A list of small business marketing strategies, techniques and practices for developing your marketing plan

For your convenience, I've compiled a list of marketing strategies, methods and practices to help you brainstorm the right ones for your small business marketing plan.

Marketing Strategies, Methods and Practices Brainstorm

Use this list to help you brainstorm which marketing methods and strategies are right for you. It is not exhaustive. For each category and sub-category listed, there are many more that are not. In fact, when you notice "something missing," that may well indicate a fruitful direction for you to explore.

Networking
• Within your professional sphere
• Within tangential spheres that fit your niche market
• Face-to-face
• Networking groups
• Professional meetings and conferences
• Virtual
• Listservs
• Within your niche market
• Web-based bulletin boards
• Conference calls and teleclasses
• Group coaching

Support Groups
• Success Teams
• Mastermind Groups
• Marketing Club
• Coaching Groups (ask me about Authentic Promotion groups!)

Publicity
• Press Releases
o Announcements (moves, hires, contracts)
o Brags (awards, appointments, achievements)
o Special Events (seminars, speeches, appearances)
• Publicity Events
o Related to seasonal celebrations
o "International Hot Dog Week"
• Columns
o Local newspaper
o For corporate publications
o For professional journals and trade association newsletters
• Church or community newsletters
• Radio Shows
• TV shows (cable/local access)

Newsletters
• Printed
• Electronic
• Text-based email
• HTML email
• Web-based, with or without email notification
• Solo or collaborations
• Your own content or reprints, perhaps with your comments
• Articles pertinent to your niche
• Special offers (free samples, introductory offers)
• Book reviews

Web Site
• Brochureware (a Web site that is little more than an online brochure)
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Client Testimonials
• Contact Info
• Elevator Speech
• E-commerce
• Collect fees online
• Sell books, tapes, courses
• Resource for clients and prospective clients
• Archive of articles you've written
• Links to useful sites
• Client-only area (forms, proprietary info, assessments)

Speaking
• For fees
• For free/nominal fees
• Service clubs
• Professional associations
• Experimental Colleges
• Adult learning centers (e.g., Discover U in Seattle)
• Business groups

Seminars
• Free introductory seminars
• Seminars or workshops for organizations within your niche

Collateral
• Business cards
• Brochures
• Letterhead and envelopes
• Welcome packet for new clients
• Web site
• Print newsletter
• Ezine

Advertising
• Ezine ad swaps
• Banner ads on Web sites
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Special directories
• Theater and other event programs
• Calendars
• Sponsorships
• Special events
• Sports teams
• Destruction Derby car
• Cable TV/Local Access
• Radio

Direct Mail
• Postcards
• Personal letters
• Fliers
• Special offers
• Announce changes
• We've moved
• New services
• New products
• New certification
• New Web site
• Show or seminar schedule
• Reminders
• Celebrations
• Sales letters
• For seminars
• For products
• Offering discounts

Cross Promotions
• Giving discount coupons/certificates to a complementary business
• Cosponsor special events and promotions
• Cosponsor with a non-profit organization
• Affiliate programs

Signs
• On your place of business
• At tradeshows or conferences
• On your lapel!
• Bumper stickers
• Window stickers
• Stickers!

Advertising Specialties
• Pencil sharpener: accountant
• Mirror: image consultant
• Date book: coach
• Business card case: printer
• Mouse pad: Web designer
• Cup: nutritionist

"Mini-media"
• Signs on bulletin boards
• Canvassing your neighborhood with fliers
• Personal letters
• Classified ads
• Yellow Pages
• Sidewalk sandwich boards
• Wearing a gorilla suit and handing out balloons and business cards!

Any one of these marketing methods and practices could be a means for promulgating your Rule of Threes messages or a primary strategy for your marketing plan. Choose the ones that fit your style, your offer, and your budget. Start with just a few, refine and repeat until they are effortless, then add new techniques as your business grows.

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Develop Your Small Business Marketing Plan - Index
Writing a marketing plan || 20 helpful questions for creating a marketing plan outline
A list of small business marketing strategies for developing your marketing plan
Gratitude as a component of a marketing plan || Your Marketing Plan Evaluation
Marketing Plan Resources || Reprint Terms for Marketing Plan Articles

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Learn more about Authentic Promotion - a comprehensive small business marketing resource that turns marketing and promotion into a path of increasing self-awareness, authenticity, and right livelihood. In particular, the principles you apply and the tools you learn build the solid foundation for writing a marketing plan that works.

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Contact an acknowledged expert on small business marketing Molly Gordon at:

Shaboom Inc. Life could be a dream…
PO Box 195
Suquamish, WA 98392-0195
mgordon@authenticpromotion.com

As a business coach and small business marketing consultant, Molly Gordon, MCC, is available in Greater Seattle Area and internationally