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Over the past decade more and more people are getting fired, getting downsized, or getting fed up with their corporate jobs and embark on the journey as a small business owner. Unfortunately, most of the new small business owners fail to consider their marketing plans or strategy. There are many marketing concepts for small business marketing to consider and plan for, but here is our list of Top 10 Marketing Concepts For Small Business Marketing.

 

Marketing Concept # 1: Consistency



Consistency is the number one marketing concept for small business marketing only because it is left out of marketing concepts for so many businesses. I have worked with a long list of clients, big and small, that are extremely inconsistent in all areas of their marketing. Consistency helps lower the cost of marketing and increase the effectiveness of branding.

 

Marketing Concept # 2: Planning



Once small business owners decide to be consistent with their marketing, planning is the next major concept to engage. Planning is the most vital part of small business marketing or any level of marketing, for that matter, and so many owners, marketing managers, and even CMOs plan poorly. Put the time into planning your marketing strategy, budget, and other concepts presented here to ensure success.



Marketing Concept # 3: Strategy



Strategy immediately follows planning because your strategy is the foundation for the rest of your marketing activities. In the process of planning, you must develop your strategy: who you will target, how you will target them, and how will you keep them as a customer.

 

Marketing Concept # 4: Target Market



Target market is also another key concept for small business marketing. Defining exactly who you are targeting allows small business owners to focus on specific customers and reduce marketing waste. A well-defined target market will make every other marketing concept so much easier to implement successfully.



Marketing Concept # 5: Budget



Although it is listed at number 5, budgeting is important throughout the entire process. Creating a marketing budget is usually the hardest and most inaccurate part of small business marketing. Most small businesses owners lack a great deal of experience in marketing, so their budgets usually end up skewed. The most important part of this marketing concept is to actually establish a marketing budget. From there, you can worry about how to distribute your available funds.



Marketing Concept # 6: Marketing Mix



The marketing mix is usually defined as product, pricing, place, and promotion. As a small business owner, you must specifically decide on your products (or services), the appropriate pricing, where and how you will distribute your products, and how will you let everyone know about you and your products.



Marketing Concept # 7: Website



In today’s market, a business of any size must have a website. I hate when I see businesses that have a one page website with out-dated information. Customers, be it businesses or consumers, will search the web over 60% of the time before making any purchasing decisions. This marketing concept contains a slew of additional components, but you must at least develop a small web presence of some kind and keep it updated.



Marketing Concept # 8: Branding



Many small businesses owners also neglect this concept. Small business marketing must focus on this marketing concept just as much as large corporations do. Branding consists of the pictures, logo, design scheme, layout, make up, and image of your products and even your company. Branding is how your customers perceive (please place a lot of emphasis on that word!) your products and company. Make sure to pay special attention to what kind of brand you are building through each step of your planning and implementation.



Marketing Concept # 9: Promotion and Advertising

 

Promotion and advertising is a very complex marketing concept, but must be considered for any type of business and its products and services. Once you engage the previous 8 marketing concepts, you must finally let your target market know about you and your products. Proper promotion and advertising will result in effective brand recognition, and, ultimately, increased sales.

 

Marketing Concept # 10: Customer Relationship Management (CRM)



The concept of customer relationship management has become a huge industry in the marketing world. There are many types of software and services offered to help businesses of any size handle their customer relationship management. Since there is so much available, usually for a large sum of money, small business owners usually look at this concept as something they are not big enough for or have enough money to implement. Don’t be fooled by the massive industry that has evolved from this concept. Maintaining proper customer relationship management is essential to creating loyal and consistent customers.

 

This list of marketing concepts should be examined, researched, planned, and implemented, especially by small businesses, in order to be successful. Also, your marketing doesn’t stop here. Each business is unique and will have additional components that must be considered, but this list will jump-start any marketing plan.

 

Why Will the Government Offer Grants for Small Business?

Are you an entrepreneur that needs a business or small business grant? Are you motivated and skilled enough to begin your own small business? Do you need free money to start a small business but haven’t got a clue as to where to start? Look no further; there’s hope for your small business. As an enticement to small business owners, the government earmarks several million dollars in government grant money to assist small and personal businesses to flourish. There are millions that are unclaimed each year resulting from the lack of knowledge in regard to government grants. Thanks to Matthew Lesko, more knowledge has gotten out about how to get free government grants for small businesses, paying bills, college, etc. Matthew Lesko has written several books that educate individuals exactly like you on the way to receive a small business grant from the U.S. government. An average person may feel a little skeptical of any opportunity to get free money and may ask at least some of these questions: Is there really a catch to getting a small business grant? What exactly does the government get out of making an investment in small businesses? What can I do in order to obtain more general information and tips about small business grants?

It has been said that about 50% of all small businesses don’t make it beyond their first year. Why don’t small businesses succeed? Not enough funding and a lack of experience are a couple of the more customary reasons that small businesses aren’t going to make it beyond their first year. Why does the government give out small business grants to help entrepreneurs with startup costs if there is so much failure in small businesses? Why exactly does the government have such a high interest in small businesses? Small businesses likely represent ninety five percent of all employers in the United States. In addition, they contribute 50 percent of the gross domestic product of the country. Grants for small businesses are offered to business owners to promote economic improvement or growth. Three of four new American jobs are offered by small businesses.

The United States government doesn’t actually give out federal grant money to begin a small business. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a Federal government agency that supports, protects the interests of, advocates, and provides resources small business concerns. The federal government has left it up to each individual state to appropriate funding by way of state grants to assist small businesses to thrive and grow. Small businesses are critical to the economic security of the U.S.. Keeping this in mind, the SBA has a mission to put money and time into helping entrepreneurs so they can start, grow, and develop their small businesses. Giving a support system to new businesses by awarding a small business grant is a small gesture when the economic development of the United States plays a role.

If you’re an entrepreneur, the U.S. government has small business grants so they can help your business to succeed. If you would like help finding more information about these small business grants, it would be a benefit to hear what Matthew Lesko has got to say about free money that might be available that could help your business to grow. His research shows that more than 1 million business owners receive small business grants each and every year. Grants like these may be available by way of the local government of your specific state. Keep in mind, that through assisting small businesses to develop and grow, the United States economy is going to grow and flourish as well. Small business grants are an incentive to business owners and to the economy of the nation as a whole. The more small businesses that are started, the more employment will also be created. In order to secure the advancement of small businesses, the government can help by providing small business grants as well as other resources that are necessary for small businesses to flourish.

About the Author: Find out about the best ways to get Small Business Grants! Matthew Lesko.com will show you ways to get available funding, regardless of your business’ income amount, credit rating or age! Look at this web site for a completely free preview: http://www.MatthewLesko.com now! For more information and tips about Small Business Grants, click here.

If your business still does not have a merchant account that allows you to offer full credit card services, you are turning your back on profits. Just take a look at all of your competitors. All of those that pose serious competition accept credit card payments. Those that do not have credit card services do not have great sales figures to show, either. Even statistics point to the fact that companies that have credit card services earn much more than companies that do not have credit card services. The average credit card sale is $40 while the average cash sale is only $9. That means you are losing potentially $31 per sale.

You may also be spending more by accepting only cash and check payments in your business. The processing of cash and checks has been found to be more costly, requiring more manpower in handling. Studies have shown that the average processing cost of credit card payments is only 2.7% of a transaction while the average processing cost of checks is 4% of a transaction and the average processing cost of cash is 4.8% of a transaction. Once again, you are leaking profits by refusing to accept credit card payments.

So how do you accept credit card payments in your business? This is where credit card services come in. The old route is to apply for a merchant account in a bank. You will then have to lease the software and equipment necessary to actually process payments and send the data to your account. If you want to accept credit card payments online, you need to apply to a payment gateway that allows real time credit card authorization for online transactions. You should ensure that your payment gateway is compatible with the bank or financial institution where you have your merchant account, and with the software and equipment you have leased.

In choosing the bank or financial institution for your merchant account, consider their expertise in combating fraud and reducing chargebacks. Also make sure that they are experienced in handling merchant accounts with online transactions.

If you are a small business owner, stick to a bank or financial institution that caters to small businesses rather than large companies. You may be able to get better rates and packages designed for your specific niche.

There are options for credit card services that offer everything you need in one easy package. You will not have to deal with various entities or go through various procedures. Often, these options also have added benefits, among them, quick reporting on your credit card sales figures. They may also offer interest on your credit card sales income, even up to money market rates.

One very important feature of your credit card services that you may not know of is that it can automatically qualify you to avail of small business loans. Once you have established a record of sales through credit, most credit card services will allow you to make cash advances that are practically like getting previously approved small business loans without having to put up any required collateral. The credit card services consider your future income through credit card sales as your collateral. This can go a long way in further growing your business.

Payment will not be a problem, either. For as long as you have sales through credit payments, you automatically get to pay your small business loans. It does not matter how much your sales are. Your payments are automatically deducted as a percentage of your sales. You are always covered.

Now do you still need further convincing on the benefits of credit card services for your business?