Intuit $25,000 Small Business Grant

You have til March 23 to tell your small business story - judged on three qualities: useful, funny and inspiring - in Intuit's "Share Your Story" and win up to $25,000 in a business grant.

More about social media

Buzzword? Sure, of course. Still, that doesn't mean local businesses can't take a gander at what the buzz is all about when it comes to social networking, social marketing, social media, whatever you want to call it.

Lee Oden has a nice post titled Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing. I think it's pretty self explanatory, but a neighbor told me I was too geeky, so if you need any help translating this into "to do" practices, send me an email and I'll see if I can help.

Social Media: Most Effective Tactics Are the Most Difficult to Measure Quantitatively

The smart folks over at Marketing Sherpa have a chart on most effective social media - and point out how the most effective are often not the most measurable.

These are tools local businesses can often integrate at little or no cost. If you are looking for some "real marketing" ideas, try these. Need some help? Hire a smart marketer (ah hem, what about yours truly) to help you out.

Looking to launch? Check out LaunchBox09

LaunchBox Digital is now accepting applications -its annual summer accelerator program starts May 18, 2009. Early application deadline is Feb. 27.

If you don't know the program, here is the LaunchBox link, and here is info from the web site:

LaunchBox Digital, an early stage investment firm located in Washington, D.C., is focused on helping entrepreneurs get through those challenging early days by bringing capital, advice, and practical guidance to help early stage businesses succeed. We offer:

• Funding and administrative support to enable founders to focus their energy on developing a great product;
• Mentoring and advice from seasoned technology veterans who have created significant stakeholder value; and
• Access to strategic partners, angels, VCs and the press to take your business to a whole new level

Check it out.