Let’s take a look at what we have at this point. There’s a business idea, company name, legal business structure and entity formation, business plan, financial picture, and products or services in mind.
One of the next big questions to figure out is how to let your target market know that you have what they need. This is where marketing comes in. Marketing plays a crucial part in tapping the demand for your supply, i.e. in making the customers go for what your business will provide.
Our Library offers a ton of resources to help you learn how to put your business out there:
Ease into marketing concepts and basics with Universal Class‘s video-based courses like Marketing 101, Marketing for Small Business 101, and Business Branding 101. Likewise, Gale Courses offers informative classes on Marketing Your Business on the Internet, Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring, Using Social Media in Business, Marketing Your Nonprofit, and Business and Marketing Writing.
Follow up with more details from popular books such as those listed below. I think we can guess the reason for such long titles, and taglines on the cover — all catalogued for borrowing via our digital collections:
Overdrive offers:
-
- The Art of the Start 2.0 by Guy Kawasaki
- This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You learn To See by Seth Godin
- Going Social: Excite Customers, Generate Buzz, and Energize Your Brand with the Power of Social Media by Jeremy Goldman
- Instagram Marketing Algorithms: 10,000/Month Guide On How To Grow Your Business, Make Money Online, Become an Social Media Influencer, Personal Branding & Advertising by Michael Gates
- The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success by Lon Safko
- Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence – and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
Hoopla‘s list of titles include:
-
- No B.S. Direct Marketing by Dan S. Kennedy
- The Best of Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Levinson
- The Non-Obvious Guide to Small Business Marketing by Rohit Bhargava
- The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
- Social Media Marketing 2020: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Social Media Marketing Strategies on How to Gain a Massive Following on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter to Boost Your Business in 2020 by Gavin Turner
RBdigital provides numerous articles, visual ideas, and tidbits through the following magazines:
-
- Fast Company
- Inc. Magazine
- Entrepreneur Magazine
- MarketWatch
Your library card also allows access to Small Business Reference Center, and referenceUSA, for data on consumers and businesses in the US — all useful tools when creating, and implementing your marketing plans!
To find more resources on marketing your business, try the following sample keywords, phrases, and combinations with “small business”, “business”, “marketing” (even “2020”, “for” specific product/service) added to your search bar entries: marketing, promotions, advertisements, announcements, target markets, branding, social media, pricing, consumer behavior, marketing tools, plans, strategies, components, best practices, product placements, direct marketing, online marketing, traditional marketing, and all the other key words you will learn when you start any of the titles mentioned above.
There are lots of inspiring stories out there on businesses that started with very little, then grew into incredibly successful ventures, certainly because of savvy, fitting marketing strategies. Come then, and browse through the Livingston Public Library’s resources to learn ways to help your business grow, and to help you focus on the next steps that need to be made.
Stay tuned for more business-related themes and resources via our Keep On Learning series.
— Janea Agbayani, Technology Department Library Specialist
For more information, visit: www.livingstonlibrary.org/resources-az/.
For other topics, themes, and resources suggested for lifelong learning pursuits, visit our blog under the tag: Keep On Learning.