Amazon
Category:
Business/Investing
Publisher: BookSurge/Createspace
ISBN-10: 1439255415
Pages: 178
ISBN-13: 9781439255414
Marketing is vital to ensure the success of your small business. This practical book is designed to accelerate your small business marketing learning curve and review key revenue-generating marketing strategies. Small Business Marketing – A Guide for Survival, Growth, and Success, will help you:
• Define what marketing really means
• Manage your marketing mix
• Create, design, or revise your website
• Better understand and apply social media
• Find your best customers
• Grow Market Share
• Tell your marketing story
• Capitalize on green marketing trends
• Better manage your products and services
• Save time and make money
• And much more…
If you currently own or work in a small business, or are thinking of starting one, this book is for you. Vertical small business markets such as medical, legal, dental, restaurant, real estate, and other service industries will benefit from the insights and tools in this book. Take a fresh look at both the traditional and digital aspects of how marketing can grow your small business.
Excerpt
––––– Abridged Preface –––––
Small Business Marketing - A Guide for Survival, Growth, and Success
"Control your own destiny or someone else will." Jack Welch
Without consistent marketing your small business will not survive.
If you currently own a small business or are thinking about starting one, you are not alone. One of the strongest economic growth trends is found in the creation and maintenance of the modern, digital-age small business. Of all U.S. jobs created in the last decade, 70 percent came from small businesses.
There is something to be said about running your own show. Many Americans are now seeing the benefit of taking one’s own financial future and economic destiny into their own hands. Why work for someone else when you can work for yourself? The rewards can be significant, but the challenges are many.
This book will help you define and apply marketing. This book cuts through the marketing guru clutter which represents so much of the current how-to marketing approaches. If I hear the term “best-in-class” again, I will scream! It is old, overused, and just does not declare much. This is not to say the latest guru mentality is a complete waste of time—however, I am saying that a return to basics is a needed reminder. Any professional athlete will tell you that basics are critical. Just ask Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus. It’s basics first and subtle technique second.
As noted, guru consultants and marketers abound today. I am not one of them. If you’re looking for the latest fad, trick, phrase, principle, or approach, this is the wrong book for you. However, if you want the tried-and-true basics of marketing, plus some real-life experience and stories that may help your small business—you are reading the right book. In addition, most of the guru fads are just basic principles of marketing that are repackaged using different terms. Sometimes we experience “marketing amnesia.” This book should remind you of some important basics about marketing.
I worked in corporate, high-technology marketing for over 20 years. I worked for some great companies and with some fantastic professionals. Some of what I learned over those 20 years is found in this book, including both the mistakes and the successes. I also teach as an adjunct professor of marketing at some of the well-known, Southern California universities. I love teaching because it forces me back to basics. It also keeps me current and reminds me of what is really important in marketing. Some of those teaching reminders are found in this book, too.
Because this book is a return to the fundamentals of what makes small business marketing great, I challenge you to read each chapter and then ask yourself the following: “How does this apply to my small business? What am I doing right, and what can I change?” Then, read the questions at the end of each chapter. Discuss these with your employees. If you are an “Army of One,” then ask yourself these questions. Each chapter also includes some “Marketing Action Items.” Your goal should be to practice as many of these as you can. Tackle one a day or one a week—just make sure you are consistent.
Each chapter is short, to the point, and a quick read. I have tried to give you bite-sized chunks of marketing wisdom. This book can be either a boardroom or a bathroom read! The greatest wisdom is often found in the smallest bites, so don’t let brevity fool you. Think application.
Part I of the book provides a review of traditional marketing basics. Part II covers the digital marketing age. Part III covers some miscellaneous aspects of marketing. From the definition of marketing and all the way to the wise use of time, I have tried to write chapters that matter to small business marketing. No fluff. I like what works.
In bad or good economic times, it’s the small businesses in the private sector that hold the key to job creation and economic growth. Government will never keep pace with small business innovation. No way—just forget that notion. Remember: marketing is preventive maintenance for your business. Let it work for you now.
Stuart Atkins, MBA
––––– Table of Contents –––––
Part I: Traditional Marketing
Chapter 1: Essence Versus Attribute: What Is Marketing?
Chapter 2: How You Go to Market: Choosing Your Style
Chapter 3: Managing Your Mix: Turning the Four Ps into Profit
Chapter 4: Managing Your Product: Raising Your Child for Growth and Beyond
Chapter 5: Finding Your Customer: The Art of Segmentation
Chapter 6: Small Business SWOT: Embracing Strong Opportunities
Chapter 7: Think Before You Act:
Small Business Marketing Research
Chapter 8: Writing Your Plan: The Choices and Challenges
Part II: Digital Marketing
Chapter 9: Creating, Optimizing, and Revising Your Web Site: Quick Tips That Work
Chapter 10: E-mail Marketing: The Proven Tool with High ROI
Chapter 11: Facing the MySpace of the LinkedIn Twitter Monster: Social Media Benefits for Small Business
Part III: Miscellaneous Marketing
Chapter 12: Telling Your Story: From Personality to Press Releases
Chapter 13: Embrace the Case: Let Harvard Help Your Small Business
Chapter 14: Using Your Time Wisely: Turning Minutes into Money
Appendix
Cool Tools
Sample Press Release
Sample Creative Brief
Green Marketing
The Art of Brainstorming
Notes
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