Small Business Marketing: Must-Do Checklist

If you're just starting to do marketing for your small business or if you've been doing it for awhile but you feel like it’s really incompetent then you could probably use a small business marketing guide to help you get back on track. The following checklist is just a start to give you an idea of the things that you really must do to have a complete marketing plan.

__ Set up a website.

__ Get a business cards. Make sure they have all of your contact information, including your website.

__ Add your website and contact information to the signature on each of your email accounts.

__ You should do blog marketing to increase traffic to your site.

__ Create a contact list comprised of all of the email addresses of everyone with whom you communicate. Add to this list regularly.

__ Design (or locate) a newsletter template. Use this template to create regular newsletters updating everyone on your contact list about your business.

__ Run promotions. This could be anything that draws attention to your business - contests or discounts on services are often used to attract business.

__ Use search engine optimization on your website. If you don't understand SEO and keywords, learn about it.

__ Submit your web page to search engines.

__ Use link exchange to get your website noticed on other sites that are similar to yours. You can use a link exchange program or contact businesses that you're already familiar with to discuss exchanging links; the latter tends to be more effective since it has the personal touch.

__ Write articles related to your business for the purpose of self-promotion. You can submit these to magazines and websites to gain attention for your company.

__ Press releases. Do them on a regular basis.

__ Have promotional materials like pens, business card holders, candies or something that's more directly linked to your specific business ... these are all things that you can hand out to people to get them to know who you are.

__ Make a calendar of industry events. There are plenty of opportunities for you to get out into your community and network with people and that's one of the best marketing strategies around. Figure out which events you'll be attending this year.

__ Online advertising. Learn about banner advertising and pay-per-click advertising and see if it might be right for your company.

__ Devise a marketing plan. That's right; don't just stop with this checklist. Produce an entire marketing plan which includes timelines and budget considerations.