Small Business Thursday

Come here each week to learn about great resources and tips for bolstering your small business success. Local people and issues will be occasional features, but most of the content will be useful no matter where you hang your entrepreneurial hat.

Fulcrum Communications (my firm – I’m jettisoning that name having grown tired being asked if fulcrum is my father’s name) was founded in 1989 to leverage creative and cost-effective marketing solutions for small business and not-for-profits. This was long before providing marketing support to small business owners became vogue. In fact, marketing was kind of a strange term most didn’t understand at the time. Small businesses were mostly considered inconsequential economic drivers as “mom & pop” ventures.

Those prior underdogs {then being screened by the ad agency receptionist told to verify a $50K budget before they’d be forwarded to a sales rep – are you kidding me????} are now respected leaders.

The small business scene has changed a lot over the decades. That’s great news for entrepreneurs and consumers. There are many free or low cost support systems now available to small business owners willing to do a little research (and homework). I’ll highlight some of those here.

My primary (business) focus is turning toward writing now (speeches, brochures, ghost written articles/books, newsletters, website content, promotional letters, 3-D campaign, etc.), but the marketing background helps tons with strategic design. Marketing done right isn’t manipulative – it’s fun for all involved, including clients, prospects and business owners. That perspective will help you find better resources and solutions highlighted here.

Over time, I’ll create reference page documents with hyperlinks segregated by topic as part of this Thursday feature, allowing you to cruise to whatever interests you most given the cycle of your business.

As a Roanoke resident, a Virginia business owner or a small business owner in another state (or country), you should find most material shared relevant to your issues. Since this is the Roanoke Revealed website, though, I’ll be devoting about 20% of post material to matters of local importance. Sign up below if you want to join me in the discovery process that’s all part of moving a business to a new locale.