Small Business Marketing for Dummies, Second Edition [Paperback]

Barbara Findlay Schenck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2005

Having your own business isn’t the same as having customers, and one is useless without the other. Whether your business is a resale store or a high-tech consulting firm, a law office or a home cleaning service, in today’s competitive environment, strategic marketing is essential.

Small Business Marketing For Dummies, Second Edition is updated from the original version that won rave reviews and inspired thousands of small businesses on their way to becoming big businesses. Updates include more information on online marketing, a whole new section on getting and keeping customers, new cost-effective, fast-acting ideas for instant impact, and more. The book covers:

• Marketing basics that prepare you to rev up your business and jumpstart your marketing program
• Information to help you define your business position and brand
• Advice on bringing in professionals
• A quick-reference guide to mass media and a glossary of advertising jargon
• How-tos for creating print and broadcast ads that work
• Ideas for getting the word out without advertising, including information on direct mail, brochures, publicity, promotions, and more
• Ten steps to follow to build your own easy-to-assemble marketing plan

With pages of ideas for low-cost, high-impact marketing from author Barbara Findlay Schenck, a marketing consultant with more than 20 years experience with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Small Business Marketing For Dummies, Second Edition helps you reach and keep new customers. Whether you’re running a home office, a small firm, a family business, a nonprofit organization, or a retail operation, you’ll discover how to:

• Custom design your own marketing program
• Create effective marketing messages
• Produce marketing communications that work

No matter what field you’re in, Small Business Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition will help you make your dreams come true. If you buy it, read it, and implement some of the marketing strategies discussed, customers will come.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...easy-to-implement solutions. 4 1/2 stars." -- Paul Tulenko, Scripps Howard News Service, August 7, 2005

From the Publisher

Praise for Small Business Marketing for Dummies

"Barbara Schenck's Small Business Marketing For Dummies threads the needle between sky-high strategy and ground-level tactics..."
--Gene Kincaid, Instructor, Department of Advertising, University of Texas at Austin

"Barbara’s effervescent, can-do spirit permeates this book, which is like a 4-year degree in marketing..."
--Bob Boylan, Executive Presentation Consultant and Author, President/Owner of Successful Presentations

"Go ahead, clear your shelf of all other marketing books. From now on you only need one and this is it!"
-- Robert L. Newhart II, CEO, Oregon Innovation Center

"It’s fun to read Barbara Schenck. But more than fun, it’s enlightening to read Barbara Schenck."
-- Dan Lufkin, Co-founder, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc.

"Business is war. The book gives entrepreneurs the ammunition they need to survive -- and thrive."
-- Riva Lesonsky, Entrepreneur Magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2nd edition (February 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764578391
• ISBN-13: 978-0764578397
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Marketing

More About the Author

Barbara Findlay Schenck is the author of a number of top-selling business books and the advisor to a long list of businesses on marketing and growth issues. She's written online marketing and sales lessons for the Microsoft Small Business Relationship program and served as a marketing specialist for Business Breakthrough, a program presented by MSN and Visa. Currently, she's the marketing columnist for the MSN small business channel at www.businessonmain.com. She also contributes small business advice to American Express sites.

Please visit www.bizstrong.com for more information including links to book excerpts, marketing columns, and branding podcasts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take it from a dummy: This book works!, April 25, 2001

By 

George Engebretson (Honolulu, HI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Business Marketing for Dummies (Paperback)

As a card-carrying dummy, I opened "Small Business Marketing for Dummies" with high hopes. I wasn't disappointed: in great detail and in plain English, Barbara Findlay Schenck has produced an exhaustive, fact-packed, thoroughly enjoyable guide to marketing. While I've picked up a few tricks of the trade during my ten years in retail/distribution, both as a sole proprietor and in a partnership, Schenck's book shows me how much more I have to learn in this wide and fascinating arena. Besides serving as a powerful motivator, "Small Business Marketing for Dummies" is long on specifics: the hows and whys of reaching customers and bringing them back for more. The book's Internet chapters, for example, are chock full of Web sites and strategies completely new to me. Having read many other marketing resources over the years, I can say without equivocation that this one comes closest to being a bible of the genre. Even the most clueless among us can use the book as a kind of in-house consultant, an easy, expert guide through the labyrinth of marketing a small business.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for dummies!, November 16, 2001

By 

lifjoy "cliff_joyce" (Bend, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Business Marketing for Dummies (Paperback)

Don't let the title mislead you. Even if you already have a background in marketing, you'll love this book-- I did.

Barbara Schenck clearly explains the jargon, terminology, value, and implementation details of each facet of marketing, using real-world (and often humorous) examples. This book is so accessible to non-marketeers that our company has made Chapter 21 (Customer Service) required reading for each member of our team.

This book is empowering, informative, inspirational. If you're rethinking your marketing (and what business isn't constantly obsessed with satisfying their customers), then make this book your road map. As instructed by the simple exercises in each chapter, I took notes while making my way through the book. Then following the instructions in the final chapters, I was able to create a Marketing Plan in just a few hours. I found the process invigorating, and our clients can already feel our enthusiasm-- and we haven't even started implementing yet!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The PEERLESS new "Bible" for small businesses!, June 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Small Business Marketing for Dummies (Paperback)

Barbara Findlay Schenck has FINALLY brought us what we've all, as small business owners and entrepreneurs been in need of, the consummate book of wisdom and guidance for marketing concerns A-Z. I had not a single question remaining in my mind when I closed the back cover. She's thought of it all. Absolutely invaluable information, in fact, perhaps priceless.Excellent investment.