Marketing for Small Business

People who start up a small business do do so for a variety of different reasons.

I know of some people who did so because they became disillusioned with the corporate world and wanted to regain a sense of independence and autonomy. I know of others who were attracted to small business by the prospect of following their passion - and their hobby became an opportunity to generate income.

If you are either new to small business, or thinking of entering small business, then you need to have some understanding of basic marketing principles if you are going to be able grow and develop the business successfully over time..

• Marketing 101 - The fundamentals

This is a great short video that describes some of the critical core concepts of marketing for small business

• Internet marketing for small business

The speaker in this short clip presents a compelling casr for getting your small business online and utilising social media as part of your internet marketing strategy

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Search engine optimisation (SEO) needs to form part of any internet marketing plan for your small business and for some more information on this, visit our page What is SEO

• Three quick marketing tips for small business

Marketing Tip 1.  Set up joint promotions with other local small businesses
Contact some non-competing small businesses serving customers in your market. Offer to publicize their products or services to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your services to their customers. This strategy has been shown to deliver improved sales for a relatively low cost.

Marketing Tip 2.  Leverage your existing customers
Your existing customers have come to know you and trust you. Research has proven that it's easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who has never bought from you. So why not take advantage of this by creating some special deals just for your existing customers... and announce new products and services to them before you announce them to the general market

Marketing Tip 3.  Convert your customers into sales people for your business.

Develop a reward that you can offer to  your current customers to tell their neighbors, work associates and friends about the value of your products or services. An endorsement from them is likely to be much more effective than any amount of advertising that you might do- and it will be much more cost-effective

• Small Business Australia - Blog

If you have marketing advice or experience that you would like to share with other small business owners, then please visit our blog Small Business Management Australia. Your contributions would be welcomed

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