MARKETING WITHOUT DOLLARS

About the Book

The time has come for a book entitled Marketing Without Dollars. Effective marketing relies as much on a focused MINDSET as it does upon a honed skill-set. Successful entrepreneurs, professionals and other small business owners view every business decision they make as a marketing task. This revised perspective allows them to see how every operation they perform daily is another opportunity to attract customers and bolster their bottom lines! As a marketing professional with nearly 40 years of experience helping small businesses grow, Gene Holiman has encapsulated many of his proven free or low-cost marketing strategies into this Marketing Without Dollars text. Readers will discover many ideas they can implement themselves almost at once. But most importantly, they will recognize other opportunities that many be unique to their own enterprises, to make their companies even more competitive within their existing budgets. The premise of Marketing Without Dollars is simple, yet often misunderstood. You don’t need to outspend your competitors to make a strong impact in the marketplace… you merely need to outthink them. You need to blend paid media options with other creative promotional options. In some instances, switching one avenue you’ve previously followed for another would be appropriate; you merely need to hone some other strategies you’ve already been using successfully. Marketing Without Dollars does not mean free! Every action has a cost, whether in monetary terms or in an investment of your time (the ole “sweat equity”). Marketing Without Dollars means getting the best results possible from your combination of personal effort and funds already budgeted. Marketing Without Dollars offers proven concepts you can readily adapt for your success, based upon Mr. Holiman’s marketing track record. Topics are organized into a number of logical categories to help you more easily assimilate them into your particular operation. Some category assignments are subjective, since their premises could easily have been plugged into multiple sections, but are concentrated into one for readability. Preface – How to get the most benefit from reading this text. Chapter 1 – General Principles of Marketing (Hey, you’ve got to start somewhere, right?) Chapter 2 – Strategic Positioning (Do customers view your business the same as you do?) Chapter 3 – Employee Empowerment (They really are your most important asset!) Chapter 4 – Effective On-Site and In-Store Merchandising (You’ve guided the horse to the water… now make him drink.) Chapter 5 – Public Relations (PR means getting public recognition for the good you do.) Chapter 6 – Special Events (Have parties. Hold sales. Have fun being in business – and still profit!) Chapter 7 – Social Media (Make FaceBook your friend.) Chapter 8 – Channels of Distribution (How can you best get your wares in the hands of your targeted consumers?) Chapter 9 – Miscellaneous Thoughts & Ideas Chapter 10 – Marketing Plan Template (Put all you’ve learned into a concise strategy.) Chapter 11 – Conclusion Appendix I – Sample Strengths & Weaknesses Analysis Appendix II – VII – Success Plan templates for just about every type of business situation small businesses might find themselves in as they compete – (a) Entrepreneurs, (b) New Owners of Existing Businesses, (c) Introducing New Products, (d) Start-Ups, (e) Emerging from Bankruptcy, and (f) Professional Practices. Helpful Bibliography (Two+ heads are always better than one.) Chapter 10 of Marketing Without Dollars is – without a doubt – its most important. The author has included a marketing plan template for you to use in weighing all your options together and formulating a direct “plan of attack”. The helps reduce the temptation to succumb to the temptation to pick and choose easy Marketing Without Dollars options and then implement chosen ones simply because they are the easiest, or the least expensive, or the most fun to do. As A

About the Author

Gene Holiman, the author of Marketing Without Dollars, is an experienced marketing professional who has worked with companies ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups and small professional practices, to international manufacturers introducing new products to the global marketplace. As a marketing consultant, the author focused on developing promotional strategies and/or formal marketing plans for new start-ups as well as for businesses who felt that they had reached plateaus in their growth cycles and seemed to have simply stalled. Mr. Holiman has also shared his wisdom with trade associations and other business groups via Marketing Without Dollars workshops and other seminars on specific creative off-shoots. Mr. Holiman and his wife Kathleen live in Austin, Texas.