Marketing Your Own Business or Nonprofit

Over the last several years, I have given several seminars and webinars for small business owners and nonprofit organizations who wish to do their own marketing.  Typically, these people do not have any budget to hire a marketing person, much less an outside marketing agency, so the burden falls on their shoulders. 

Business owners and nonprofit boards are usually very good at their craft, trade or service, but know very little about what it takes to advertise and cultivate leads. Over the years of teaching marketing seminars, I have developed a simple formula that almost anyone can follow to successfully market themselves and their organization. 

Simple...but not easy. 

Like anything else in the business world, marketing is not an easy concept...but for those willing to dedicate the time necessary to succeed, my simple formula for success will reward you with a steady stream of customers, clients, donors and volunteers.

My formula for marketing success starts with your website. Your website does not need to be fancy or elaborate. It simply needs to be functional...and most importantly, it must present you and your organization as the authority in your industry. Your website should be the cornerstone of your entire marketing strategy. Everything else you do to market your business or nonprofit should lead visitors back to your website. 

After you have your website in place and have told Google about it, the next steps for most businesses and nonprofits should be an email marketing strategy and one social media channel. Stay tuned for followup articles where I will give you all the tools you need to market yourself, your business or your nonprofit organization.