Marketing is essential to growing your Maryland business. More than likely, other organizations in your community are tapped into a network of mutual support. There are lots of benefits that come with forming relationships with other businesses and taking advantage of marketing opportunities. Statewide, free or low-cost resources are available, which can advance your marketing efforts and increase your revenue. Read on for information on resources currently available to Maryland businesses.
Small Business Development Center
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Low
The SBDC of Maryland offers individualized consulting to small businesses, regardless of whether they are startups or established. They provide owners with free access to business advisers, help with long-term planning, and online classes for little to no cost. They’ve also created this comprehensive small business survival guide, through which they answer many of the questions business owners frequently ask, and provide information on funding resources.
The University of Maryland
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Medium
UMD’s Technology Enterprise Institute is offering a free, 4-week course entitled “Marketing Innovating Products and Services.” This course provides instructions regarding essential marketing concepts and practical commercialization strategies. For an added fee, you can receive an instructor-signed certificate upon completion of the course.
ArachnidWorks
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Medium
ArachnidWorks is a digital marketing agency based out of Frederick, Maryland. They offer a free Marketing Resources Guide to provide small business owners with a comprehensive list of resources.
The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: High
Small businesses can apply for support from the BCCoC in the form of extended marketing reach. The BCCoC will provide your links, shares and posts on their social media pages and websites. They also offer a membership program for $30 per month which includes access to their network of 20,000 potential customers, as well as discounts, business support and advice, and educational webinars and resources. You can also schedule a free business assessment and speak with Executive Director of the BCCoC, William Honablew, Jr. about strategies to help achieve your goals.
Preservation Maryland
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Medium
Preservation Maryland offers weekly webinars on managing your digital marketing. Most of these webinars are free, and you can sign up for them on the website.
Millennium Marketing Solutions
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Low
Annapolis Junction-based marketing firm Millennium Marketing Solutions has put together a collection of articles and guides to managing your marketing efforts.
The Baltimore County Government
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
Baltimore County maintains an up-to-date map service called BaltCo To-Go. This directory lists restaurants throughout the region that operate to-go and delivery services. You can sign up to have your business added to the list here.
Harford County Chamber of Commerce
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
The HCCoC has created a directory for small businesses located in Harford County. This directory enables people to support local businesses in their communities. You can send them an email to have your company added.
Made in Baltimore
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Medium
Made in Baltimore provides networking and marketing opportunities to businesses located in Baltimore City. Membership includes listing in their business directory and product advertisement via their website.
Frederick County Office of Economic Development
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
Frederick County has compiled some free guides to creating press releases and offers local businesses multimedia exposure and distribution of press releases through a newswire service that can connect your business with thousands of media outlets.
EcoMap Baltimore
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
EcoMap maintains a comprehensive database of small businesses throughout the Baltimore region. You can sign up for free to have your business listed, as well as details about what you sell and your current methods of operation.
Capital Coaching Consulting
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Low
Small businesses can sign up for a free business coaching session with Will Holmes, founder of Capital Coaching Consulting. He also offers webinars on marketing, branding, and selling in Maryland.
Maryland Farmers Market Association and Future Harvest
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
The MDFMA and Future Harvest have established a map of Maryland’s farm stands and markets to help people who want to shop local find them.
Patch
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
Patch is a national news service with branches throughout the entire state of Maryland, including Annapolis, Germantown, Silver Spring, Towson, Columbia, and Upper Marlboro, in addition to many more. In an effort to assist local businesses, each regional Patch branch has created a local directory that business owners can update with any information they want the public to know about their current offerings and needs. These directories are posted to their websites, circulated through email newsletters, and posted to their social media accounts, which have large followings.
The Ogden Newspapers
Cost: Variable
Difficulty: Low
The Ogden Newspapers, which has a branch in Frederick, Maryland, is offering up to $1 million in matched advertising for locally owned businesses. Grants range from $200 and $5,000 in matched funds.
The Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Medium
APG Chesapeake, a digital media and marketing company based in Easton, is offering $500,000 in matched advertising to locally owned Maryland businesses.
Yelp
Cost: Free
Difficulty: High
Yelp has announced $25 million in relief for restaurants and nightlife businesses. This relief comes in the form of waived advertising fees, free advertising, and free access to page upgrades, such as business highlights, calls to action, and advanced customer communication.
Facebook
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Low
Available to businesses located anywhere, Facebook’s Business Resource Hub offers guides and toolkits for marketing. They are also offering free courses on digital marketing literacy.
Dragonfly’s Digital Development Program
Cost: Free
Difficulty: Medium
Our Digital Development Program is a 10-hour program designed to help owners of small businesses and non-profits begin or grow their marketing efforts. This program, which equates to $1,000 worth of marketing services, will put measures in place to drive traffic to your website, and may include content generation, pay-per-click advertising, social media development, and search engine optimization (SEO). We select only one applicant per quarter.
