Harness the power of marketing and watch your business grow

Having your own business isn't the same as having customers, and
one is useless without the other. Whether your business is a resale
store or a high-tech consulting firm, a law office or a home
cleaning service, in today's competitive environment, strategic
marketing is essential.

If you want your small business to grow, you need a marketing
strategy that works. But how do you get people to notice your
business without spending a fortune? Packed with savvy tips for
low-cost, high-impact campaigns, this friendly guide is your road
map to launching a great marketing campaign and taking advantage of
the newest technologies and avenues for outreach.

* Using social media as a marketing tool

* Communicating with customers

* Financing a marketing campaign

* The companion CD includes tools and templates to give you a
jump-start on putting your new skills to work

If you're looking to give your small business' marketing plan an
edge over the competition, Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies
has you covered.

CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as
part of the e-book file, but are available for download after
purchase.

Barbara Findlay Schenck has been a marketing consultant for more than 20 years, with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. In addition to her experience as a small business strategist, she's also a bestselling author and nationally syndicated columnist. Visit her website at www.bizstrong.com.

Harness the power of marketing and watch your business grow

If you want your small business to grow, you need a marketing strategy that works. But how do you get people to notice your business without spending a fortune? Packed with savvy tips for low-cost, high-impact campaigns, this friendly guide is your road map to launching a dynamic marketing campaign and taking advantage of the newest technologies and avenues for outreach.

• The big picture get an overview of marketing that strips away the mystery, gives you the background you need, and puts you in a position to jumpstart your program
• Brand yourself find helpful advice on defining your business position and brand and creating marketing communications that work
• Keep connected discover how to leverage blogs for business success, and how to use social media to pull customers to your business
• Break the mold put a twist on so-called traditional marketing tactics like ads, mailers, promotions, and publicity
• The cornerstone of business find out how to capture prospects, turn those prospects into customers, and develop customer loyalty

Open the book and find:

• Real advice for marketing in today's screen-connected, customer-empowered world
• How to use the Internet and social media networks as your most essential guerrilla marketing tools
• Instructions for generating publicity
• How to set your marketing goals, objectives, strategies, and budgets
• Ways to establish an online presence
• Ten steps to a great marketing plan

Learn to:

• Develop the right marketing strategy
• Harness social media as a marketing tool
• Establish your position and brand

Tools and worksheets on the companion CD

Bonus CD Includes

Worksheets, checklists, and charts to aid the small business marketer

Having your own business isn't the same as having customers, and one is useless without the other. Whether your business is a resale store or a high-tech consulting firm, a law office or a home cleaning service, in today's competitive environment, strategic marketing is essential.

If you want your small business to grow, you need a marketing strategy that works. But how do you get people to notice your business without spending a fortune? Packed with savvy tips for low-cost, high-impact campaigns, this friendly guide is your road map to launching a great marketing campaign and taking advantage of the newest technologies and avenues for outreach.

• Using social media as a marketing tool
• Communicating with customers
• Financing a marketing campaign
• The companion CD includes tools and templates to give you a jump-start on putting your new skills to work

If you're looking to give your small business' marketing plan an edge over the competition, Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies has you covered.

CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

What You're Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part I: Getting Your Marketing Bearings 3

Part II: Laying the Foundation for Marketing Success 4

Part III: Marketing in a Screen-Connected World 4

Part IV: Getting the Word Out with Ads,

Mailers, Promotions, and Publicity 4

Part V: Winning and Keeping Customers 5

Part VI: The Part of Tens 5

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 6

Part I: Getting Your Marketing Bearings 7

Chapter 1: Framing the Marketing Process 9

Seeing the Big Picture 10

Following the marketing wheel of fortune 10

Understanding the relationship between marketing and sales 12

Jump-Starting Your Marketing Program 13

Marketing a start-up business 13

Growing your business 14

Scaling your marketing to meet your goal 14

How Small Business Marketing Is Different 15

Dollar differences 15

Staffing differences 15

Creative differences 16

Strategic differences 16

The small business marketing advantage 16

Making Marketing Your Key to Success 17

Chapter 2: All about Customers 19

Anatomy of a Customer 20

Collecting customer information 20

Geographics: Locating your market areas 24

Demographics: Collecting customer data 25

Psychographics: Customer buying behaviors 27

Determining Which Customers Buy What 29

Viewing your sales by market segment 29

Matching customers with distribution channels 31

Catering to screen-connected customers 33

Forms 34

Chapter 3: Seeing Your Product through Your Customers' Eyes 35

Getting to Know Your Product 35

When service is your product 36

Your product is what Google says it is 38

Illogical, Irrational, and Real Reasons People Buy What You Sell 38

Buying Decisions: Rarely about Price, Always about Value 39

Calculating the value formula 40

Riding the price/value teeter-totter 41

Evaluating your pricing 42

Raising prices 43

Presenting prices 43

The Care and Feeding of a Product Line 44

Enhancing the appeal of existing products 45

Raising a healthy product 46

Developing new products 47

Managing your product offerings 49

Forms 51

Chapter 4: Sizing Up Competitors and Staking Out Market Share 53

Playing the Competitive Field 53

Speaking the language of competition 54

Knowing what you're up against 55

Understanding how to compete 56

Winning Your Share of the Market 56

Defining your direct competition 56

Moving up the competitive ladder 58

Calculating Your Market Share 59

Sizing up your target market 59

Doing the …