Saturday, August 22, 2009

Practical Marketing Tools for the Small B2B Owner

So much of marketing information and innovation is geared toward the marketing departments of large corporations. Yet, in small businesses across the country, the owner or, marketing vice president is the complete marketing department. This is especially true in difficult economic times. These individuals do not have a lot of time to develop marketing tools because of all of the various demands on their time. They are too busy from all of the necessary work and end up putting in long tiring hours. The fact is however, that small businesses need marketing to thrive just as much if not more than other businesses. Competition is always increasing and in some instances the competition is larger corporations that have marketing departments so, what is the owner, lone marketer to do?

I have run across a resource on the internet that can help these individuals at a very reasonable cost. The name of the company is Demand Metric. They have developed a service that prepares Microsoft Office tools that will save time for the busy marketeer. Their practical tools range from templates in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint to PDF how to guides that are designed to save time with strategy and implementation. One can find a range of tools in eight categories such as management, marketing, e-commerce and, planning etc. One of my favorite tools is the Competitive Website Analysis Tool. It allows you to evaluate your current website on various helpful informative criteria and compare it with your known competition. They have many tools to choose from. You can find job description templates if you are in need of hiring an employee or a consultant.

They also have a program available that will allow you to have a live conversation with an analyst that can give you advice about a project or problem. This makes it possible to have a consultant without paying for one to come to your business. I believe that this company is one that all small businesses should be aware of. They offer this service on a subscription basis so once you have become a member you can access all that they have developed. I believe that there are over 200+ tools not to mention how to guides and consultation from an analyst.

Any small business would do well to have Demand Metric as a part of their marketing tool belt.

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