Events/Workshops

Market research isn’t just for startups; it’s an important ongoing process for every small business. Developing a focused and effective marketing plan requires up-to-date market analysis. Discover the variety of market research tools that will give you critical information about your industry and customers. Get the data you need to test the feasibility of a new business, find the competition and potential customers interested in your proposed product or service.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

Non-Profit organizations must continually look for new funding sources and ways to support their services and mission. Fundraising is a needed skill for many non-profits as support from traditional sources shrinks and organizations search for new sources of support. This seminar reviews the primary elements of fundraising, compares the types of fundraising to an organization’s needs, and provides best practices. Participants evaluate their organization’s needs and determine where fundraising events can supplement their operations and which fundraising events they should focus on. We will also review types of fundraising and how to incorporate these events into a fundraising plan.

Speaker: Amanda Pearce

Gain a workable knowledge of how to use business reports to budget and to project cash flow needs. Discover the three most important financial reports and how to use them to make the best-informed business decisions and how these decisions affect your business operations. If you’re a new business owner or need a refresher on the basics of cash flow and budgeting this seminar is designed for you.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

Non-Profit Executives and Board Members need to understand the many potential roles board members can play in development/fundraising and how to identify strength/weaknesses of current and potential board members around fundraising and development priorities. We will also discuss strategies to generate actions from your board members that will support and enhance fundraising and program efforts. Identifying key steps to moving your board forward and creating a culture of support for development efforts are critical to success and growth in your community improvement initiatives. As most non-profit directors are faced with the challenge of engaging board members to assist with development efforts, they are often met with resistance and frustration. As with all fundraising, engaging in conversations and learning about those you work with is key. Learn some of the pitfalls to avoid in beginning to ask for your board’s help in development as well as the steps you can take to have more participation from your board members in all aspects of development work. Join us for this 3 hour workshop to discuss board relations, board education, and how to begin to build the foundations for a working board that will help your non-profit grow for good.

Speaker: Amanda Pearce

Gain a workable knowledge of how to properly record financial transactions for your small business. Discover the three most important financial reports and how to use them to make the best-informed business decisions. If you’re a new business owner or need a refresher on the basics of accounting, this seminar is designed for you.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

Having a social media presence for your business is crucial in customer relationship building. It allows your potential and current customers to learn your brand and make a personal connection before their purchase. Learn about various strategies that can be used to increase your social media presence. Learn how to make engaging images, complete a competitor analysis, scheduling posts, and cross posting on multiple platforms

Speaker: Amanda Pearce

Marketing for the 21st Century small business is more dynamic and challenging than ever. Discover how to most effectively and efficiently use the many marketing tools available. Gain insights to understand and reach your customer, analyze your industry and business environment and differentiate between branding, advertising, and grassroots marketing techniques. Explore the components of an effective marketing plan in this comprehensive seminar.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

Small business tax reporting can be intimidating at worst and confusing at best. Join us as an accountant explains the basics about trust taxes and income taxes as they relate to your business. Topics include: sales tax compliance, understanding the basics of payroll taxes, and how income from various types of business entities is taxed.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

Did you know that LinkedIn has surpassed Facebook as the preferred place for providing small business content? With over 467 million users, you can't afford to ignore this powerful eCommerce tool. In this seminar, you will learn how to create a compelling "Online Presence" that will attract customers to you. We will discuss how to position yourself as an expert and how to increase your visibility on LinkedIn. You will learn the five most important things to do on LinkedIn so that you can be found. -Create a LinkedIn profile that stands out and positions you as an expert. -How to get 500 connections and expand your network. -How to stay in-front of your audience and position yourself as an expert with status updates. -Harnessing LinkedIn groups to grow your visibility and establish your expertise. -Build your personal plan to quickly get results with LinkedIn in only 15 minutes, 2 days a week. LinkedIn can be a tremendously powerful tool to grow your small business and finally get noticed.

Speaker: Nick Hawks

Looking for a free, powerful tool to quickly attract clients, market your small business, and grow your brand? In this free seminar you will learn everything you need to know about harnessing the power of Pinterest. This course shows you everything you need to get results from Pinterest (without spending TONS of time on it). Pinterest is an easy, visual way to get your product in front of your audience and drive traffic to your website or with the new “Buy It” pin you can sell directly from Pinterest. By the end of this course, you’ll be ready to create a compelling, dynamic Pinterest business presence that will drive sales, spark conversation, and attract loyal customers. What You will Learn: 1. Understand what Pinterest is and how people use it 2. Create a plan to effectively and strategically use Pinterest for your business marketing 3. Increase website traffic and sales by optimizing your content for Pinterest

Speaker: Nick Hawks

This course is about the craft of creating a plan for your business. The business plan is the essential document used to raise money for a business and communicate your business vision and strategy to your management team, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. This ten-part course walks you through the details and tactics of creating a comprehensive plan while helping you avoid the critical planning mistakes that plague most business plans. As an added bonus, this course comes with Activeplans Business Planning Software which helps you create a plan narrative and financial projections through a simple step-by-step approach--a $40.00 value by itself!

Speaker: SmallBizU

This course provides the advice and strategies of the some of the leading entrepreneurs concerning what it really takes to start a new venture. Starting A New Business moves you through the important tasks of building a strong foundation for a business to the more tactical aspects concerning marketing, managing, and money. This course will also show you how to protect your ideas, how to hire employees, how to find out what licenses and regulations may apply, as well as, provide more than 50 resources of free information that are available to you in making your new business a reality. Topics covered by this course include: Defining the mission, vision, and goals Understanding the management trinity Determining feasibility and risk Marketing products and services Managing and operating the business Handling the money and the finances Hiring and managing employees Getting licenses and permits Protecting your ideas Growing by adaptation and experimentation Course Objectives To assist in the development of a mission, vision and set of goals for starting a new venture. To present the necessary tasks you must accomplish and what aspects of risk you need to consider. To understand the management trinity: money, marketing, and management. To present the legal aspects of obtaining licenses and permits and how to hire employees. To show how to protect your business ideas. To demonstrate how successful entrepreneurs grow their businesses by adaptation and experimentation. Course is approximately 3.0 hours to 3.5 hours in length and provides over 192 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Every new venture has to work the complex decision of what legal structure to choose for the business. This course breaks down this decision into its essential characteristics simplifying the decision -making process. An in-depth discussion is presented about the pros and cons of such structures as the sole proprietorship, partnership, "c" or "s" corporation, and the limited liability company (LLC). As part of this course, a legal structure wizard ranks the best structure to choose for your business based on a series of questions that account for risk, complexity, types of ownership, and so forth. Once you have selected the best structure, the course then presents each of the forms that are necessary to file and set up your business from a legal requirements perspective. A final section of the course deals with employees and the legal implications surrounding this important responsibility. Each of the forms needed to successfully hire and manage employees is presented. Topics covered by this course include: What is a legal structure? The different types of legal structures The sole proprietorship The general partnership The "c" corporation The "s" corporation The limited liability company (LLC) Selecting your legal structure The forms that you will need Employee issues and requirements Course Objectives To help you understand the different legal structures that are available when starting a business. To help you understand the advantages and disadvantages between the different legal structures. To help you choose what legal structure is most appropriate for your business. To provide you with the forms that you need for the formation of your selected structure. To inform you about employee issues and provide you with the forms that every employer needs. Course is approximately 2 hours to 2.5 hours in length and provides over 129 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Buying A Business is a comprehensive course on how to buy the right business at the right price. Developed by entrepreneurs who buy businesses for a living, this course offers advice and wisdom in such areas as: the key questions to ask of any seller, the due diligence process, valuing a business and determining the offer, negotiation steps and tactics, and sample legal agreements. Topics covered by this course include: The pros and cons Finding businesses for sale The key questions to ask Valuing the business Negotiating the offer Structuring the transaction Financing the purchase Performing due diligence Creating a business plan Post purchase priorities Course Objectives To help you understand the pros and cons of buying a business. To review the key questions you need to ask when buying any business. To demonstrate the best ways to negotiate the sale of a business to get the best price To checklist those items you need to collect when performing your research and due diligence. To present the factors involved in structuring the deal and obtaining financing. Course is approximately 3.5 hours to 4.5 hours in length and provides over 221 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Pricing is the moment of truth--all of marketing comes to focus in the pricing decision. And yet, pricing is one of the least understood of all the activities in marketing. Evidence of the eclectic approach taken by entrepreneurs can be found in an Inc.com executive survey which polled CEOs from across the county. More than half of the respondents said they incorporated the cost/plus method for pricing, while 40 percent said they simply matched what their competitors charged, and 9 percent admitted they "guesstimated." The difference between successful and unsuccessful pricing strategies lies in how they approach the process. The entrepreneurs who squeeze the maximum profits out of their businesses are the ones who make pricing an integral part of strategy, not merely an after-thought. Strategic pricers do not ask, "What prices do we need to cover our costs and earn a profit?" Instead, they ask, "What costs can we afford given the prices achievable in the market, and still earn a profit?" You should not ask, "What price is the customer willing to pay?" rather, "What is our product worth to this customer and how can we better communicate that value, thus justifying the price?" From the fundamentals of pricing to advanced discussions on psychological theories focused on pricing formulation, this course is essential to anyone responsible for making the price decision. Topics covered by this course include: What is value? Costs Customers Competition Generic pricing strategies Segmented pricing The marketing mix Pricing psychology Life cycle pricing Specific pricing tactics Course Objectives To explain what value is and why its better to set prices on value rather than cost. To discuss the 3Cs that influence price: Costs, Customers, and Competition. To present the generic pricing strategies and techniques for segmented and lifecycle pricing. To study the effects of pricing psychology and the elements of your marketing mix. To present specific industry pricing tactics from the best entrepreneurs. Course is approximately 4.0 hours to 4.5 hours in length and provides over 232 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Market research is the systematic process entrepreneurs use to gain insight into market problems and opportunities. The term market includes not only customers, but all players who are responsible for bringing certain products and services to market including suppliers, competitors, producers, wholesale distributors, retailers, logistics, and so on. To conserve time and money, successful entrepreneurs minimize the resources they devote to researching their ideas. Unlike the corporate world, the entrepreneur only does as much research and analysis to justify the next action or investment. This course presents scores of best practice concerning how entrepreneurial research is actually implemented. Answers to questions about market segments, consumer and business markets, market size, and sales forecasts are all addressed through step-by-step processes. Any entrepreneur should want to know as much as possible about any market they participate in. This course provides the guidance and resources necessary to develop just such a working knowledge. Topics covered by this course include: The market research process The market environment Researching your industry Market segmentation and targeting Researching consumers Researching business customers Estimating market size Creating a sales forecast Customer survey techniques Consumption chain analysis Course Objectives To provide the process steps of conducting market research and the how the process differs for a small entrepreneurial venture as compared to a large corporation. To provide the tools used to explore the external market environment, segment customers into target markets, and define the consumption chain for a customer segment. To provide the secondary market data available for researching your industry, customers, industry size, and sales potential. To provide the primary market research techniques used to answer specific marketing questions. Course is approximately 3.0 hours to 3.5 hours in length and provides over 161 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

A comprehensive ten-part course on the tactics of how money is really raised for small business formation. The course examines the sources of available capital and an overview concerning the difference between debt and equity. The course walks you through the maze of financial terms and tactics necessary to successfully identify and secure money for a new business venture.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Take command of a bookstore and coffee bar and see how money moves in and out of a business learning the fundamentals of accounting at the same time. This course provides an in-depth look at each of the primary accounting transactions used in a business demonstrating how "the language of business" works. Without using any accounting jargon to begin with, the course demonstrates how to keep score in a business through a simple scorecard approach. When you are finished, you are shown that each of your scorecards represents one of the three primary financial statements used in managing a business. Topics covered by this course include: The language of business Keeping score in a business Money coming in Money going out Money owed to you Money you owe Handling cash and large costs The balance sheet The income statement The cash flow statement Course Objectives To discuss the three fundamental "scorecards" for keeping track of money in a business and to show you how each operates. To present the basic transactions that any business encounters including: money coming in, money going out, money owed to you, and money you owe. To present ways to manage cash and its flow through your business, as well as, dealing with large costs. To show you how to create and understand the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statements. Course is approximately 3.0 hours to 3.5 hours in length and provides over 149 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Financial projections are a collection of statements that present a numerical model of your business. Any good business plan must pass two separate tests: the story test and the number test. The story test asks, "Does the story make sense?" The number test asks, "Does the story add up?" A well-prepared set of financial projections helps to address that indeed the story does add up, but it also does much more than that. The projections reveal the entrepreneur’s basic assumptions which are usually synthesized together in their mind only. It doesn't matter whether you're applying for your first bank loan or your fifth, or whether you're seeking venture capital or debt financing. Sooner or later, you'll have to prepare a set of financial projections. Lenders will look for a strong likelihood of repayment using your projections. Investors will calculate what they think is the value of your company based upon these numbers. Constructing a set of projections allows you to play with your business model in a safe environment. Playing on paper is a valuable form of prototyping that can raise many questions before you make a decision. Under most conditions, fast learners are going to outperform even the most brilliant planners. The key is not to think of your numbers as a "plan" set in stone, but as a learning environment where you can test out different scenarios and decisions. Topics covered by this course include: What are financial projections? Your assumptions Budgeting your fixed expenses Determining your variable costs Calculating your breakeven point Creating a sales forecast The income statement The cash flow statement The balance sheet The dos and the don'ts Course Objectives To understand what financial projections are and to describe what comprises a good set of projections. To discuss the need for assumptions and the different kinds of assumptions you need to address. To create a projected fixed and variable expense budget. To learn how to create a projected income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and break-even point analysis. To learn what the dos and don’ts are for creating such financial projections. Course is approximately 3.0 hours to 3.5 hours in length and provides over 149 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Creating A Loan Package details the exact set of steps necessary in preparing a comprehensive loan package request. Each of the forms and requirements are explained and included. From initial readiness tests to help with advanced topics such as U.S. Small Business Administration loans, this course lays it on the line concerning what a lender is really looking for and how they evaluate loan requests. Simply understanding the way a lender thinks can more than double your effectiveness in raising money for your business. Topics covered by this course include: What is a loan package? Are you ready for a loan? How much should you ask for? Offering collateral and security Obtaining your credit report The personal financial statement Creating a business plan The financial projections SBA guarantees and applications Bringing the loan request together Course Objectives To help you understand the role a loan package plays in the lending process. To help up you self-assess your readiness to obtain a commercial loan. To teach you how much you should ask for when preparing your loan request. To help you understand what personal and business documents need to go into a loan package and how to properly complete them. To demonstrate how lenders evaluate loan packages so your request will best meet the criteria.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Finding and Attracting an Investor examines the peculiar nature of investment capital. The course presents practical tactics on how to identify and secure different types of capital including seed capital, angel capital, and venture capital. The process used by different kinds of investors is presented and the tools for completing the fund-raising process are presented. Special focus is given to the federal and state laws that govern the capital and securities process. Topics covered by this course include: What is an investor? The investment process Obtaining seed capital Obtaining angel capital Obtaining venture capital Creating a business plan Legal considerations and concerns Criteria for a new company Investor presentations and pitches Where to find investors Course Objectives To define what an investor is and how they operate. To examine the different kinds of investors and what they look for in a deal. To provide a detailed look at what the investment process usually entails. To coach you on presenting your company to prospective investors. To help in the process of finding and locating investors. Course is approximately 2.0 hours to 2.5 hours in length and provides over 138 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

This course describes the fundamentals of the most important aspect of any business: marketing. Learn the concepts taught in college-level courses in just a few hours including the "5Ps"--Product, Promotion, Price, Place, and Positioning. At the end of this course, you will be able to create a comprehensive marketing plan for business that encompasses a creative plan, a positioning plan, and a media marketing calendar--the essentials of any good marketing strategy. Topics covered by this course include: What is marketing? Conducting market research Analyzing the market environment Selecting your target markets Market positioning Designing products & services Pricing products & services Placing products & services Promoting products & services Creating a marketing plan Course Objectives To help you understand what marketing is. To help you learn how to conduct market research. To help you understand how to analyze your market environment and determine your target market. To help you determine how to position your product. To educate you on the 4 P’s (product, price, place & promotion) and how to apply them to marketing. To show you the basics on how to create a marketing plan. Course is approximately 2.5 hours to 3 hours in length and provides over 152 animated slides complete with voiceover

Speaker: SmallBizU

This course presents the fundamental devices used in crafting a strategy for a business venture. The course puts forth the innovative mechanisms of internal and external strategy which are based on the findings of a new body of research into the strategy-making processes of successful growing ventures. In addition to showing you how to craft a mission, visions, goals, and strategy for your business, this course also shows you how to best present and execute your strategy through strategic stories, the act of organizing genius, and tipping point leadership tactics. As an added bonus, this course comes with Activeplans Strategic Planning Software which helps you create a strategic plan through a simple step-by-step approach--a $40.00 value by itself! Topics covered by this course include: What is strategic planning? Knowing your purpose and mission Defining a vision Forming goals and objectives The two kinds of strategy Crafting internal strategy Crafting external strategy Presenting strategy as story The secrets of organizing genius Tipping point execution Course Objectives To present the strategic devices of mission, vision, goals, and strategy and demonstrate exactly how they are created. To show that the way a strategy is presented is different from the way it is crafted. To reveal the secrets of how great entrepreneurs execute strategy through the formation and organization of a great group. To provide a case that details the four tipping points of successfully implementing your strategy within an organization. Course is approximately 3.5 hours to 4.0 hours in length and provides over 183 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

This course describes the available entrepreneurial strategies and how they are applied in the marketplace. For anyone starting or growing a business venture, the knowledge and skills underlying the entrepreneurial strategies are an essential part of any entrepreneur's toolkit. Besides presenting the available strategies and their application, this course presents the sources of innovation and an overview of how decisions are made and how those decisions change over the course of a venture's life-cycle. Most wars are won or lost before they are ever fought. Understanding and applying the entrepreneurial strategies fueled by the sources of innovation is what separates the victors from the defeated. Topics covered by this course include: *What is entrepreneurial strategy? *Being first with the most *Hitting them where they ain’t *Occupying a specialized niche *Changing the economic characteristics *Sources of innovation *What makes an entrepreneur *How entrepreneurs craft strategy *Strategic entrepreneurial decisions *Social entrepreneurship and innovation Course is approximately 3.0 hours to 3.5 hours in length and provides over 160 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

An overview of the essential processes of managing employees. Includes best practice on the hiring process, employee forms you must file, wage and hour regulations, taxation and privacy issues, health and safety standards, benefit and retirement plans, discrimination and termination processes, and more. Topics covered by this course include: The hiring process Employee forms to file Wage and hour regulations Age laws and requirements Taxation issues Privacy issues Health and safety standards Benefits and retirement plans Discrimination and termination Required posters and other standards Course Objectives To help you understand the process of hiring and managing employees. To raise awareness on regulations involving wage minimums, age laws, health and safety issues, and other workplace standards. To guide you through the initial hiring and tax forms you will need to file when you have employees. To make sure you meet federal and state requirements regarding employees. Course is approximately 3.0 hours to 3.5 hours in length and provides over 155 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Positioning starts with a product. A piece of merchandise, a service, a company, or even a person. But positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the customer. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect. Strategy is therefore planned in the mind, not the marketplace. Marketing then becomes a battle of perceptions not products. All successful positioning strategies must start with the mind of the consumer and then work backward. This is true because the answer is not contained within the product or service itself. No amount of creative thinking or analysis will result in the insights needed to successfully position your company, product, or service. The answer rests instead in the mind of your customer. You must begin with what’s already there and then work backwards--outside-in--to create your strategy. There are only a few generic positioning strategies you can employ: Getting into the mind first--finding the niche, positioning yourself to the leader, or repositioning the competition. This course describes each of the three strategies and tactics used to bring them to life. Topics covered by this course include: What is positioning? The assault on the mind The ladders in your head Getting into the mind Owning a word in the mind The positioning of a leader The positioning of a follower Repositioning the competition The line extension trap A positioning case study Course Objectives To define what positioning is and how it works as a communications tool in marketing. To put forth and describe the available positioning strategies including the positioning of a leader, the positioning of a follower, and the tactics for repositioning the competition. To present the easiest way of getting into the prospect’s mind. To help you prevent the most common positioning mistakes including the line extension trap. Course is approximately 2.0 hours to 2.5 hours in length and provides over 108 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

This course presents a media-by-media discussion of the tips and tricks used by marketing professionals when advertising a product or service. Learn how to set an advertising budget, learn why it's better to run two smaller ads than one larger one, learn how to correctly position your product and how to best design an effective marketing message, and learn what you need to know about selecting media for an ad campaign. This course also presents an overview of public relations tactics and internet marketing practices. At its conclusion, this course details specific measures how to assess the success of your results. Topics covered by this course include: What is advertising? The audience, objectives, and platform Determining the advertising budget The positioning and message Using print media Using radio and television Direct marketing options Promoting internet websites Public relations and publicity Evaluating your advertising plan Course Objectives To explore the nature and types of advertising. To become aware of the major steps involved in developing an advertising campaign. To create a positioning strategy and promotional message. To help select the best marketing media for a campaign. To explain the public relations process and how it’s used in promoting a business. To help in evaluating and measuring your advertising results. Course is approximately 2.5 hours to 3.0 hours in length and provides over 166 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Understanding Intellectual Property defines exactly what a copyright, trademark, and patent are and what kinds of protection they might afford your business. The process of establishing such protection is presented for each kind of property. Also discussed are international intellectual property protection issues, as well as, important legal documents such as non-disclosure agreements. A primer concludes this course which details the prior details to prepare before meeting with intellectual property attorney. Topics covered by this course include: Intro to intellectual property What is a trademark? What is a patent? What is a copyright? Understanding trade secrets Federal, state, and employees issues Internet intellectual property International intellectual property Creating & realizing the value of intellectual property Understanding confidentiality agreements Course is approximately 2.5 hours to 3 hours in length and provides over 129 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Este curso se basa en el arte de crear un plan para su negocio. El plan de negocio es un documento esencial utilizado para recaudar fondos. También comunica su misión y visión estratégica al equipo administrativo, proveedores, consumidores, y acreedores. Los 10 temas de este curso le enseña detalles y tácticas en la creación de un plan comprensivo mientras que le ayuda a evadir errores críticos de planificación que plagan la mayoría de planes de negocio. Como valor agregado, este curso incluye Activeplans, un software que le permite crear la parte narrativa y proyecciones financieras de su plan mediante la utilización de un enfoque simple que detalla paso a paso el proceso. Este software por si solo tiene un valor de $40.00. Los temas que se tratan en este curso son: Que es un plan de negocio? Diez preguntas que debe responder Determinando sus posibles lectores Elaborando su misión y visión Definiendo metas y objetivos La estructura de su plan de negocio Aspectos de la industria y sus consideraciones Fuentes de información e investigación Consolidando su plan de negocio Los errores más comunes al elaborar el plan de negocio Course Objectives Ayudarle a entender lo que es exactamente un plan de negocios. Ayudarle a decidir si necesita un plan de negocio formal y escrito, además como crearlo para persuadir a diferentes audiencias. Darle a entender las preguntas que un plan de negocio debe responder. Ilustrarlo en cuanto al contenido y estructura de un plan correctamente desarrollado. Ayudarlo a evitar los errores comunes que se encuentran en la mayoría de planes de negocio. El curso dura aproximadamente de 2 a 2.5 horas y provee más de 135 diapositivas animadas y narradas completamente.

Speaker: SmallBizU

Positioning starts with a product. A piece of merchandise, a service, a company, or even a person. But positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the customer. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect. Strategy is therefore planned in the mind, not the marketplace. Marketing then becomes a battle of perceptions not products. All successful positioning strategies must start with the mind of the consumer and then work backward. This is true because the answer is not contained within the product or service itself. No amount of creative thinking or analysis will result in the insights needed to successfully position your company, product, or service. The answer rests instead in the mind of your customer. You must begin with what’s already there and then work backwards--outside-in--to create your strategy. There are only a few generic positioning strategies you can employ: Getting into the mind first--finding the niche, positioning yourself to the leader, or repositioning the competition. This course describes each of the three strategies and tactics used to bring them to life. Topics covered by this course include: What is positioning? The assault on the mind The ladders in your head Getting into the mind Owning a word in the mind The positioning of a leader The positioning of a follower Repositioning the competition The line extension trap A positioning case study Course Objectives To define what positioning is and how it works as a communications tool in marketing. To put forth and describe the available positioning strategies including the positioning of a leader, the positioning of a follower, and the tactics for repositioning the competition. To present the easiest way of getting into the prospect’s mind. To help you prevent the most common positioning mistakes including the line extension trap. Course is approximately 2.0 hours to 2.5 hours in length and provides over 108 animated slides complete with voiceover narration.

Speaker: SmallBizU

HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs (HP LIFE) is a global program that offers aspiring entrepreneurs and small business-owners valuable business skills. HP LIFE offers participants a path to realizing their business dreams. The NC Small Business Center Network, in partnership with the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), is pleased to offer this innovative program to NC entrepreneurs and small business owners free of charge! This program is self-paced, making it possible for more aspiring entrepreneurs to participate. All you have to do is register to start.

Speaker: Various