Dr. Timothy Stearns, executive director of the Lyles Center at CSU, Fresno, offered an introductory address at the City of Fresno’s Small Business Development Day, held Thursday and the convention center. He noted that a majority of new jobs are generated from small businesses.

More than 300 participants signed up for the free workshops, which were divided into five categories:

• How to do Business with the Government
• New Business Enterprise/How to Start a Business
• Management/Marketing
• Business Finance/Incentives
• Specialty Trades

Marketing Think Tank was asked to help promote the event, and to help identify potential speakers, so I volunteered to lead the session on Web-Based Marketing. Despite being one of the last presentations of the day, I spoke to a crowd of about 35 people—I later learned that this was a strategic move on the part of the planning committee, as they knew the topic would keep attendees on site after lunch.

Just before my presentation started, I walked down the aisle that divided the room to hand out my notes. Surprised by their brevity, one woman turned to the person next to her and questioned the content. “Only one page?!”

I could sense her apprehension, so I quickly responded: “I’m trying to be eco-friendly.” It was only one page, but I printed front and back. I explained that I am a minimalist when it comes to PowerPoint.

Hopefully, I offered something of value. My approach was to provide an introduction to the basics of web-based marketing, as they relate to small businesses with (assumed) limited resources. I took a few tangents, but I tried to focus on a few key points:

Know your audience

If you don’t know who they are, how will you know when you’ve successfully reached them?

The web is different

It doesn’t replace print, and I don’t think it ever will, but it does require that we communicate differently; namely, we have to get to the point quickly, break our message up into lists, and recognize that, online, people don’t read from top left to bottom right.

The web isn’t free

It may be less expensive than “traditional” media, but the costs associated with web communication and marketing depend on the specific needs of a business or organization. And while there are many inexpensive options when it comes to website development (a friend’s cousin, for example), I recommend that business owners not assume they know what they need (I’m a consultant, so I have to say that, right?).

I’m not sure how useful they are without the full context of my notes, but the handouts are available for download, and embedded below. If you’d like my full notes (I write a full script for presentations like this), please send me a personal note.