What is small?
Small business means small resources. The name of the game is allocating very finite resources (money and time) to keep your business afloat. But you don’t want to simply stay afloat – you want to grow and thrive. In order to take your business to the next level, it is critical to effectively and intelligently market your products and services. While this should seem obvious, it amazes me how few businesses are serious about marketing. One thing is certain – if you are not serious about marketing, your business will be seriously dead in a seriously short amount of time.
According the the US Census Bureau, 82% of US businesses have 9 or fewer employees (2004 Census). Most of these businesses are single owner firms. Of those firms with employees, 65% have revenues less than $499,000 (2002 Census). These are the small businesses in America – over 21 million and likely a good deal larger since these censuses were conducted.
The definition of a small business is incredibly vague. For the sake of this discussion, I will define a small business as a firm with 9 or fewer employees and revenue under $499,000. These are the types of businesses that typically do not have marketing departments or multi-million dollar (or multi-thousand) marketing budgets.
So what makes small business marketing different?
There are many marketing resources available. Unfortunately, many of these resources are priced out of the range or are unsuitable for most small businesses.
How is marketing different for a small business versus a big business?
- No advertising or marketing agency. You must do all of the work and generate ideas.
- Manpower. You or your small team must do all of the work.
- Money. You are accountable to maximize your marketing ROI. Every penny counts and must work in your favor.
Before I go on a bunch of hyperbole about David vs. Goliath, you should know that you CAN use your limited resources very effectively. I believe that marketing is the most powerful tool for building your business.
I will spend quite a bit of time in future blog posts covering the various ways a small business can intelligently market their products and services. And yes, you can succeed on a super tight budget.
