How to market & brand your business

Marketing & Branding for Small BusinessesMARIA ASUELIMEN | AMA CONSULTING LLC

10104 SENATE DRIVE SUITE 208 LANHAM MD 20706 WWW.AMACONSULTONLINE.COM

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AMA Consulting Capabilities Strategic Marketing Planning Small Business Certifications Proposal Management Support Federal Contracting Support Entrepreneurship & Leadership Development Trainings


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How We Work Values: Excellence, Diligence, Integrity and Compassion Outcomes Oriented Agile Approach Ease of Interaction Networks


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Our Clients Small Businesses: 8(a), WOSB, HUBZONE, SDVOSB, VOSB Small Business Categories Industries: Information Technology Healthcare Staffing Construction Professional Services Media Security


Marketing Constantly communicating the value of your goods and services to potential customers/clientsAdvertising: Newspaper, Online directories, Radio, Cable TV, Blogs, Social Media platformsContent Marketing/Social MediaEmail MarketingCold CallsSpeaking EngagementsAuthoring Networking


Marketing Tip Have A Plan

Know Your Market

Know Your Business

Set a Budget

Execute


Create a Marketing Plan. Why?Clear vision for your business

Become better at using strategy to build brand awareness

Sell your product/service easier

Address & identify potential problems

Allows for test to see if strategies are giving the desired results


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GoalsGoals are what you want to achieve. They must be ACTIONABLE and SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a timeline.

Short term and long term

Can be in terms of revenue, technical capability or positioning

Set no more that 5 short term and 5 long term at a time

Examples: Bring in $50,000 in revenue, find 10 new clients for the business, and attend 3 networking events monthly in 2016.


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Steps & Priorities Steps are activities carried out in order to achieve a goal. Priorities are steps that have the most effect on a goal

Steps have to state who, when and where the action will be taken

Must be as detailed as possible

Can list up to 5 prioritized steps under a goal with a duration (daily, weekly, monthly)

Each step MUST be related to a goal


Know your market!IndustryKnow the Size, Trends and Key Players Department of Commerce: https://www.commerce.gov/economicindicators North American Industry Classification Codes: http://www.naics.com/search/


https://www.commerce.gov/economicindicators

http://www.naics.com/search/

Know your market! Competitors Direct: Business that market goods and services just like you to your target market

Indirect: Alternative ways your target market can meet their needs

The U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov demographic statistics for any town, city, or state in America.

Public Library Databases: http://fcpl.org/departments/grant-seekers-resource-center/databases

Dynamic Small Business Search Database: http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm

Better Business Bureau (BBB) www.bbb.org


http://www.census.gov/

http://fcpl.org/departments/grant-seekers-resource-center/databases

http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm

http://www.bbb.org/

Know your MarketWho is you’re a customerApproachable High Conversion Rate: Ready, Willing and Able Profitable


Know your Business What is your why?What is your differentiator? 30 sec elevation speech: Who you are, what you do and who you do it for

30 sec elevator Speech exercise


Set a budget Set a marketing budget

Typically 7% of your projected sales

Execute

Action! Action! Action! Schedule Activities Follow up Be responsive


Social Media Where do you Post? Understand where your audience is first and go from there.

LinkedIn – B2B – Great for influencing influencers

Twitter – B2B & B2C – Short bursts of real-time engagement.

Facebook – B2C – Sporting, social companies and events work particularly well here


What is Branding?Branding is about creating an identity/Image.

It’s what sets one company apart from another

Logo & Tag Line

Business Cards

Business Stationery: Letterhead, compliments slips, envelopes, etc.

Emails: Everyone in the company should use a branded email address (@yourdomain.etc), a branded email signature including logo and tag line

Website

Social Media


Branding Tips A strong brand can help your business attract new customers and retain existing ones.

Think about successful brands

• Branding should be related to your why

• Be authentic: Your brand should reflect the personality and values of your business.

• Tell the story of your business: You can start developing your brand by considering the story of your business - how it started, what you hope to achieve, who you hope to appeal to.


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AMA Consulting LLC10104 Senate Drive Suite 208

Lanham MD 20706www.amaconsultonline.com

P.(301)577-9300

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