By Vicky Sidler | Published 13 August 2025 at 12:00 GMT

If your marketing strategy is currently a mix of random tools, old agency reports, and pure hope, there’s a good chance your growth plan is being held together with chewing gum and wishful thinking.

Sara Nay thinks that’s a problem. And she’s just released a book that might be the fix.

Unchained: Breaking Free from Broken Marketing Models launched this week, promising small business owners something they haven’t had in a while—a clear, workable system for leading their own marketing without drowning in chaos.

And for three days only (August 13–15 2025), the Kindle version is 99 cents. Which is basically free, if you don’t count the emotional cost of finally realising what you’ve been doing wrong.

TL;DR

• New book by Sara Nay, CEO of Duct Tape Marketing, aims to end small business marketing chaos

• It’s strategy-first, system-built, and designed for real businesses (the kind with actual budgets and people)

• 48 downloadable tools and templates are included with every copy

• Kindle edition is $0.99 until August 15—then paperback at $12.99. Grab it here

Table of Contents

Why This Isn’t Just Another Marketing Book:

Most marketing books are basically motivational speeches with a few diagrams thrown in. You finish the last page, feel briefly inspired, and then go right back to Googling “best Instagram strategy for 2025.”

Unchained is different because it assumes you’re busy running a business and don’t have time to experiment with every shiny thing that shows up in your feed. Instead, it gives you a way to:

• Get clear on what actually moves the needle

• Build a marketing system you control

• Use AI without feeling like it’s slowly replacing you

It’s the marketing book for people who like their advice short, sharp, and executable before lunch.

What’s Inside (and Why It’s Useful):

This isn’t one of those books where you get 200 pages of theory and a polite “good luck” at the end. Unchained is structured so you can understand it, apply it, and actually see results—without having to hire an interpreter for the jargon.

Part 1: Foundations you can actually understand—strategy, empathy, messaging, trust. No buzzword salad.

Part 2: How to dismantle the “agency dependency” trap without setting your entire pipeline on fire.

Part 3: The Playbook—daily habits, measurement that matters, and leadership moves that keep your marketing running when you’re busy doing other things.

Every chapter ends with action steps. Not vague suggestions like “post more on social,” but things you can actually do—like worksheets, templates, and frameworks you can copy and use immediately.

The “Oh, That’s Why” Moment:

One of the book’s big points is simple but brutal: if you don’t own your marketing system, someone else will. And that someone else probably has different goals than you do.

Think about it. If your marketing lives entirely in someone else’s software, dashboards, and processes, you’re basically renting your own growth.

Unchained is about buying the house instead of paying rent forever—except the “house” is a system you can run without having to hire twelve people or start a second business.

Why You Should Care Now:

The Kindle version is 99 cents until August 15, 2025. Along with the book, you get 48 downloadable tools. That’s not a gimmick—they’re the same tools Sara’s used with hundreds of clients over two decades.

You could buy it just for the tools, ignore the words entirely, and still get more value than you’ll get from half the marketing advice floating around online.

👉 Get the $0.99 Kindle edition here

If your marketing currently feels like a game of whack-a-mole, this is the part where you stop swinging wildly and start aiming.

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FAQ: Unchained and Why It Might Save Your Sanity

Who wrote Unchained?

Sara Nay, CEO of Duct Tape Marketing. She’s spent over two decades helping small business owners go from “marketing feels impossible” to “marketing works without me babysitting it.”

Who is this book for?

Small business owners, founders, in-house marketers, and even consultants who are tired of piecing together random tactics and want a strategy-first system they can actually run.

Is this just another “latest hack” marketing book?

Nope. If you’re looking for a magic button that solves everything overnight, you’re in the wrong place. Unchained is about building something sustainable—one clear step at a time.

Do I need to be tech-savvy to use the tools?

Not at all. The 48 downloadable tools are designed for actual humans. If you can open a document and follow prompts, you’re good.

Will it still help me if I work with an agency?

Yes—especially if you want to stop feeling like your agency is speaking an entirely different language. You’ll know what matters, how to measure it, and when to push back.

What’s with the $0.99 Kindle deal?

From August 13–15 2025, you can grab the Kindle version for less than the price of a flat white. After that, it’s $12.99 in paperback. The tools alone are worth more than the cover price.

Why “Unchained”?

Because most small businesses are trapped in broken marketing models—reliant on vendors, drowning in tools, and chasing tactics with no strategy. This is how you break out.