Week 9 — Readings & Resources

Your primary reading is Chapter 9 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 61–71 minutes for everything. Each group links back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (19–21 min total)

• Distribution Channels Explained — Two Teachers
• What is Integrated Marketing? — Tribus
• Sales promotions and discounts — Business Queensland
• Ad Hype: True or False? — FTCvideos

① Getting the product to the buyer

Chapter 9, Section “Trace the path: distribution and marketing channels” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Place is a path” · Remember: place is every decision about how the product reaches the buyer, whether directly or through businesses in between.

• Distribution Channels Explained — Two Teachers — a classroom explainer on three ways products reach buyers, direct selling, retailing, and wholesaling, with the benefits and drawbacks of each; as you watch, sort each example into a direct or an indirect channel. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)
• Choosing sales channels — Business Queensland — a state government's small-business guide to selling through more than one channel, from direct selling at markets to over-the-counter and online sales; read it with the family farm's two channels in mind. This builds on Week 7's idea that place is the whole path to the buyer, not only an address. (reading, 4–6 min)
• What is a Supply Chain and How it Works — Dr. Haywood — a business-education creator's short explainer on the network of businesses that turns raw materials into a product in a buyer's hands; listen for the flows of goods, information, and money. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)

② Choosing the promotion tools

Chapter 9, Section “Sort the tools: the promotional mix” · Session 1, Segment 4, “The promotion toolbox” · Remember: promotion is more than advertising, and every tool should carry the same message.

• How to Communicate with Customers: Crash Course Entrepreneurship #11 — CrashCourse — an episode on how a new business gets the word out, since buyers cannot purchase what they have never heard of; as you watch, label each method with its tool from the promotional mix. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
• What is Integrated Marketing? — Tribus — a short animated explainer from a small marketing agency on coordinating every channel around one message for a small business; compare it with the transit agency's posters, website, and drivers. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)
• Advertise your business — business.gov.au — a national government business site's guide to what to put in an ad and how digital and traditional advertising differ; read the parts on what to include and on choosing an ad type, and note its advice to make sure you can do what the ad promises. Use it as you work the checkpoint in the Week-9 module overview, the cart's promotion budget. (reading, 4–6 min)
• Online Advertising: Crash Course Media Literacy #7 — CrashCourse — an episode on how online ads are aimed at people using what they do online; watch it as the buyer's side of direct and digital marketing, and notice which details a small business would need to be honest about. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)

③ Counting the cost of a promotion

Chapter 9, Section “Count the cost: the punch card is not free” · Session 2, Segment 7, “The free drink that isn't” · Remember: a sales promotion is a cost the budget must carry, even when the buyer pays nothing for the reward.

• Sales promotions and discounts — Business Queensland — the same state government guide's page on what sales promotions are for and the main types, including loyalty rewards and discounts; read the role and the types, and for each one ask what it costs the business. (reading, 7–9 min)

④ Making honest claims

Chapter 9, Section “Keep it honest: the claims a promotion may make” · Session 2, Segment 9, “Claims you can stand behind” · Remember: a claim must be specific, true, and supportable, and the business must be able to show the evidence.

• Ad Hype: True or False? — FTCvideos — the federal consumer-protection agency's short video on telling a fact from a fib in advertising claims; for each claim it shows, ask what evidence would back it up. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)
• Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business — Federal Trade Commission — the agency's plain-language questions and answers on truth in advertising; read the opening questions on truthful claims and the evidence behind them, then the part on endorsements and testimonials, and skip the industry-specific sections. It is general education, not legal advice for a specific business. (reading, 6–8 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

• Manage your business: marketing and sales — U.S. Small Business Administration — the federal small-business agency's guide, which this course returns to; read the sales plan, the marketing action plan, and the budget parts, which name retail, wholesale, and online sales and ask for a full breakdown of marketing costs, and skip the payment section that follows. (reading, 4–6 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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