by Barbara Findlay Schenck
Marketing Consultant
Small Business
Marketing
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2ND EDITION
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Small Business Marketing For Dummies
®
, 2nd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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About the Author
Barbara Findlay Schenck built her career matching products to markets,
which is what marketing — and what this book — is all about.
Her involvement in the field began in the University of Oregon public relations
office, where she developed an interest in marketing that she has followed lit-
erally around the world. She graduated with a degree in English from Oregon
State University and immediately moved to Hawaii, where she became direc-
tor of admissions and instructor of writing at a small private college on Oahu
before joining the staff of Honolulu’s largest public relations firm.
In 1978 she and her husband, Peter, left Hawaii for a village on the South China
Sea, where for two years they managed a development program for the Peace
Corps in Malaysia.
In 1980, they returned to their home state of Oregon and founded an advertis-
ing agency, attracting a clientele that included ski and golf resorts, banks,
apparel and equipment manufacturers, the state’s tourism, lottery, and job
training divisions, and a good number of small and larger-sized businesses
that provided the wealth of hands-on experience reflected in this book.
In 1995, they sold the agency and moved with their son to Italy, where Barbara
began work on several book projects. In 2000, she co-wrote Portraits of Guilt,
the Edgar Award-nominated memoir of internationally recognized criminal
investigative artist Jeanne Boylan. In 2001, she authored the first edition of
Small Business Marketing For Dummies, which Business Week praised for pre-
senting “marketing issues as real-world problems with real-world solutions.”
Today, she’s still forming her thoughts into headlines, news releases, and
marketing plans, but on a more relaxed schedule. In addition to writing, she
offers marketing presentations and workshops. Contact her by writing
[email protected].
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Author’s Acknowledgments
As I finish this second, updated edition of Small Business Marketing For

ents, Walt and Julie Findlay, and the best three sisters ever put on this earth.
Thank you all.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration
form located at
www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and
Media Development
Project Editor: Corbin Collins
(Previous Edition: Norm Crampton)
Acquisitions Editor: Kathy Cox
Copy Editor: Corbin Collins
Assistant Editor: Holly Gastineau-Grimes
Technical Editor: Kimberly L. McCall
Editorial Manager: Carmen Krikorian
Editorial Assistants: Courtney Allen,
Nadine Bell
Cartoons: Rich Tennant,
www.the5thwave.com
Composition
Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez
Layout and Graphics: Lauren Goddard,
Barry Offringa, Lynsey Osborn,
Melanee Prendergast, Jacque Roth,
Julie Trippetti, Mary Gillot Virgin
Proofreaders: Leeann Harney,
Jessica Kramer, Carl William Pierce,
TECHBOOKS Production Services

Chapter 12: Broadcasting Ads on Radio and TV 173
Part IV: Getting the Word Out without Advertising 189
Chapter 13: Mailing Direct to Your Market 191
Chapter 14: Brochures, Promotions, Trade Shows, and More 211
Chapter 15: Public Relations and Publicity 231
Chapter 16: Tapping the Internet’s Marketing Power 247
Part V: Winning and Keeping Customers 273
Chapter 17: Making the Sale 275
Chapter 18: Enhancing Customer Service 289
Chapter 19: Fortifying Customer Relationships 303
Part VI: The Part of Tens 317
Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Before You Choose a Name 319
Chapter 21: Ten Ideas to Embrace and Ten to Avoid 325
Chapter 22: Ten Steps to a Great Marketing Plan 331
Appendix: Where to Find More Information 337
Index 341
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
How to Know That This Book Is for You 1
How to Use This Book 2
How This Book Is Organized 2
Part I: Getting Started in Marketing 2
Part II: Sharpening Your Marketing Focus 3
Part III: Creating and Placing Ads 3
Part IV: Getting the Word Out without Advertising 3
Part V: Winning and Keeping Customers 3
Part VI: The Part of Tens 4
Icons Used in This Book 4
Ready, Set, Go! 4

Tallying your sales by product line 35
Using the cash register to steer your business 36
Illogical, Irrational, and Real Reasons People Buy What You Sell 37
Buying Decisions Are Rarely about Price, Always about Value 38
The value formula 38
Riding the price/value teeter-totter 40
Pricing considerations 41
Presenting prices 41
The Care and Feeding of Your Product Line 43
Enhancing the appeal of existing products 44
Even products have life cycles 45
Raising a healthy product 45
Developing new products 46
Chapter 4: Sizing Up Competitors and Staking Out Market Share . . .49
Playing the Competitive Field 50
The terminology of competition 50
Knowing what you’re up against 52
How businesses compete 53
Winning Your Share of the Market 53
Defining your direct competition 54
Moving up the competitive ladder 55
Calculating Your Market Share 56
Sizing up your target market 56
Doing the math 57
Increasing Your Market Share 59
Chapter 5: Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Budgets . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Where Are You Going, Anyway? 62
The “vision” thing 62
Developing your statement of purpose 63
Success stories 63

Determining your positioning strategy 95
Conveying Your Position and Brand through Tag Lines 96
Advancing Your Brand through a Creative Strategy 98
Writing your creative strategy 98
Using your creative strategy 99
Writing Your Image Style Guide 99
Controlling your logo presentation 100
Deciding on your type style 100
Copy guidelines 101
Chapter 8: Getting Strategic before Getting Creative . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Good Communications Start with Good Objectives 103
Putting an end to shot-in-the-dark marketing instructions 104
Dodging the creative landmines 104
Deciding on a Goal for Every Single Marketing Communication 105
Writing a Creative Brief 105
Targeting your market 106
Dealing with prospect perceptions 107
Stating your desired outcome 107
Conveying benefits versus features 109
Naming your “have-to-haves” 110
Deciding how you’ll measure success 110
Specifying your specifications 111
Chapter 9: Hiring Help for Your Marketing Program . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Can You Afford to Hire Professional Help? 114
Knowing When It’s Time to Get Help 115
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Where to Turn for Help 116
Tapping in-house talent 116

Mass media pros and cons 142
The Making of a Media Schedule 149
Balancing reach and frequency 150
Timing your placements 151
Evaluating Your Advertising Efforts 152
Generating ad responses 153
Keying responses 153
Chapter 11: Creating Print Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Writing and Designing Your Ads 155
Packing power into headlines 156
Writing convincing copy 158
Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition
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Making design decisions 159
Translating ad production terminology 161
Making sense of print media rate cards 162
Placing Newspaper Ads 163
Scheduling your placements 163
Small-budget ad-sizing tips 164
Requesting your ad placement 165
Taking advantage of the classified section 166
Placing Magazine Ads 166
Selecting magazines 167
Scheduling placements 167
Using Billboards and Out-of-Home Advertising 168
Yellow Pages and Directory Ads 169
Creating and placing directory ads 170
Using the online Yellow Pages 171
Chapter 12: Broadcasting Ads on Radio and TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Scouring your list 206
Direct mail — or junk mail? 207
E-mail Marketing 207
Opt-in e-mail 207
Writing e-mail that gets read 208
Chapter 14: Brochures, Promotions, Trade Shows, and More . . . . .211
Producing and Using Marketing Literature 212
When, why, and how to produce brochures 212
Launching and maintaining newsletters 217
Converting Business Material to Marketing Opportunity 222
Weighing the Benefits of Advertising Specialties 224
Choosing and Using Trade Shows 225
Building Sales through Promotions 227
Choosing your promotion incentive 227
Staging cross-promotions and cooperative promotions 228
Promotion planning checklist 229
Chapter 15: Public Relations and Publicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
The Relationship between Publicity and Public Relations 231
The wide-angle view of public relations 232
Focusing on publicity 233
Orchestrating Media Coverage 233
Getting real with your expectations 234
Circulating your news 235
Writing news releases 235
Establishing media contacts 240
Maintaining media relationships 242
Managing media interviews 242
Staging news conferences 245
Dealing with bad news 246
Chapter 16: Tapping the Internet’s Marketing Power . . . . . . . . . . . .247

Converting Prospects to Customers 276
Moving prospects to the buying decision 276
Prospect conversion guidelines 277
Winning at Sales 279
Selling redefined 280
Preparing for the task 280
Establishing contact 281
Presenting your product 283
Closing the Deal 285
Buying signals 286
Asking for the order 286
Make buying easy 287
Chapter 18: Enhancing Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289
The Fundamentals of Customer Service 289
The Service Cycle 290
Improving your service 291
Benchmarking your customer service performance 293
Cultivating “best customers” 294
Keeping good customers 296
Eliminating service indifference 296
Nurturing Concerns and Complaints 297
Why customers don’t complain 298
Encouraging input 298
Reading unstated customer clues to dissatisfaction 298
Handling complaints 299
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Developing Positive Word-of-Mouth 300
Building a Customer Service Environment 301

Step 3: Set Goals and Objectives 332
Step 4: Define Your Market 332
Step 5: Advance Your Position, Brand, and Creative Strategy 333
Step 6: Set Your Marketing Strategies 333
Step 7: Outline Your Tactics 334
Step 8: Establish Your Budget 335
Step 9: Blueprint Your Action Plan 335
Step 10: Think Long Term 336
One Final Step: Use Your Plan 336
Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition
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Appendix: Where to Find More Information 337
Small Business Web Sites 337
Advertising and Marketing Web Sites 337
Internet Marketing Web Sites 338
The Newsstand 338
Advertising Periodicals 339
“For Dummies” Books for Small Business Marketers 339
Marketing Classics 339
The Library Reference Area 340
Index 341
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Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition
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Introduction
W

words marketing, advertising, and sales seem interchangeable or confusing?
Do you wish some marketing guru would step in to help you out?
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Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is especially for busi-
nesses like yours that operate without the benefit — or the expense — of a
high-powered marketing vice-president, an award-winning ad agency, or even
a staff person dedicated full-time to the task of managing your marketing
program.
Every example is directed at the businessperson who wears all the hats and
markets in whatever time remains. If that person sounds a lot like you, keep
reading!
How to Use This Book
You have a business to run, customers to serve, product issues to address,
and a lineup of deadlines and decisions looming. If you fit the small business
mold, you’re strapped for time and need quick answers, rapid-fire advice, and
street-smart solutions that you can put to work immediately.
Hit the Table of Contents or Index and you can dart straight to the pages that
hold the advice you need right now.
Or become the marketing genius for your business by reading this book from
cover to cover. It will walk you through the full marketing process and help
you tailor your own marketing program, create your marketing messages,
and produce marketing communications that work. For the cover price of
this book, you can get what big businesses pay big dollars for: a self-tailored
marketing “consultation.”
How This Book Is Organized
Each part of Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition, tackles a
different aspect of your marketing program. From marketing terms to mar-
keting plans to nitty-gritty details for getting your marketing message into
ads, promotions, and online — you’ll find it all shoehorned into the pages of
this book.

advice integrated throughout the book, along with a fact-filled Chapter 16 dedi-
cated entirely to online marketing ideas and information.
Part V: Winning and Keeping Customers
A widely cited study by the U.S. Department of Commerce found that it takes
five times more effort to get a new customer than it does to keep one. This
part gives you priceless tips on how to do both. It begins with the process of
capturing the interest of prospects and turning these prospects into cus-
tomers through good sales techniques. Then it moves to the most important
topic of all: developing customer loyalty by making customer service a cor-
nerstone of your business.
3
Introduction
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Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 20 leads you through the ten most important questions to ask and
answer before naming or renaming your business or one of its products.
Chapter 21 shares ten all-time best and ten all-time worst marketing ideas.
Finally, Chapter 22 brings it all together by outlining the ten steps to follow as
you build your own easy-to-assemble marketing plan.
Icons Used in This Book
Marketing is full of logos, seals of approval, and official stamps. In keeping
with tradition, throughout the margins of this book you’ll find symbols that
spotlight important points, shortcuts, and warnings. Watch for these icons:
This icon highlights the golden rules for small business marketing. Write
them down, memorize them, and use the cheat sheet in the front of this book
to remember them.
Remember the line, “Don’t tell me, show me”? This icon pops up when an
example shows you what the surrounding text is talking about.
Not every idea is a good idea. This icon alerts you to situations that deserve
your cautious evaluation. Consider it a flashing yellow light.

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Chapter 1
A Helicopter View of the
Marketing Process
In This Chapter
ᮣ Understanding the meaning and role of marketing
ᮣ Differentiating small business marketing from big business marketing
ᮣ Jumpstarting your marketing program
Y
ou’re not alone if you opened this book in part to find the answer to the
question: “What is marketing anyway?” Everyone seems to know that
marketing is an essential ingredient for business success, but when it comes
time to say exactly what it is, certainty takes a nose dive.
If you pick up the phone and call any number of marketing professors, mar-
keting vice presidents, or marketing experts and ask them to define market-
ing, odds are you won’t get the same answer twice. In fact, if you look the
word up in different dictionaries, you’ll find many different definitions.
To settle the matter right up front, here is a plain-language description of
what marketing — and what this book — is all about.
Marketing is the process through which you create — and keep — customers.
ߜ Marketing is the matchmaker between what your business is selling and
what your customers are buying.
ߜ Marketing covers all the steps that are involved to tailor your products,
messages, distribution, customer service, and all other business actions
to meet the desires of your most important business asset: your customer.
ߜ Marketing is a win-win partnership between your business and its
market.
Marketing isn’t about talking to your customers; it’s about talking with them.
Marketing relies on two-way communication between your business and your
buyer.

PUBLIC RELATIONS
THE
MARKETING
PROCESS
Figure 1-1:
The
marketing
“wheel of
fortune.”
8
Part I: Getting Started in Marketing
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9
Chapter 1: A Helicopter View of the Marketing Process
As you loop around the marketing wheel, here are the actions you take:
1. Get to know your target customer and your marketing environment.
2. Tailor your product, pricing, packaging, and distribution strategies to
address your customers’ needs, your market environment, and the com-
petitive realities of your business.
3. Create and project marketing messages to grab attention, inspire inter-
est, and move your prospects to buying decisions.
4. Go for and close the sale — but don’t stop there.
5. Once the sale is made, begin the customer-service phase. Work to
ensure customer satisfaction so that you convert the initial sale into
repeat business and word-of-mouth advertising for your business.
6. Talk with customers to gain input about their wants and needs and
your products and services. Combine what you learn with other
research about your market and competitive environment and use your
findings to fine-tune your product, pricing, packaging, distribution, pro-
motional messages, sales, and service.