In order to understand home business marketing, you first need to know the definition of marketing. According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, one of the definitions of marketing is, "the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service". If you think about it, marketing a home business is done the same way as marketing a big business. All businesses need to make money to be successful. In order to make money, you need to sell a product or service. Making or increasing sales requires you to market or promote your product or service effectively.

Some of the practices of home business marketing include public relations, press releases, market research, marketing collateral, positioning, branding, and distribution, include strategy and analysis. The simple definitions of these terms are as follows.

When most people think of public relations, they think of the business's image as seen through the eyes of the public. Some are positive, and some are negative. In order to establish this image, businesses promote positive relationships with their customers and prospects. They maintain relationships with the media and clients through visible presence at trade shows and other events, both public and private. Home business marketing in the area of public relations may include the preparation and distribution of newsworthy press releases and articles.

The term press release is fairly well-used, and most people realize that they are articles to be published for the purpose of exhibiting a business's positive activities to the public. Press releases are often thought of as free advertising, but sometimes you need to hire someone to write it and pay to have it distributed.

Market research in home business marketing is done to find out the demographics of your customers and your competitors. Sometimes research is also done to find out what features customers prefer in similar products or services. This can be done through customer surveys, business intelligence and test marketing.

Examples of marketing collateral are brochures, data sheets providing an overview of a product or service, and articles such as press releases.

The home business marketing term, positioning, refers to the place or "position" of a business's product or service relative to its competitors. These positions are then used to give customers and prospects certain perceptions of the product or service being promoted. You need to understand your competitive advantage or disadvantage.

Branding is fairly self-explanatory. Branding is done by using logos on stationery, business cards, tag lines and on websites. Using Nike as an example, most people throughout the world recognize the swoosh logo and associate it with Nike immediately.

The last term that will help you understand home business marketing is distribution. Distribution is how you get your product or service to your customers. Will you sell through a catalog, from a store, on the Internet or using a combination of these methods? It is essential that you understand the best method of distribution for your particular product, so that you can make the largest number of sales possible. Your other marketing decisions will be greatly affected by decisions you make in the area of distribution.

Those are most of the terminology used in the home business marketing field. I am sure there are others, but these are the basics.