Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies

Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

by Barbara Findlay Schenck

Small Business and Marketing Strategist

Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012944694

ISBN 978-1-118-31183-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-38307-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-38308-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-38309-4 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Barbara Findlay Schenck helps business leaders start, grow, market, brand, and, when they’re ready, sell their companies.

She’s worked internationally as a community development Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia. She’s served as a college administrator and writing instructor in Hawaii. And she started and sold an advertising agency in Oregon, which she co-founded with her husband, business partner, and the collaborator on this book, marketing strategist Peter V. Schenck.

She has worked with hundreds of businesses and shares what she’s learned in a shelf-full of business books that include the book you’re holding (including its first and second editions), Branding For Dummies, Selling Your Business For Dummies, and Business Plans Kit For Dummies (now in its 3rd edition), all published by Wiley.

Barbara is a marketing strategist and small business advocate who contributes to a number of news sites and is called upon for presentations and advice by a long list of businesses and business groups.

For more information on Barbara’s background, books, and business advice, visit her website at www.bizstrong.com. You can also follow her on www.facebook.com/bizstrong and at http://twitter.com/bizstrong.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Thank you to every business owner, marketer, and strategist I’ve ever had the honor of working with. We are living in an age of collaboration, and only because you shared your issues and insights was I able to discover the solutions and advice shared in this book.

Thank you to Microsoft, MSN, and BusinessonMain.com. For years I’ve had the pleasure of writing marketing lessons and articles for your incredible small business resource programs. Because of you I’ve collected a good many of the examples shared in this book, and I’ve connected with many of the experts who shared their talent in the book’s sidebars and how-to sections.

Thank you to the experts featured throughout this book. In the order their advice appears: Jim Bonfield of CustomerLink; Sohrab Vossoughi of Ziba Design; Janine Warner of DigitalFamily; Liz Goodgold of Red Fire Branding; Eric Swartz of Tagline Guru; the marketing software geniuses at HubSpot; Annette Tonti and Rich Kolman of MoFuse; the site-creation pros at Weebly and WordPress; Viveka von Rosen of Linked Into Business; Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development; Joshua Waldman of Career Enlightenment; Antonio Neves of THINQACTION; Ron J. Williams of SnapGoods and Knodes; the e-commerce solution providers at 3dcart; and Jeanne Bliss of CustomerBliss. Also thanks to the long list of authors whose books I love to cite and recommend, headed by Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy (Simon & Schuster) and Scott Berkun’s Confessions of a Public Speaker (O’Reilly Media).

Thank you, Facebook and Twitter. You have opened doors, enabled conversations, and kindled business relationships that simply would not have been possible a decade ago.

Thank you, Wiley. You manage to make each publishing experience yet more enjoyable. This time, heartfelt kudos go to executive editor Lindsay Lefevere, project editor Elizabeth Rea, copy editor Todd Lothery, tech reviewer Lorraine Ball, digital team leader Laura Moss-Hollister, and publicist Adrienne Fontaine. Calling this an amazing team is an understatement.

Thank you, Peter V. Schenck. Your research, reporting, editing, and inspiration merits a byline on the cover. This book wouldn’t exist without your talent.

Thank you to my family, starting with Peter, my husband, business partner, and the person who improves every writing and business project we undertake; and Matthew, our son, who opens doors to new media, new business opportunities, and new ways of looking at strategy — and success. And finally, thanks to those who have been with me longest: My late dad, Walt; my dear mom, Julie; and my sisters, Carole, Mary Lynn, and Pam.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Vertical Websites

Project Editor: Elizabeth Rea

Executive Editor: Lindsay Sandman Lefevere

Copy Editor: Todd Lothery

Assistant Editor: David Lutton

Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen

Technical Editor: Lorraine Ball

Vertical Websites: Laura Moss-Hollister, Doug Kuhn, Shawn Patrick

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistant: Alexa Koschier

Cover Photos: ©iStockphoto.com/hh5800

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery

Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Christin Swinford

Proofreader: Melanie Hoffman

Indexer: Sherry Massey

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

Kristin...