London, UK ( Pressreleaseroom ) August 7, 2009 – It’s certainly something lots of marketing experts are talking about, but just how small businesses should go about building an online community is harder to understand. Ben Dyer has built a 10,000 member community for his business and he shares the lessons he’s learned in a new article on Marketing Donut.

Dyer says that while a community is a powerful way to engage with your customers, building one requires patience and perseverance.

“For every community I have seen fail due to lack of traffic, two have the plug pulled because of a perceived lack of progress” he says.

Dyer says the other key ingredients of success are: leadership, ground rules, taking criticism on the chin, and making sure the community caters to everyone, not just the “fanatics”.

“Running a community is hard work, but it can be a fantastically rewarding experience for both you and your customers. The reality is that if you have a successful company, product or service, your customers will be talking about you anyway. What you need to decide is whether you are willing to facilitate the conversation.”

Backed by Google and Royal Mail, Marketing Donut is a free marketing resource that’s been developed specially for small business. Practical and no-nonsense, Marketing Donut covers all aspects of small business marketing, from branding through to internet marketing, from direct marketing through to generating PR for your business.

Further information:

* The Marketing Donut is at http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk

Contact details:
Mick Dickinson
BHP Information Solutions
tel: 0117 904 2224
info@marketingdonut.co.uk

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