Video transcript:

Marketing:

Marketing your brand is necessary since it allows small businesses to reach new customers and drive growth by spreading the word about your business. Marketing lets businesses create a presence in their respective fields and compete with similar products or services. Free and low cost strategies include marketing through social media, word of mouth, email, your website, or print advertisement. Print advertisements could be flyers, infographics, or even business cards. There are thousands of templates and guidelines to follow online and in the Prosper resource library for various forms of advertisement. One important aspect of producing images or other material to market your business is a focus on design. If an ad is visually pleasing, people will be more likely to stop and take a second look. Visually pleasing design comes from a pleasant and aesthetic color palette and images that are incorporated nicely with the text. This should reflect the overall theme of your brand from colors to font to tone. See the leveraging social media video for more detailed information. Marketing materials might be the first introduction people have to your business, so you’ll want to make sure it keeps their attention.

Making plans:

Making a marketing and business plan are key for being able to come up with relevant strategies and unique aspects of your brand. Based on your marketing and business plans containing information about what a typical customer looks like and the key points that draw people in, you will be able to market your product based on its strengths, land strategic partnerships, apply for funding, craft an effective brand presence, and describe your business concisely and effectively to new people. The business plan will include information about the product, business strengths, team, market, competitors, marketing strategies, finances, and steps to execution. A marketing plan contains information about pricing, product distribution, and how you will keep your current customers. Thinking about these things becomes more important as you share your business with broader audiences of people. See the Prosper resource library for business and marketing plan templates that will be useful in deciding the strengths of your business and who you’re selling to.