Small Business Marketing Resources
Although most MBA texts focus on large businesses, there are resources out there.
Marketing skills are just as important or more so for a small business than for a large enterprise. The Internet has a wealth of information for small business owners.
As I am also a small business owner, I have spent some time tapping into the marketing wisdom available on the web that is specifically written for small business owners.
One of the best sites out there is the Small Business Owner's Toolkit ; which offers comprehensive information from basic to advanced. This site has an excellent section on making your business unique , which can be a challenge if you own an ice cream store or website design business of which there are many. It can be done, but you will have to be creative and some great ideas are presented here. This site also has a downloadable Customer Satisfaction Survey form, which can be a very useful way of finding out what your customers like, and don't like, about your business.
Must-reads for small business owners are the articles found on the Guerrilla Marketing site. Guerrilla Marketing is a way of generating profits without spending massive amounts on marketing, and espouses such ideas as " Marketing Your Marketing" - promote your other marketing efforts by cross referencing to gain more "bang for the buck".
Another great resource that caters to small businesses is Entreprenuer Magazine - click here for a great selection of "how-to" articles that cover everything from how to design a logo to how to write a successful marketing plan.
John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing blog was voted the best small business marketing blog for good reason; it is absolutely full of great advice, tips, tricks, and proven methods for small businesses to grow revenue. I frequent this one, and recommend that you do also.
If you are interested in branding, another great blog is called Brand Autopsy . This is a great page to visit if you are interested in what NOT to do when creating and maintaining a brand.
Yet another great blog is Small Business Trends - this blog provides powerful insights into new tools available to you, and upcoming market trends.
For those of you just getting started in marketing your new small business, here is a full marketing course for you heavily loaded with a good grounding in the basics. Although the course is sold, there are a lot of great free resources on this site as well.
There are many many many other resources available for the small business entrepreneur, however, these are my choices as the best!
technorati tags: marketing, small business marketing, small business ownership, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, small businesses, marketing skills, marketing basics
del.icio.us tags: marketing, small business marketing, small business ownership, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, small businesses, marketing skills, marketing basics
icerocket tags: marketing, small business marketing, small business ownership, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, small businesses, marketing skills, marketing basics
