Review of ?Pitching for Small Businesses?
Isabel Robson, Director Two Bee Business Solutions (www.twobeesolutions.co.uk)
?Pitching for Small Businesses? (2011, Laura Rigney) Brightword Publishing
As a developing entrepreneur, I was delighted for the opportunity to review this book. Laura Rigney succeeds in making a complex undertaking easily understandable, even to a complete beginner. Her writing is very clear and approachable, without being patronising, and she does a good job of introducing marketing concepts as well as more day to day concerns such as pricing and supply lines. The book is well-suited to an e-book format as you are able to follow links immediately, and perhaps more could be done to take advantage of the freedoms offered by electronic publishing, such as links to additional downloadable content or added material such as workbooks or templates.
Format
The book flows well, although aesthetically some of the live links do interrupt the writing flow. Laura?s explanations develop well and the order of the book is intuitive. The reader could benefit from a checklist at the end of each chapter/ point.
Content
Laura provides a range of worked examples and case studies to illustrate her points, and this is a possible weak point to the book, as a large number of these are small businesses which may not be known to, or resonate with the target market. Additionally the case studies seemed to dwell on stereotyping ?women? areas, such as breastfeeding, pregnancy, baby and child care products, with few male marketers to balance them out. As a woman working to build a business consultancy this does rankle somewhat.
However, these are minor gripes and I came away with a mostly positive reflection of this book, and look forward to implementing some of its suggestions soon.
Standouts
- Pricing and sourcing suppliers
- Pitch advice
- Market research and questionnaire advice
- The chapter on search engine optimisation
Weak points
- Lack of variety in case studies
