Small Business Marketing Library: Resources for Do-It-Yourself Marketing

Some links in the Small Business Marketing Library you'll find throughout my site. Some you'll only find on this page. I wanted to pull everything together into one, helpful location. Be sure to browse my site though, as there's a wealth of information about various marketing topics.

Marketing and Business-related Books

Marketing Kit for Dummies
A wonderful book that covers all aspects of marketing. What makes it so great is the CD of templates that comes with it.

Advertising Media Planning
This book covers everything you would ever want to know about buying media.

The Portable MBA in Marketing
I haven't actually read this book, but I've heard good things about it from several marketing colleagues. It's on my personal "to read" list.

Service Sellers Masters Course
Are you a training consultant? Graphic designer? This free course shows you how to promote your services online to attract clients locally or from around the world.

Design Templates

Microsoft Office Online Templates
Xerox Business Resource Center
HP In-House Marketing

Online Print Resources

My Print Shop Online
Business Birthday, Greeting and Thank You Cards
Print-It-Yourself Specialty Papers

Marketing Plan Software

Marketing Plan Pro
I've looked at a lot of marketing plan software. This was the only one that impressed me enough to include it in my Small Business Marketing Library. It's a bit pricier than most resources I recommend, but I think it's worth the investment. Your marketing plan is the foundation for all of your marketing efforts. If you choose not to use the sample marketing plan on this site to develop your own, and you are looking for software, I'd recommend paying the extra to get a good program.

Clipart and Photos

Clipart.com
I've used this site for many, many years. It's well worth the subscription price if you will be creating in-house newsletters, fliers, etc. At this site, you don't pay per graphic or per photo. When you subscribe, you have access to the entire library of images for the year.

iStockphoto
This is one of my favorite resource for stock photos. On most stock photography sites, you will pay hundreds of dollars to buy a photo for your marketing materials. Not at iStockphoto. Here a variety of photographers sell their photos. The result is a wide selection (growing each day) of quality, royalty-free photos at a very reasonable price.

Dreamstime Photos
A graphic designer made me aware of this site. They have a great selection of affordable, royalty-free stock photos. Also, since they're a bit less well known, you can usually find photos not already being used by your competitors.

Build a Web Site

Sitesell Site Build It!
This Small Business Marketing Library page is brought to you through Site Build It! For an unbelievably low price, they help you get a web site up and running, submit to search engines, improve your site ranking and so much more. This includes site hosting too. There are plenty of tutorials on all of this. A novice can use their templates and block building method that walk you through creating your site. There's flexibility too, for the more experienced web designer. You can put a site out on the web for less, but it does little good without traffic. Site Build It! also shows you ways to generate traffic to your site. Find out how this web solution can benefit your company at SBI for Local Business.

Email or Ezine Marketing

MailOut Manager
MailOut Manager is included with the Site Build It! program listed above. It includes a sign up form for your site, subscription list tools and a blockbuilding system to create your Ezine (without HTML knowledge).

Vertical Response
Constant Contact
For a stand-alone email solution, these are two reputable companies. I haven't used either of them, because I used an email marketing company specific to my industry. I'm aware of these companies, due to colleagues who have used them with good results.

Jingles or Musical Branding

Jingle Brokers
When you need musical branding, more commonly known as a jingle, this company offers a professionally done product at a reasonable price. They are very responsive and once created a jingle for one of my clients in less than a week. Make sure to visit my jingles page.

Writing Resources

Purdue Online Writing Lab
Online Dictionary and Thesaurus

Business Writing Tips
This is my own page of business writing tips on this web site.

The Gregg Reference Manual
This manual of style, grammar, usage and formatting is called the business writer's survival manual. It isn't cheap, but it's an investment you can use for a lifetime. I've had my copy for many years, and use it regularly.

The Elements of Style
I picked this book up in college, and I still use it. It's small and inexpensive, but packed with helpful information for any writer. In very few pages, it covers basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage and writing style.

Netwriting Masters Course
This free course, part of the SiteSell family of products, teaches you how to write better and smarter for the web. It's the only course I've found that shows you how to PREsell and SELL for greater results.

Make Your Words Sell
If your small business is selling on the web (or wants to), you must read this book. After reading it, I realized I knew much less about online marketing and writing than I thought. You'll learn the most powerful and persuasive ways to write for your web site or other online content. With increased sales, you'll quickly recoup the cost.

Research Resources

Claritas You Are Where You Live
US Census
In my most recent position, I used the Claritas and US Census sites for research. For example, when marketing for a particular branch, I entered the zip code of that branch on these sites. I found average household income, home price, age and lifestyle characteristic of people living in that area. In turn, this greatly helped me to decide what and how I needed to market to that area.

Miscellaneous Marketing Resources

SCORE
Small Business Administration and Marketing


Keep in mind, that the resources I put in this Small Business Marketing Library may not always be the very cheapest. When using and suggesting resources, I look for four things:

• Affordability for a limited budget
• Ways to make your marketing tasks easier
• Sources that help you present a professional image
• Reliable customer service (if a vendor is involved)

Check back often. As I find new resources, and try them out, I'll share them through the Small Business Marketing Library.