What is Pinch Marketing?

Hi to all you marketing and non-marketing people alike! My name is Lindsay Hotze and I'm a senior Global Marketing major at the University of Northern Iowa.

You may be asking yourself "What is Pinch Marketing?". Don't waste your time looking it up in the dictionary because you won't find any textbook definition of it, but let me tell you the story behind it. I grew up in small town Iowa, so I've been exposed to small businesses all my life. My first job was at a local grocery store, my mom works for a non-profit, and almost every job or internship I've had has been for a small or family owned business. I guess you could say that my first-hand experience has given me a real strong appreciation for the little guy. The business that my not have a lot of cash but sure has a lot of heart and a lot of hard working people who are willing to do just about anything but sell a kidney to support it. However, time and again I've seen these great businesses flop because they weren't taking advantage of all of the means that were available to them. What's sad, is that many small business owners just aren't aware of the multitude of free and affordable resources that are out there and are specifically designed FOR THEM! 

Essentially, the goal of this blog is to help those small businesses succeed in the best way I know how--through marketing. To equip them with an arsenal of tools and knowledge so that they can be effective marketers without having to pay money out the you know what! So despite what you were thinking when you saw the picture of a large and very obviously fake lobster pinching the very frightened woman above, Pinch Marketing is about creating marketing that leaves a big impression when you're restricted by a budget that's smaller than Pamela Anderson's bikini. 

If you haven't already, please take 2 really quick seconds to follow me on twitter by clicking here. You'll receive some great marketing tips for your small business, as well as some entertaining and most likely sarcastic tweets by yours truly!