Advertising and Marketing

Establish a budget for your marketing mix Typical expenses for a marketing mix include market research, marketing communications, advertising, publicity, events, promotions and marketing services consulting. According to the SBA, established businesses may get by with a marketing and advertising budget of 2 percent of gross sales, but as a start-up, you may need to devote 10 percent or even more of your expected gross sales to marketing and advertising.

I recommend:  Check out a case study demonstrating how one small business set a budget for its marketing mix at SCORE. For more advice on budgeting for marketing services, see "How to Create a Marketing Budget."

Research your market and marketing mix A first step is to identify your customers - who they are, what their needs are, where they shop, and what they spend. Marketing firms are experts at gathering this data. Professional marketing services will tell you that there are two types of market research: primary and secondary. Primary is research you conduct yourself via focus groups, Internet surveys, consumer polls, and more, often assisted by marketing companies. Secondary is research you buy from marketing firms or that you find in newspaper and magazine articles. When you learn who your customer is, then you can build a marketing mix to reach them.

I recommend:  Check out free market research resources at ResearchInfo.com or purchase secondary market research reports from MarketResearch.com, collected from many marketing firms. For help with primary research, look up marketing services resources at Quirk's Marketing Research Review and visit the forum for advice from business marketing companies on conducting research. Dig into targeted marketing services on Business.com, such as direct mail, business-to-business marketing and channel marketing.

Choose your marketing mix Newspaper advertising? Postcard mailings? E-newsletters? Promotional products? Word-of-mouth? Decide on your mix of marketing and advertising that makes the most sense. If you suffer from analysis paralysis, consider professional marketing services to get you on the right path.

I recommend:  Kick start your marketing and advertising brainstorming with "100+ Marketing Ideas" from the SBA. Find ideas for guerilla marketing techniques from expert Jay Conrad Levinson and check out "7 Low-cost Marketing Ideas" from AllBusiness.com.

Put a marketing and advertising plan on paper Writing a marketing and advertising plan is key to creating a campaign that meets your goals and stays within budget. Your business marketing plan should include basic information about your business products and services, positioning, your target market, your overall business marketing strategy and your market research. In addition, your plan needs to detail the ways you'll promote your business and how you'll measure the return on investment in marketing and advertising and on your marketing services.

I recommend:  Discover what goes into a marketing and advertising plan at the SBA Web site, then find sample business marketing plans, a marketing plan outline, a glossary of terms, a marketing calculator and more at Mplans.com. If you like the idea of a software program that will guide you through writing your plan, try popular business marketing plan software such as Marketing Plan Pro. Find more business marketing software at Business.com.

Get professional help from marketing firms Marketing companies will guide you through the entire process of defining your business marketing strategy, establishing an effective marketing mix and selecting the right marketing services for your budget.

I recommend:  Find marketing firms, industry specific marketing firms and marketing companies specializing in corporate branding at Business.com