral Week" Celebrated in Fort Worth

March 8, 2009 - PRLog -- As the talk of recession crowds the news and the economic stimulus package debate rages on in Washington DC, John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, determined it was time for small businesses to take matters into their own hands. Therefore Jantsch is declaring March 9-13, 2009 - "Make a Referral Week."

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of how this simple action can blossom into millions of dollars in new business.

“Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories,” declared Jantsch.

Jantsch is not alone in support of this notion as sponsors such as Microsoft Office Live, Intuit, Sage, BNI, iLinc, Palo Alto Software, Infusionsoft, Printing4Less, and Vertical Response have joined the effort to help spread the word about this positive event.

Randy Vaughn is Fort Worth's only Duct Tape Marketing Authorized Coach.  "For just about every small business, referrals are like gold," added Vaughn.  "With marketing dollars in limited supply, small businesses hold the stimulus power in their own hands.  By making a referral to a colleague, strategic partner or customer of theirs, they are stimulating the small business fire in our local economy."  

Along with twin brother Donny, the Marketing Twins operate a small business marketing firm in Fort Worth.  To commemorate the Make a Referral Week in the Fort Worth area, the Marketing Twins are hosting their bi-weekly marketing workshop in North Fort Worth on Tuesday, March 10, 11:30am, to discuss the power of referrals, the strategy of creating a strong referral program, as well as learning from some of the world's experts on referrals.  As part of the Make a Referral Week's activities, participants at the workshop will view a live webinar with Jantsch and other nationally acclaimed panelists on referral marketing.  For more information about the location and format of the Marketing Twins' workshop, visit:  http://www.marketingtwins.com/meetup/

The weeklong virtual event will also feature daily education programs focused on teaching small business owners and other marketers how to tap the power of referral marketing. Featured guest experts include Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and author Masters of Networking, Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and the Go-Giver, Bill Cates, author of Get More Referrals Now, Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing, Guy Kawasaki, author of Reality Check, Rich Sloan, author of StartUpNation, Anita Campbell, publisher of Small Business Trends, Scott Allen, author of the Virtual Handshake, John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, Scott Ginsberg of Nametag TV, Michael Port, author of the Contrarian Effect and Book Yourself Solid, Susan Solovic Wilson, founder of SBTV.com and Pam Slim, author Escape from Cubicle Nation.

Individuals around the globe will be invited to make at least one referral to a small business and visit www.MakeAReferralWeek.com to share the referral details, including information on why they referred a particular business. Each day during the week one referral story will be chosen as the “best referral of the day” and the referred business and referral source will each win a Referral Gift Prize featuring signed books from recognized referral experts.

The Refer-O-Meter will monitor the march towards 1000 referrals given throughout the week.

For more information on Make a Referral Week –  http://www.makeareferralweek.com

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ABOUT THE MARKETING TWINS: A faith-based creative team, the Marketing Twins offer marketing coaching and other creative services for small business owners, non-profits and churches. The Marketing Twins, based in Fort Worth, Texas, can be contacted at 817-657-4472 or by email at randy [at] marketingtwins.com. http://www.MarketingTwins.com