Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Don Rua" <rua AT mindspring.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Best

"The problem is that I don't feel confident doing this myself.  I'm hoping
some of you here will be able to give me advice on where to turn for help
with research and with putting together the marketing content."

Michael,

    I am assuming that you want to do this marketing/research on your own,
rather than cut a check to an agency. (There are plenty of agencies willing
to help you out for a price.) So, doing this on your own, I would suggest
for starters:

-- Buy and read Guerrilla Marketing by Levinson. It's about marketing for
small biz with very little resources. It is packed with idea after idea near
the back of the book.
-- You may benefit from reading Crossing the Chasm by Moore, as it details
many of the subtleties of marketing high-tech products that technologists
should understand. Your business sounds nowhere near 'the chasm', but it
does a good job of pointing out the key blind spot for many
technologist-founders. If you are more service than product, it probably
doesn't apply quite as much.

-- Networking: For a small consulting biz, 'old school' networking should
drive much of your customers for a bit. When you are a one man show it pays
to increase how many people personally meet and feel comfortable with you.
(Chamber of Commerce, industry events locally, etc.) There is a ton of
opportunities to meet and network in the RTP area (TiE, CED INW, NCEITA,
etc), and most small businesses just need to pay the price, do the rounds.
Remember to go where your buyers are, not just where technology fans are.
Who is making the decision to buy your solution? CFO? COO? CTO? There are
different venues to reach each audience, and you'll want to get the most
value for your time.

-- You should be able to get some help with creating a marketing plan from
either the SBDC (Small Biz Dev Centers), maybe CED (but they seem to charge
for everything these days), or just make a good connection with the UNC MBA
school. For your business you should be able to move forward with a
straitforward marketing plan of 1-3 pages. The Guerrilla book can walk you
this without the outside help.

-- If you need signage, I've been happy with the FastSigns franchise,
assuming you can prepare decent print-ready digital graphics.

-- Once you develop a marketing plan, finding the right vendors and contacts
to accomplish each phase of the plan is a matter of asking for
reccommendations. There are dozens of small technology companies all around
you. If you have questions, just contact a few till you can get some
answers. Most people are very happy to help in any way they can. You'll end
up finding sources for cheap or even free help, as well as identify the
quality vendors for a specific task. There are specialists around the RTP in
marketing products/clothing (Brandfuel is my fav), logo design, print
materials, trade show booths, strategy, etc.

Know your UVP (unique value proposition) cold, in one sentence. Let everyone
that touches you, your product, your web, see or hear the UVP every time.
Know exactly who your most profitable potential customer is. It starts with
a company, but it's also a person or committee within that company. Know
where they go to make similar buying decisions. Then get your UVP to them by
networking or other marketing tactics.are ready to buy.

For a very inexpensive solution to an email customer list/newsletter, you
can use CoolerEmail, and try it for free.

There are many marketing websites, newsletters, forums, and research that
can help marketing. If you are going to continue to lead your business
yourself without a marketer, you will need to develop the marketer in
yourself. www.marketingsherpa.com is a good start, but Google can point you
to many with the right keywords.

Well, I'm probably saying more than I should without the accompanying
context, so let me know offlist if you have any specific question or need I
can help with.

Don