Helpful Marketing Resources

When Katherine and I set out to start Advancement Ink over two years ago, we knew that we needed some help to establish ourselves in our market and promote ourselves to potential clients. We diligently completed a marketing plan after researching our market, competition, and client base. But once we had the plan in hand, we needed some help with execution. Where do we start and who do we start with? The questions were numerous.

As we've mentioned in previous posts, Advancement Ink was lucky to earn business from professional colleagues and contacts. But we wanted to grow our client base and take on new business. By virtue of the medium that we work with (grants and proposals), it is not always necessary for us to see our clients face-to-face. Thanks to telephones, fax machines and the Internet, we can research, write, and send a proposal for a client without ever leaving our homes. This opens up a 'boundaryless' door of opportunity for us. We are an east coast firm but can easily and effectively serve clients on the west coast (or any other region of the world for that matter). This is both exciting and overwhelming! How do we reign in this client base so that we can effectively market ourselves and compete with other agencies providing similar services? We decided to seek some professional advice from people who have 'been there, done that.'

Katherine and I sought out the help of SCORE www.score.org. They are a corp of retired executives and professionals who serve small businesses nationally. They provide advice and counseling services free of charge and most metropolitan areas (and perhaps smaller areas as well) have a SCORE office. We needed advice on marketing, but anyone with a small business or a small business idea can benefit from a meeting with SCORE.

Our SCORE professional gave us great hints on how to position ourselves within our market, several outlets for advertising, and suggested many organizations that we might join for credibility purposes as well as networking opportunities. I can honestly credit SCORE for helping Advancement Ink to secure three new clients. I'll share some of his advice that directly benefited us, but I strongly urge you small businesses and non-profit organizations out there (or if you just have an idea that you would like to pursue) to visit your SCORE office. They also have counseling available online.

Katherine developed Advancement Ink's Web site. We are very pleased with its structure and simplicity. However, we needed to get it noticed on the vast world wide web. SCORE suggested that we register with Google and take it a step further by advertising our services on Google. I must admit that I was skeptical, but the results have not disappointed. We registered Advancement Ink as an advertiser with Google. The process was simple. We selected the amount of money we wanted to spend per month, and the key words that best described our business. I was able to choose many search phrases and view their popularity. The pricing is scaled on the popularity of search terms. I composed a 'short but sweet' message to be seen by searchers, and I was done.

The truth is, we have gotten some inquiries from strange places and for strange things, but as I mentioned before, we have gotten many legitimate inquiries that have lead to great business relationships. We are thankful that we took that step with Google Ad Words and continue to advertise with them today.

The other piece of advice SCORE shared was to register ourselves with trade organizations. The purpose of this is to keep abreast of what's going on in our industry, stay current with funding opportunities for our clients, and to network. Advancement Ink has chosen to register with a couple of organizations for grant writers and small businesses and that, too, has resulted in great contacts and legitimate business inquiries. We are so excited to be a part of these groups and look forward to forming great relationships and partnerships.

I think the best experience of our work with SCORE has been the effect that fresh eyes and perspective has had on our business. We know Advancement Ink inside and out, but it's nice to get some advice and suggestions from people who don't know who we are. We plan to revisit with SCORE regularly to hone our marketing plan and to continue through our on-going execution phase.

There are so many great resources for small businesses on the Web, through local and state government, at colleges and universities, and non-profit organizations. Katherine and I have had great success utilizing these resources and would highly recommend them to our fellow small businesses. Good Luck and Great Marketing!!