Marketing & Business Development
How to Create a Marketing Plan
This article will help you understand why a marketing plan is valuable and identify what information you need to gather in order to design a plan to effectively market your business. By following the nine steps outlined in this article you will be set to write out a simple plan for marketing your product.
Source: eHow Contributing Writer
Create your Marketing Plan
This webpage asks you questions that will help you identify the six major pieces of information that you need to create a marketing plan. Once you've answered these questions you will be able to create a successful marketing plan.
Source: American Express OPEN Small Business Network
Do-It-Yourself Market Research
Learn how to do market research yourself. This article breaks down the process you will need to take to thoroughly understand your target market. Market research is a critical first step in understanding what message will appeal to the audience you are targeting and can also provide valuable information about setting the price of your product or service.
Source: Susan Ward, About.com
Marketing 101: A Guide to Winning Customers
This online course provides a general overview of marketing for small business owners. The course should help you reach out to more customers so you can increase your business. Learn why marketing is so important, how to conduct market research and how to create a marketing plan. The presentation can be stopped and started at any time.
Source: SBA Small Business Training Network
Marketing Matters for Your Small Business
Does your business need more customers? The guide will show you the value of marketing, will teach you some basic marketing techniques for small businesses, and will let you compare different marketing strategies. After this, the guide will help you develop a marketing plan for your business. The guide also has many useful tools, such as tables to organize potential customers.
Source: Citibank
Communicate Your Message: Grab Attention, Convey the Message
This short list of marketing tips helps you grab customers' attention and clearly convey a message about your product to interest them. These tips will help you best communicate your message about what your company is and the benefits you will provide for others. These tips will help improve the image of your company to gain business.
Source: More Business
How to Develop a Marketing Plan
Through a series of questions this article will help you assess your product and its marketability. When you have answers to the questions, you will know more about your product and how you can market it.
Source: eHow Contributing Writer
My Own Business: Opening and Marketing
This online course helps you create a successful marketing plan. Sign up for this course (register for free) and you will be able to take a multi-media lesson about marketing. The lesson will help you learn about marketing and how it can be applied to your business. At the end of the session you can test your knowledge by completing a short quiz.
Source: My Own Business
Pricing Questions and Answers
Are you charging enough (or too much) for your product or service? Read this article for a few common questions about pricing that will help you evaluate your business and market so that your prices will reflect the whole process of creating your products.
Source: American Express OPEN Small Business Network
Small Business Promotional Techniques
It can be difficult finding funds and resources to promote your business, but remember to put your customer first. What will make your product more enticing to buy? Read these 5 ideas that will allow your business to grow!
Source: Business Knowledge Source
Effective Marketing
Understand the difference between Return on Investment (ROI) and effective marketing.
Source: Millwardbrown
Customer Acquisition through Social Media
Develop a strategy before you become involved with social media sites. It's important to keep them updated and use all types (i.e. blog, Twitter, Facebook).
Source: Entrepreneur
Stand out from Competition
Differentiate yourself from other competitors, so you can sell your product at a premium price. Don't compete on price — distinguish your company's name from others in the industry to customers.
Source: Entrepreneur
Market Research
Don't overlook the importance of market research. Small businesses continuously need feedback from customers and market research will provide you with this information. It will allow you to improve your product offerings and make potential customers aware of your offerings.
Source: eHow Contributing Author
