This is the third of five articles on using seminars to market your offline consulting or professional business. The complete series can be found either on this website, or can be received by sending an email to SeminarArticles@instantpractitioner.com



If you have created a small business management course or

seminar, you are most likely anxious to get started with selling

your course or seminar. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how

fantastic your course or seminar is if no one knows about it.

For this reason, the next step in successfully launching a small

business management course or seminar is marketing. But, just

how do you go about marketing your small business management

or seminar?



Know Your Market



In general, the best place to start when promoting a new course

or seminar is within your local market. Therefore, you should

search within your community, and your surrounding communities,

to find individuals who might be interested in your small

business management course or seminar.



Obviously, people who are already involved in a small business

might need the extra insight you can provide with your expertise.

This makes your yellow pages an excellent resource for potential

students of your course or seminar. Look for small businesses

that are locally owned and target their owners as potential

students of your small business course or seminar.



But, what about those people who are thinking about starting a

small business, but are looking for a little extra guidance and

assurance before taking the leap? This is where you come in.

With your course or seminar, you can give these people the little

push they need - and you can tap into an eager market when you

offer them your course or seminar. Unfortunately, people who are

just thinking about going into business can be hard to find.



If you are not sure how to go about finding people who are

interested in your course or seminar, or if the whole process

seems overwhelming, marketing vendors are available to give you

the assistance you need. Through these marketing vendors, you

can learn strategies for discovering who is a part of your target

market, as well as how to get information about your course or

seminar into their hands.



Know Your Resources and Options



One avenue for marketing your small business management course or

seminar is through your community college. If you have a

community college in or near your community, contact their office

of Continuing Education. Often, Continuing Education offices are

looking to provide great non-credit courses and seminars to their

community. Even better, the college will do a great deal of

marketing for you.



Of course, you might not want to form a partnership with another

entity. Perhaps you don't want to share in the profits of your

course or seminar. Or, maybe you don't want to be restricted by

the guidelines of other institutions.



If this is the case, it is helpful to contact a marketing agency.

A marketing agency can help you formulate a business plan. A

marketing vendor can also help you create marketing materials,

such as brochures and news releases. In this way, you can remain

the independent owner of your course or seminar.



Another great source of marketing is word of mouth. Therefore,

make sure you let it be known that you have an excellent course

or seminar available. Pass out business cards and share

information about your course or seminar with as many people as

possible. With time, the word will spread about your course

or seminar.



Many people are interested in being their own bosses and owning

their own businesses. A large market for this type of course or

seminar exists, but finding the people interested in this type of

course or seminar can be tricky. Through the proper marketing

techniques, however, a small business seminar or course can be

highly successful.



Kirk Ward provides free marketing resources for

accountants, consultants and tax professionals

at http://instantpracticebuilder.com.



Or, you can visit http://instantpracticebuilder.com/surveys/ and

tell Kirk what you need to make your professional practice grow.