NCLA 2019

“I’m thinking of opening a business; who are my competitors? How should I maximize my advertising budget and create a marketing plan? What are other businesses in my industry doing? I need market research data."

Do business-related questions like these fill you with dread?

You already have all the tools you need to answer these, and many more, business-related questions! This session is a crash course in supporting the entrepreneurs and small businesses in your community using free and NC LIVE resources. We will cover some background on the U.S. Census, SimplyAnalytics for psychographic and demographic research, ReferenceUSA for business prospects and competitive analysis, ABI/Inform for industry information, and more! Whether you work in a public library serving the business community, or in an academic library working with students and faculty, or are an entrepreneur yourself, attending this session will help you become familiar with essential free and NC LIVE business resources. This session is perfect for non-business experts who want to be better-equipped to help (and even impress!) these important, but sometimes under-served, library customers.