Course: SLF 130 Marketing Practices for the Small Business

Unit 5 Reading

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- Unit 5 Glossary (Selected)

Business Partnerships Page 2

Community Colleges, Colleges, and Universities

Educational institutions can be an inexpensive resource. Marketing professors and their students often provide ideas and suggestions by taking on a class project for a small business. Students might visit a location and offer suggestions about the retail setting or they can take a look at a website and provide comments. They may be willing to complete surveys about a proposed business or conduct a simple focus group as a part of a project.

An interested business owner can call a local school to determine which department might best help him or her.  Find out if the marketing or advertising students are in the business division or another department, such as communications.  Check out the website to see if the school has an entrepreneurship program. Many specialize in that field and actively seek out start-ups for projects. Ask a secretary or administrative assistant for a suggestion as to what professor might be the best one to contact to take on a community-based project.

The down side to this approach is that projects might take several months to complete. For that reason, a business must start the process early, at the beginning of the fall or spring semester, and not expect results for several months.

STOP AND REVIEW

SBA stands for Small Business Administration. It has at least one office in each state (generally many more per state), and also operates SBDCs (Small Business Development Centers).

SCORE is a part of the SBA. It is made up of experienced volunteers who mentor aspiring business owners.

The Census Bureau provides detailed demographic information by zip code. It can be used to determine target groups within zip codes.  Decisions about the 4 Ps, particularly pricing and promotion choices, will be affected by the demographics of a particular zip code.

A start-up business must confirm that there is a substantial target market to support a business. Many niche businesses appeal to those households with discretionary income, so income and education levels should be higher than average.

If a small business owner plans ahead, working with college or university professors and their students can be very beneficial. The owner should narrow the scope of a project that they present to the class, however. And most importantly, a business owner MUST BE open-minded and willing to receive negative and well as positive feedback!
What resources does your area community college provide businesses?

At John Wood Community College, customized training is offered as well as standard courses for OSHA, food service sanitation, and computer business applications.Contacts made through the community college can provide another source of business connections.