by: Lynne Saarte

One very important difference between small businesses and Fortune 500 A-listers is the budget – to be more precise, the marketing budget. Unlike their wealthy counterparts, the marketing budget that a small business has is very limited.

This is the reason why many small businesses hesitate to market because they know for a fact that producing marketing collaterals for example such as poster printing and custom posters takes so much of one’s resources, not to mention the creative staff one needs to hire to design excellent pieces. Small businesses cannot really compete when it comes to having the best print collaterals in the industry.

But this does not also mean that small businesses can just accept their lot and make do with what is left them. Small businesses can work around their ‘insufficiency’ and create a well rounded marketing program that combines sales efforts with marketing strategies.

Based on well done research, you can provide your target audience with marketing activities that will not only reduce the money you shell out every time you have your campaign, but also puts value to your efforts when you are able to connect with your clients and prospects. The connection you create with your campaigns is more precious and priceless as you can then use it to zero in on the most effective marketing campaign that your target market will respond to every time.

So although as a small business you have a very limited marketing budget, it does not mean that you cannot compete with the Fortune 500 businesses. On the contrary, you can; as long as you think of more creative ways to go about it.

Here are some ways you can launch your marketing campaign without having to deplete your limited budget:

1. Choose to have market-sharing activities with your vendors and associates. You can also ask other businesses in your industry to participate in co-op marketing campaign so you can share the expenses.

2. Do not stop marketing. Spend time sending your customers and prospects incentives to encourage them to keep on engaging in business with you.

3. Network with the media. Introduce yourself and build a relationship with them. Free publicity is one of the best means to get visible.

4. Position yourself as an expert. Write articles and post information that you know can help your target clients so you can be known as an expert in your field.

5. Practice piggybacking. Be where the events are. Offer to distribute flyers and even put up custom posters to an event in your town or locality. The consumers will definitely see you and it will boost your image as a community-based business.

Finally, when you do spend your precious resources on your marketing campaigns, be sure to have a system to track them down and their results. By doing so, you will be able to know which ones work and which ones need to be replaced with another strategy.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit:
http://www.printplace.com/printing/poster-printing.aspx, http://www.printplace.com/printing/custom-poster-printing.aspx

Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.

The author invites you to visit: http://www.printplace.com

by: Silas Reed

Success in marketing can be defined by two things. One – personal characteristics and traits like attitude, learning ability, etc.; and Second – the marketing job itself. Those who have any idea about a marketing job would surely testify to the fact that marketing jobs are way challenging and there is nothing called ‘monotonous’ that you could associate with it! The marketing scenario keeps on changing as per the customers’ preferences and then the global economy has a lot to do in terms of altering patterns in sales, advertising and surely – marketing!

Success in marketing can be stated as a very relative term with this varying from business to business and region to region. And with marketing, those are the local strategies that are the defining strategies of your business. There is nothing called a general marketing strategy that can be applied throughout the world – after generalization. The needs and demands of individuals (read: customers) keep on changing as one shifts from one region to another. A well known case to consider would be this:

Market Study vs. Market Research

Once a popular vehicle maker who did great business in the domestic market wanted to expand abroad and after some market studies, they zeroed in on a nation that would be their foreign sales destination and therefore improving their export figures. What happened afterwards was later deemed as a terrible mistake. What they had done is launched the same fuel-guzzling vehicles in a developing economy and the plan back-fired! The foreign country relied on vehicles just as a mode of transportation and looked no beyond that optimizing their trip. The launch of the foreign vehicles though was tempting, still was not accepted by the masses and the exports went down sharply.

This is a case of market study only. Had their marketing manager insisted on a complete market research based survey, this would never have happened! This case was decades ago when the ‘marketing’ concept was not that well developed. International companies are more cautious nowadays and rely on a comprehensive network of local help. Since you want to be successful at your marketing business, here are the keywords from what is mentioned above that you should build upon.

• Proper and comprehensive market research

• Local networks

• Ability to learn

• Marketing with creativity

• Marketing based on technology and then sales

• Good leading capability

• Driving the company to success

When in a marketing job, though there are huge prospects of personal growth, it is the company’s growth as a whole that defines your success. This is because in the end, you’re working for your employer and your work demands you to work for the betterment of the company as a whole. Marketing professionals have to be in the thick of things and should always pair up with sales and advertising teams to get optimum results.

Knowledge coupled with wisdom and rational foresight are the traits that marketing professionals must build on, in case they have not done so already. Marketing is a respectable job and you must give your employer a reason to back your success!
To learn more about finding marketing employment, please visit http://www.marketingcrossing.com/lcjobtypelisting.php and sign up for a FREE trial to gain access to ALL of the many exclusive job listings we offer in the marketing profession. Silas Reed, Writer for MarketingCrossing, writes articles that inform and teach about different marketing job profiles.

The author invites you to visit: http://marketingemployment,marketingemploymentopportunities,marketingemploymentagency,marketingjobs

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon

by: Erick Shipmon