Minority
owned business marketing strategy
Being a
minority owned business (often referred to as a minority
business enterprise, MBE, disadvantaged business enterprise,
DBE, small disadvantaged business, SDB) does present some
advantages in competing for contracts from the government and
large corporations. Usually these advantages come in the
form of goals established for minority owned business
participation, either as a prime contractor or subcontractor.
In rare instances, contracts are setaside for minority owned
businesses and exempt from outside competition.
Most
government agencies and many corporations require a minority
owned business certification. Qualifying as a minority
owned business is typically a fairly involved process that
requires you to show that your company is both owned and
controlled by minorities. And it should be noted that
obtaining a minority owned business certification is NOT a
guarantee of contracts from the government or corporate sector.
How do you
decide whether it is worth obtaining a minority owned business
certification? Essentially the answer is the same as
determining whether it is worth marketing to any large
organization - it depends on how much business is there and what
are your chances of getting some of it. Before expending a
lot of time and money on certification, you should find out
whether the government agency or corporation buys what you sell.
If they don't, whether they have a minority owned business
program (often referred to as a Supplier Diversity program) is
irrelevant. Once you have determined that the business
potential is there, then it may be worthwhile to become
certified if it can help open doors and increase the odds of
getting a contract.
For more information, see the following
links at our sister site,
EthnicMajority.com:
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