Marketing the small business

Finding new customers is the major challenge for Small business owners. Small businesses typically find themselves strapped for time but in order to create a continual stream of new business, they must work on marketing their business every day.

Common marketing techniques for small business include networking, word of mouth, customer referrals, yellow pages directories, television, radio, outdoor (roadside billboards), print, email marketing, and internet. Electronic media like TV can be quite expensive and is normally intended to create awareness of a product or service. Another means by which small businesses can advertise is through the use of “deal of the day” websites such as Groupon and Living Social. These Internet deals encourage new visitors to small businesses.

Example of keyword analysis based on market competition.

Many small business owners find internet marketing more affordable. Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are two popular options of getting small business products or services in front of motivated Web searchers. Successful online small business marketers are also adept at utilizing the most relevant keywords in their site content. Advertising on niche sites can also be effective, but with the long tail of the internet, it can be time intensive to advertise on enough sites to garner an effective reach.

Creating a business Web site has become increasingly affordable with many do-it-yourself programs now available for beginners. A Web site can provide significant marketing exposure for small businesses when marketed through the Internet and other channels. Some popular services are WordPress, Joomla and Squarespace.

Social media has proven to be very useful in gaining additional exposure for many small businesses. Many small business owners use Facebook and Twitter as a way to reach out to their loyal customers to give them news about specials of the day or special coupons and generate repeat business. The relational nature of social media, along with its immediacy and 24-hour presence lend intimacy to the relationship small businesses can have with their customers, while making it more efficient for them to communicate with greater numbers. Facebook ads are also a very cost-effective way for small businesses to reach a targeted audience with a very specific message.

In addition to the social networking sites, blogs have become a highly effective way for small businesses to position themselves as experts on issues that are important to their customers. This can be done with a proprietary blog and/or by using a backlink strategy wherein the marketer comments on other blogs and leaves a link to the small business' own Web site.

A solid public relations strategy that utilizes speaking engagements, press releases, feature stories, events and sponsorships can also be a very cost-effective way to build a loyal following for a small business.

[edit]Contribution to the economy

In the US, small business (less than 500 employees) accounts for around half the GDP and more than half the employment. ^[18] Regarding small business, the top job provider is those with fewer than 10employees, and those with 10 or more but fewer than 20 employees comes in as the second, and those with 20 or more but fewer than 100 employees comes in as the third (interpolation of data from the following references).^[19] The most recent data shows firms with less than 20 employees account for slightly more than 18% of the employment.^[20] According to “The Family Business Review,” “There are approximately 17 million sole-proprietorships in the US. It can be argued that a sole-proprietorship (an unincorporated business owned by a single person) is a type of family business” and “there are 22 million small businesses (less than 500 employees) in the US and approximately 14,000 big businesses.” Also, it has been found that small businesses created the most new jobs in communities, “In 1979, David Birch published the first empirical evidence that small firms (fewer than 100 employees) created the most new jobs” and Edmiston claimed that “perhaps the greatest generator of interest in entrepreneurship and small business is the widely held belief that small businesses in the United States create most new jobs. The evidence suggests that small businesses indeed create a substantial majority of net new jobs in an average year.” Local businesses provide competition to each other and also challenge corporate giants.

Of the 5,369,068 employer firms in 1995, 78.8 percent had fewer than 10 employees, and 99.7 percent had fewer than 500 employees.^[21]

[edit]Sources of funding

Small businesses in Biloela, Central Queensland, Australia, 1949

Small businesses use several sources available for start-up capital:^[22]

§ Self-financing by the owner through cash, equity loan on his or her home, and or other assets.

§ Loans from friends or relatives

§ Grants from private foundations

§ Personal savings

§ Private stock issue

§ Forming partnerships

§ Angel investors

§ Banks

§ SME finance, including Collateral based lending and Venture capital, given sufficiently sound business venture plans

Some small businesses are further financed through credit card debt—usually a poor choice, given that the interest rate on credit cards is often several times the rate that would be paid on a line of credit or bank loan. Many owners seek a bank loan in the name of their business, however banks will usually insist on a personal guarantee by the business owner. In the United States, the Small Business Administration (SBA) runs several loan programs that may help a small business secure loans. In these programs, the SBA guarantees a portion of the loan to the issuing bank and thus relieves the bank of some of the risk of extending the loan to a small business. The SBA also requires business owners to pledge personal assets and sign as a personal guarantee for the loan.

The 8(a) Business Development Program assists in the development of small businesses owned and operated by African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.^[23]

Canadian small businesses can take advantage of federally funded programs and services. See Federal financing for small businesses in Canada (grants and loans).

[edit]Business Networks and Advocacy Groups

Small businesses often join or come together to form organizations to advocate for their causes or to achieve economies of scale that larger businesses benefit from, such as the opportunity to buy cheaperhealth insurance in bulk. These organizations include local or regional groups such as Chambers of Commerce, as well as national or international industry-specific organizations. Such groups often serve a dual purpose, as business networks to provide marketing and connect members to potential sales leads and suppliers, and also as advocacy groups, bringing together many small businesses to provide a stronger voice in regional or national politics.

Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), operates in only 3 states, provide free and confidential counseling and low-cost training to small businesses.

The largest regional small business group in the United States is the Council of Smaller Enterprises, located in Greater Cleveland.^[24]

Text. Small Business in the USA: An S-Corporation is not always best

Small companies are generally believed to incorporate as S-corporations. S-corporations take their name from a Congressional addition to the income tax law known as subchapter S. The S-corporation enjoying many corporate attributes (the main is that the owners of a corporation do not expose their personal assets to corporate liability), it is treated like a partnership for purposes of determining its Federal income tax liability. At the end of each fiscal year, its total earnings (or losses) are prorated to each shareholder, and these earnings (or losses) are incorporated into their individual income tax returns.

Among the advantages of the S-corporation for small business is no "double taxation" - paying an income tax on corporate net income, and then paying an individual income tax on the dividend income subsequently distributed by the corporation.

Thus, the S-corporation "generally will not be liable for federal income tax." If losses are incurred during the start-up period (or any other period), these losses can be deducted each year from the shareholders' tax returns. All income, losses, credits, and deductions are "washed through" the S-corporation at the end of each fiscal year, and carried directly to the individual tax return for each shareholder. Being emptied out at the end of each fiscal year, the S-corporation has no retained earnings account.

For most of small businesses, the S-corporation has long been the preferred corporate structure. The operational accounting is simpler, and accounting, legal, and administrative expenses are minimized. Shareholders receive the immediate benefits of earnings without "double taxation". There are sound reasons to state that this is generally the most popular corporate structure.

However, for small businesses that are growing rapidly, the conventional C-corporation status may turn out to be more preferable. The primary motivation for such a change would be the ability to retain and reinvest earnings in the expanding business.

The maximum Federal income tax rate for C-corporation is 34 percent for taxable income up to $10.0 million, whereas the maximum tax rate on S-corporation income is now the maximum individual rate of 39.6 percent. If the business is striving to retain and reinvest all possible cash during a period of strong growth, it will obviously forgo distributing cash dividends thereby avoiding the problem of "double taxation."

II. Exercises on the Text:

3. Give English equivalents to:

корпоративные свойства; личное имущество; корпоративная ответственность, задолженность по федеральным налоговым платежам; финансовый год; общие поступления (или убытки); «двойное налогообложение»; «отмываются»; заносятся прямо в индивидуальную налоговую декларацию; операционный учет; бухгалтерские расходы; управленческие расходы; немедленная прибыль от доходов; серьезные причины; способность сохранить и инвестировать; доход, подлежащий налогообложению; оно очевидно откажется от распределения дивидендов наличными; учитывая влияние амортизационных отчислений.

4. Combine the words into sentences:

1.    like, its, a partnership, is, Federal, it, liability, for purposes, income, of determining, tax, treated.

2.    no, among, of the S-corporation, is, the advantages, «double taxation», for small business.

3.    «washed through», all income, at the end, losses, of each fiscal year, credits, and deductions, are, the S-corporation.

4.    the most popular, sound, are, to state, corporate structure, there, reasons, this, that, generally, is.

5.    34 percent, up to $10 million, income tax rate, is, the maximum, for taxable income, Federal, for C-corporation.

5. Sum up what the text says about:

the advantages of the S-corporation;

the charge to conventional C-corporation.

6. US government defines a small business as one that has fewer than 500 employees. Why do you think that most small business are in the service and retail fields?

A. Transportation/Communication - taxi service, trucking, warehousing,   radio station.

B. Finance - insurance, real estate, banking.

C. Wholesale - distributor, grain elevator.

D. Other - mining, landscaping, fishing, unclassified.

E. Service - motel, barber shop, advertising agency.

F. Manufacturing - machine shop, printing, brewing.

G. Retail - gas station, shoe store, restaurant, florist.

H. Construction - general constructor, plumbing and heating, electrical.