Dealing with Limited Financial Resources: A Marketing Challenge for Small Business

An exploratory study identified small business owners' attitudes and perceptions concerning dealing with a limited marketing budget, including the ability to compete with larger businesses, the importance of marketing, and the most popular sources of marketing assistance used by owners. Questionnaires were hand-delivered to a cross section of small business owners in middle Tennessee, with 99 responses obtained. In general, small business owners were quite cognizant of the marketing challenges of competing with large firms. Although they felt they could compete successfully by using such strategies as competitive niching, the small business owners believed that additional alternative marketing strategies are needed. In terms of dollars allocated, however, marketing was seen as secondary to other costs. The owners did not actively or formally acquire marketing assistance through secondary or primary research.