And I’m going to make another assumption (two in one day is hard on the ol’ noggin, but here we go). That assumption is that although you know marketing will help your small business succeed, you have no idea how to go about it.

What I want to say might be overly simplistic because there’s more to marketing than can fill hundreds of pages like this one. But, we all have to start somewhere don’t we? What I want to do is to simply give you, the average small business owner, a few things to think about.

1. Find you target market. There’s old marketing wisdom that goes something like this: “if you target everyone, you really target no one”. There really is nothing that doesn’t have a target market. Ok, that’s a double negative—might be a little confusing. Let me rephrase: Everything—every product and every service has a target market. And you can’t have much of a message if you don’t know who you’re talking to.

2. Know your target market like the back of your hand (actually, better than that). Once you figure out who your target market is, you better know them well. You might want to make it a goal to get to know him or her better than your competition. Cuz that’ll give you a pretty good advantage.

3. Know your competition
   Crab Fishing in Alaska – Fishing for Riches
   No it isn’t Bill Gates. It isn’t the diamond merchants of South Africa or the oil barons of Saudi Arabia either. The world’s highest paid job is crab fishing in Alaska. The frigid waters off the Alaskan shoreline house a veritable fishing goldmine and crab fishing in Alaska has been aptly dubbed the last great gold rushes on earth.Crab fishing is the most significant of the Alaskan commercial shellfish industries. The waters of Alaska, notably the Berin
   noggin, but here we go). That assumption is that although you know marketing will help your small business succeed, you have no idea how to go about it.

   What I want to say might be overly simplistic because there’s more to marketing than can fill hundreds of pages like this one. But, we all have to start somewhere don’t we? What I want to do is to simply give you, the average small business owner, a few things to think about.

   1. Find you target market. There’s old marketing wisdom that goes something like this: “if you target everyone, you really target no one”. There really is nothing that doesn’t have a target market. Ok, that’s a double negative—might be a little confusing. Let me rephrase: Everything—every product and every service has a target market. And you can’t have much of a message if you don’t know who you’re talking to.

   2. Know your target market like the back of your hand (actually, better than that). Once you figure out who your target market is, you better know them well. You might want to make it a goal to get to know him or her better than your competition. Cuz that’ll give you a pretty good advantage.

   3. Know your competition
      In PR, You Pay When You Stray
      Don't let yourself be diverted by communications tactics playtime. You know, straying from the main Public relations game plan by juggling a press release against a radio interview, or a brochure against an op-ed.Those "beasts of burden" who will carry your message to you target audiences will come in handy at the right time.For you, the main public relations consideration must be attracting the support of those external audiences whose
      ave to start somewhere don’t we? What I want to do is to simply give you, the average small business owner, a few things to think about.
      1. Find you target market. There’s old marketing wisdom that goes something like this: “if you target everyone, you really target no one”. There really is nothing that doesn’t have a target market. Ok, that’s a double negative—might be a little confusing. Let me rephrase: Everything—every product and every service has a target market. And you can’t have much of a message if you don’t know who you’re talking to.

      2. Know your target market like the back of your hand (actually, better than that). Once you figure out who your target market is, you better know them well. You might want to make it a goal to get to know him or her better than your competition. Cuz that’ll give you a pretty good advantage.

      3. Know your competition
         Increasing Employee Retention Through Employee Engagement
         You’ve seen it happen many times. An organization that provides top wages and benefits loses a great employee to a competitor for no apparent reason. Of course, some employee turnover is to be expected, but if your company is truly engaging your employees, there is no good reason for the unexpected loss of quality staff members. Many companies already know that wages and benefits are important to employees, but compensation alone is not enough to keep the high
         ly is nothing that doesn’t have a target market. Ok, that’s a double negative—might be a little confusing. Let me rephrase: Everything—every product and every service has a target market. And you can’t have much of a message if you don’t know who you’re talking to.

      4. Know your target market like the back of your hand (actually, better than that). Once you figure out who your target market is, you better know them well. You might want to make it a goal to get to know him or her better than your competition. Cuz that’ll give you a pretty good advantage.

      5. Know your competition
         Does Your Organization Have a Learning Disability - Disability # 2 - The Enemy is Out There
         My previous article I started with the first of seven learning disabilities identified by Peter Senge in his book ‘The Fifth Discipline.’ An organization’s success is usually limited due to the learning disabilities found within it. These learning disabilities keep companies repeating the same mistakes time and again and prevent them from taking advantage of new opportunities.“The Enemy is Out There’ is not a problem confined to organizations but also t
         like the back of your hand (actually, better than that). Once you figure out who your target market is, you better know them well. You might want to make it a goal to get to know him or her better than your competition. Cuz that’ll give you a pretty good advantage.

      6. Know your competition like the back of your hand too. See them as “the enemy” (metaphorically of course), and we all know, the better you know your enemy, the fewer surprises they can pull on you. And if you know them well enough, you’ll soon figure out how to exploit their weaknesses to your own advantage, won’t you?

      7. Spend some time discovering your benefits. There’s a benefit hiding behind every one of the features your product or service has. Because it’s the benefits that your clients are interested in. Not the features. And that’s particularly true if your market is consumer-based.

      8. Differentiate or die. Quite the gloom-and-doom statement, that one. Problem is, it’s true. There’s either tons of competition for what you do, or there’s going to be. I don’t care if you’ve just invented the newest and greatest thing-a-ma-bobby of the century. If you don’t have competition right now, you will. And soon. Because if your invention is so great, somebody’s going to come along who’ll figure out a way to make it even faster and better than you did. So if you want to keep your business doors open, better figure out a way to be different from your competition.

      9. And while we