Small Business Organizations

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Tips & Advice to help you make your decision on Small Business Organizations

When starting and running a small business, you'll find that success requires more than a quality product or service. To be successful with a small business, you need the kind of business support that you can find at small business organizations located all around the country. From business education to networking opportunities, a small business organization provides you with the information and connections you need to make correct business decisions while forming lasting business relationships.

Small business organizations range greatly in size and use, from national general purpose organizations like SCORE or the National Business Association, to smaller specialized industry related organizations with regional reach only. Choosing the right one for your use is largely dependent on what your current needs are.

Going with a larger national organization will give you a vast level of support. Since these organizations have the goal of developing small businesses, they'll have useful information that's been proven to work with businesses in a variety of industries. If your primary aim is to learn the basics of business operations, then an organization of this type is the best fit for you. If you need more industry specific information, or wish to meet those in your industry locally, a smaller industry-specific organization is likely of more use. You can learn more about small business organizations of all types from Business.com.

Small Business Award Programs and Contests

While marketing and advertising are good ways to drum up business, winning an award or contest from a reputable government agency, professional association or media outlet gets you attention from customers who wouldn't otherwise know your company name. Typically, you can nominate your company yourself. Winning an award or contest can:

Provide recognition for outstanding service, innovative product development or community contributions
Strengthen your business' credibility
Create an opportunity to put out a press release to local newspapers
Build name recognition among potential new customers.

There are plenty of awards that may be worth applying for, but here are ones geared to small businesses:

Apply for corporate awards

Many corporations or institutions have established awards, contests or innovation-recognition programs to acknowledge small business initiatives.
Try: Dell and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), for example, offer the Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence Award program, which honors small businesses that use information technology in their business practices to improve customer experiences. Additionally, the International Academy of the Visual Arts sponsors the International Davey Awards to distinguish creative excellence among smaller media, advertising and marketing firms.

Apply for professional association awards

Many professional organizations have an annual award that recognizes the leadership, entrepreneurship or commitment of one of its members.
Try: The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce both offer such programs.

Apply for government awards

Given the importance small businesses play in the U.S. economy, it's no surprise that that federal and state organizations would want to recognize the movers and shakers in this segment.
Try: The Small Business Association offers a variety of awards and helps coordinate one of the more lucrative research and development grant programs — the Small Business Innovation Research program. In conjunction with the National Compliance Advisory Panel, the National Steering Committee, which represents the nationwide Small Business Ombudsman/Small Business Assistance Programs, has established the Small Business Recognition Awards to mark environmental achievements, stewardship and leadership.

Get recognized by the media

Magazines and newspapers also have some sort of annual "top companies" list. Although it's tough to get on these lists because of strict editorial criteria, if you do earn a spot, they come with automatic publicity.
Try: Inc. Magazine puts out a top 500 list yearly. Read about the application and selection process. Forbes also has a Top 200 small business list that runs annually but the editors make the picks.

Local civic organizations, professional associations or city and state agencies may also have awards that honor businesses for their "corporate citizenship."