|
 222
Ways to Promote Your Small Business on a Budget
By Ron E. Gielgun
Sometimes it's the little things that
make for business success. Gielgun's book is filled with useful tips
on how to stand out from your competition. Hanging a mirror in your
shop window, for example, will often get people to pause in front of
it, and a terrarium with a cute or unusual animal will induce the kids
to pull in their parents. Other tips: if you're trying to get business
in a company, concentrate on the new employees; take customers from
your competitors by accepting the competitors' coupons; offer discounts
to your repeat customers. The ideas that Gielgun has packed into his
book sure don't run to big costly promotional campaigns -- and some
of them don't cost anything.
Buy it
AMA
Complete Guide to Small Business Advertising
By Joe Vitale
The aim of Mr. Vitale's book is to teach people how
to write better advertisements, "the kind that bring in orders."
Mr. Vitale discusses radio and television ads, headlines, illustrations
and photos, tips for writing copy, testimonials, open letters, advertorials,
and guarantees. The book includes worksheets and checklists, too. "The
chapter on 30 ways to write a headline is probably worth gold,"
says Mr. Vitale modestly.
Buy it
 The
Brand You 50
By Tom Peters
It's time for all of us to turn ourselves into brand names, Peters
says. Why? Because the White Collar Job as currently configured is doomed,
and distinctions between employees and independent professionals are
blurring. Although his loud style of exhortation can be annoying, Peters
makes many shrewd suggestions about how to become a brand name. He suggests
teaching a course at a community college, writing op-ed pieces for the
local newspaper, and making presentations at workshops.
Buy it
 Bringing Home the Business: The 30 Truths Every Home Business Owner Must Know
By Kim T. Gordon
This book doesn't help you choose office furniture or create a corporate structure; it zeroes in on how home businesses can attract and keep customers. Writing tightly in a brass-tacks style, the author advises on 30 areas, including how to create an image, select a niche, develop prospect lists, and write effective sales letters. Her section "Manage Lists and Callbacks" begins with this advice: "You don't need a staff for contact management; you need the right system." The section includes recommended software to manage your sales contacts and also outlines how to develop a paper-based tracking system. Gordon has written another book on home-based business, writes two Web columns and contributes a column to Entrepreneur magazine.
Buy it
 Guerrilla
Marketing for the Home Based Business
By Jay Conrad Levinson
Mr. Levinson, author of several Guerrilla-line business books, asserts that a home-based business does not need to market itself like a big company would, and probably shouldn't. Guerrilla Marketing describes "proven methods" of marketing home-based businesses and explains how to use them. Buy it
 Marketing on the Internet
By Jill H. Ellsworth and Matthew V. Ellsworth
This edition brings marketers up-to-date on new developments like Java, VRML, interactive graphics, and electronic commerce. A complete guide to marketing on the Internet, it helps marketers understand the technologies available and gives step-by-step instructions for using them for marketing purposes, from building a multimedia Web site to safely conducting electronic commerce. Packed with examples of successful uses of the Internet by a variety of businesses.
Buy it
 One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time
By Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
The 20th century model for marketing success has been mass advertising (billboards, television and radio commercials, advertisements in popular newspapers and magazines), which aims to generate business from a lot of different people. By contrast, Peppers and Rogers argue that personal communication with a few good customers can produce greater sales than impersonal mass advertising. Peppers, an advertising executive, and Rogers, a marketing scholar, discuss how to hone in on the few customers who offer the greatest opportunity for profit, and how to foster long-term relationships with them. The methods discussed in the book apply equally to the one-person business as to big companies. A much discussed book in the marketing world. Buy it
 Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
By Harry Beckwith
According to Beckwith, founder of a Minneapolis advertising agency, many
business owners have not yet adapted their marketing strategies to the
service-orientation of the new economy. In particular, he says, business
owners haven't understood the importance of relationships. Even in the
purchase of products, customers are interested in relationships -- that is,
how the company does business. The author has written a book of ideas,
bite-size points made in less than a page and written in a confident and
irreverent style. One example: "Say P.M. Deliver A.M." And if you're an
independent professional, Beckwith says, be sure to talk about the
advantages of smallness.
Buy it
Return to main Books page
|
