Question

Topic: Strategy

Marketing An "entrepreneur Center"

Posted by Anonymous on 4/25/2005 at 9:43 PM ET 1000 Points
Looking for ideas to market an "Entrepreneur Center" affiliated with the city. (Non-Profit) This center offers business seminars, free consulting, micro-loans and more. Money is very limited and program is run mostly with donations from large businesses. (City is in the US)

We have two purposes to our marketing.

1. We need to get the message out to potential users of these services (mostly minority owned business owners)

2. We need to gain community and corporate support for the program, both "moral" and financial/ in kind support.

They have – a nice looking (brief) annual report & micro loan brochures, a weak web site & access to free graphic design services. Also working with local paper who writes up some success stories.

I would love some ideas,
Thanks,
Jo
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 4/25/2005 at 10:25 PM Accepted
    For a start, get the door businesses to promote the center through their existing websites and media advertising.

    This needs to be developed as a two way street. The Entrepreneur Center should be publicizing (in house signage, collateral materials, website, Annual Report, etc) all the large companies that support it.

    Similarly, the Entrepreneur Center (EC) should have a corporate ID which the donor companies are happy to use as a form of endorsement on their collateral, ads, marketing, etc. It will give them the same feeling as those pins people buy with a charitable donation...

    You could also try to get a regular weekly spot on local radio or TV where you promote the EC and maybe assist small businesses with solving their problems. If that sounds too challenging then think about giving some of your mentors from the large companies an opportunity to be on-air with you and field the tough questions, while you turn each one into a "so come down and see what the EC has to offer companies like yours..."

    If you get support from the City, get involved with City Hall. Have the Mayor or key officers go on-air or in the newspapers to promote the work you're doing there, maybe in conjunction with some of the EC success stories. (I presume there are some success stories?)

    Get into the City Annual Report, get your collateral into the brochure racks at key City information access points and on the website. Get into the Citizens Advice Bureau website, notice boards, directory listings.

    Don't be afraid to beg, borrow or steal promotional air-time, billboard space or anything you can scrounge. You're doing the community a service, and you're turning concepts into revenue engines for the economy, you hope, so advertisers should be happy to help.

    Meet with every newspaper editor and tell them what youre doing. Ofer them an EC article or item weekly or monthly, so they can keep the public aware of the good things you're doing.

    Hold a "City Entrepreneur Day" at least annually, make it a big event with exhibitors from your incubators and investee companies, like a trade fair, speeches by the Mayor, flyby from the Blue Angels, the sky's the limit... command all the local media.

    Hey, you can make this into a huge story and have fun while you're doing it.

    Hope this helps.

    Which City is it?

    ChrisB
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/25/2005 at 10:29 PM Member
    Given the sharp difference between your two target audiences, I think you probably need to consider different approaches for each one. If you stumble into something that works for both, that's fine, but don't make it a requirement.

    For the minority-owned business owners, you will probably have to have the equivalent of a direct sales force. You'll need to seek them out, present the program to them in simple terms, make sure they understand the benefits, and leave them with some useful printed material. Then be sure to follow-up each call after a week or two, to see if there are any questions and to "ask for the order." I'm guessing that this target audience isn't reading the newspaper looking for good business-building ideas or help with their businesses.

    For the corporate support market, you can actually do the same thing, albeit with different sales people, a different presentation, and a different pitch. I would suspect that just reading about the program isn't likely to get people to call up and volunteer support. They need a face-to-face meeting. Research each prospect before making the call, and be sure to include an explicit "what's in it for me" section of the presentation.

    Hope this helps. I don't think publicity will hurt anything, but it's probably not going to do much for you in this particular case. This is one where personal "sales calls" are in order ... supported by professional looking leave-behind materials and a respectable website.

    BTW, the basic idea is terrific! I hope it makes a difference.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/26/2005 at 11:22 PM Member
    Jo, your sales people do not have to be full-time, paid employees. They can be part-time volunteers, trained by other part-time volunteers.

    The idea is that the target audiences need to be contacted face-to-face if you're going to make a real impact, and the people who contact them need to be well prepared/trained, have professional leave-behind materials, a well organized presentation, etc. Those are the things you can help provide.

    This isn't a case where people are likely to sign up based on a website visit or a direct mail piece alone. That's true of both your audiences.

  • Posted by ROIHUNTER on 4/27/2005 at 1:06 AM Member
    For the two groups I would consider the following:

    to potential users of these services - I would focus on the community influencers. I would provide them the needed information to pass along to their base.

    to gain community and corporate support - I would create a PR package that they would use to further improve their good-will with the communities and strengthen their reputations.

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