actionable marketing guide

Dear ,

If you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur or solopreneur, Happy Small Business Week! Created by the SBA (aka: Small Business Administration), this weeklong celebration runs from April 29^th through May 5^th.

In the US, the SBA defines a small business as 500 or fewer employees for most manufacturing or mining industries or $7.5 million in average annual receipts for non-manufacturing industries. Additionally, the business must:

• Be organized for profit.
• Have a business location in the US.
• Operate primarily within the US or makes a significant contribution to the US economy through tax payments or use of American products, materials and/or labor
• Be independently owned and operated.
• Not be dominant in its field on a national basis.

Over half of Americans either own or work for a small business. Further, they create roughly two-thirds of the new jobs in the US annually.

While I’ve worked with many small businesses over the years I really learned about small businesses firsthand working for my father’s local newspaper in Queens.

It was easy for us to target potential customers based on location, we understood that advertising and marketing services were expenses that reduced the small business owner’s take-home pay. Even worse advertising results were difficult to track. 

And, of couse, many of these small business owners acted as if they were spending their own money when they considered advertising decisions.

Later I worked on a project for a Fortune 100 company looking to expand its services to the small business community. While some small businesses were identifiable using third party resources, targeting most small businesses was extremely difficult. (Note: This was before co-working facilities like WeWork and micro-targeting advertising options like Facebook were available.)

But like my newspaper experience, these physically dispersed small business owners made their purchasing decisions as if they were consumers, not businesses. This challenge still exists for small businesses.

Here are 3 key small business marketing tips:

1. Before diving into the small business market, test whether you can target your potential customers on different media. For example, the Fortune 100 Company ran expensive market research. They should have pulled the plug on the research and project because they were unable to find people to survey.
2. When targeting small businesses determine how your offering will add value to your customer's business. (The reality is that this also holds true for mid-size and large companies.)
3. Before building your offering, check how your potential audience reacts to it. Don’t assume that you know what’s best for them! Use surveys, emailings and/or meetings.

That said, if you’re a solopreneur or small business that’s able to handle quick turn around, I strongly recommend that you add some small business targeted content and/or promotion this week. (BTW, if you take my advice, please let me know how it works and I’ll feature you in a future newsletter!)

While I generally keep my personal life private, this is one time it’s difficult to do since my attendance at Marketo’s #MKTGnation this week as a Social Media Ambassador has already been publicized.

Unfortunately, I had a medical emergency this past week and I’ve been grounded as a result.

But I do get to sport this new pirate look! What do you think???

I hope that those of you attending #MKTGnation have a great time and please put out a few tweets for me. (@HeidiCohen)  

Take the opportunity to say “Hi” to my fellow Social Media Ambassadors: Jeff Bullas, Drew Neisser, Neal Schaffer and Madalyn Sklar.

BTW—My colleague Madalyn Sklar (aka: @MadalynSklar) is holding a live  #SocialROI Twitter at the Marketo Summit. If you’re there, attend the chat live it’s great fun and you meet the best people.

The #SocialROI chat takes place this Tuesday, May 1^st at 2pm PT (or 5pm ET). It will be livestreamed!

Have a great week,

Happy marketing,
Heidi

Heidi Cohen
Actionable Marketing Guide

5 Small Business Branding Guidelines = Big Opportunity

Many small businesses believe branding is only for BIG companies with BIG budgets.

They’re missing a huge opportunity. Small business branding is a super power; it enables your firm to appear more strategic and larger than it is.

In the rush to open for business don’t skip branding. Instead, take the necessary time to develop your brand and it will reap benefits for your firm in the long run. 

Continue reading

Recycle Content Marketing: 100+ Ways To Reuse, Repurpose & Repromote

McKinley Marketing Partners released their marketing hiring research. It’s a must read for marketers to see how their plans align with other firms.

On a personal level, it reveals where you need to update your marketing skills. BTW—If you’re a kickass B2B marketer, there’s an opening at Shopify!  Just drop me an email I’ll forward it to the hiring manager.

The good news: Marketing hiring is projected to increase in 2018! W00t!

Deeper examination reveals that roughly 60% of this hiring will focus on forms of digital marketing. (Note: Actionable Marketing Guide has your back on this increasingly important topic!)