Recommended Sites

The ANSI portal allow you to search by name, ICS codes, and industry sector. This listing includes associations that contribute to US standards and conformity assessments.

Search from over 35,000 local, regional, national, and international associations.

Hundreds of industry trade groups and associations are listed alphabetically at Wikipedia with live links to each association’s Website.

The world’s largest and most comprehensive professional society of marketers.

The mission of BIO is to be the champion of biotechnology and the advocate for its member organizations –both large and small.

The leading business association for the restaurant industry.

The world’s largest retail trade association.

Compare your company performance to others in the same industry.

Compare your company to others in the industry based on 9 core ratios.

Guide to business plans by type of business.

a “how to” for writing your plan along with the business rationale for doing so. The article provides templates, sample plans, and links to plan-writing software.

provides necessary information about the proper formatting of your business plan.

step by step instructions for creating a business plan from the SBA.

Preferred by counselors, SCORE offers a variety of business plan templates and tools.

An excellent template that covers all necessary topics for use in creating a business plan.

Articles on competitive intelligence.

Free information on over 40,000 companies, including company overview, industry information, leadership and historical financials. Use your NC public library card to access online via NC LIVE or visit your local public or UNC library for assistance.

Free reference and research tool providing real-time access to accurate, in-depth information on 24 million US businesses and 234 million US residents. Use your NC public library card to access online via NC LIVE or visit your local public or UNC library for assistance.

Search for required filings of publicly traded corporations.

Free demographic market analysis reports from Alteryx Analytics Gallery.

Free address information for businesses and individuals.

Provides detailed, demographic information including population, age and sex, health, education, race, housing, income and the economy. Map your data using census mapping.

Learn how to start selling with a website by using Amazon.

Advice and inspiration for running an Etsy shop.

Information for site selectors considering NC as a business location.

Non-profit association providing information for companies who are considering an employee ownership program or for guidance and resources for managing an existing plan.

Resources for Employee Ownership for North Carolina companies and employees.

An organization to help businesses and communities discover the power of employee ownership.

Read case studies from Owner-Retires or Owner-Stays

The SBA Employee Trusts program provides financial assistance to Employee Stock Ownership Programs and can assist qualified employee trusts that meet the necessary requirements with their 7(a) loan program.

Founded in 1979, the ESOP Association is a trade association representing companies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and professionals, such a accountants, attorneys, and trustees/fiduciaries who provide services for them.

Describes loan availability, eligibility, sources of grants.

Franchising opportunities plus tips on buying/running a franchise.

Listing of franchises for sale.

Listing of companies registered with the SBA available for franchising.

Resource for On-line Franchise Information.

Federal government procurement opportunities above $25,000.

Tax information for small businesses.

Provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation’s businesses with their operations.

Search for patents and trademarks.

An independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns.

Supports biotechnology research, business and education statewide.

Responsible for the examination, custody and maintenance of the legal documents filed by corporations, limited partnerships and limited liability companies in NC.

Free population, demographic, economic, and income data as well as county profiles and rankings. Use your NC public library card to access online via NC LIVE or visit your local public or UNC library for assistance.

Supports North Carolina business in the workplace – in the office, on the factory floor or in the hospital.

The BLS compiles information on pricing, unemployment, pay & benefits, workplace injuries and import and export data.

Contributes to, encourages, ands enhances the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education.

Commission which enforces laws protecting against discrimination in employment.

Indeed provides local and regional salary information compiled from job listings they have posted during previous twelve months.

This free, online training course teaches you to build an effective safety and health management system in order to prevent injuries and illnesses in your workplace.

Benchmark salaries.

World’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management whose mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing current and comprehensive resources, and to advance the profession by promoting HR’s role.

Free business research from journals, trade publications, market research reports, dissertations, and working papers. Can be accessed at no charge using an NC public library card via NC Live or by visiting a local or UNC library.

describing industry and competitive analysis process.

Classification system for industries. Replaces SIC codes.

A directory of resources which address subjects such as industry overview, issues, trends, and outlook, industry financial information and financial ratios, and compensation and salary surveys for a wide variety of industries.

Assists in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets.

OPIC helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy.

Advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle income countries. The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, early investment analysis, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment.

Detailed information about countries of the world including political and economic aspects.

The Entrepreneurs Assistance Program (formerly known as NC LEAP) coordinates attorney volunteers to provide pro bono business law advice and counsel to small business owners.

Legal information for lawyers and general public, including case law, statutes, lawyer search.

Directory of lawyers.

Lists the licenses and permits needed for businesses in NC.

Search US patents dating back to 1790; apply for patents and trademarks; learn about patents, trademarks, and copyrights, how they differ and how to get started.

While the organization was formed to support and advise California manufacturers, this link will take you to a wide variety of free and low-cost resources available to small and mid-size manufacturers nationwide.

The exclusive state affiliate for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

The North Carolina Manufacturing Institute initiative was conceived in the summer of 2014 during meetings with leaders from Rowan and Cabarrus counties, the Centralina Workforce Development Board and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. Their goal is to build a world-class talent pool to support the retention and growth of regional manufacturers.

Online access to annual reports.

Provides critical information about conducting research on the market viability of your product or service.

Reports that can be purchased about your market or industry.

Free online tools for every “hands-on” marketer.

Magazine for market researchers.

Corporate filings.

Free industry reports.

Resources for marketers and advertisers.

Provides easy to understand definitions of key digital marketing terminology collected by BootCampDigital, an online social media training company.

Brief description and discussion of digital marketing from SAS.

An excellent resource from Purdue University

Choose from several free marketing plans or purchase others.

A SAS white paper on digital marketing.

Summarizes the results of the Harvard Business Review Marketing 2020 study identifying the attributes of a high-performance marketing organization.

The Ingredients of a Marketing Plan From Entrepreneur Magazine.

Ask Your Target Market (AYTM) is more sophisticated software than some of the low-cost options. For a fee, AYTM provides live support, helps identify survey pools, and provides guidance in survey development.

Pricing is per completed response, but they also offer project-based options (down to helping select color choices and format options) as well as Website questionnaires.

Free and low-cost options.

Free and low-cost options; extremely popular and easy to use.

Has standards information and links to standards sites.

Promotes, supports and improves academic technology transfer worldwide and demonstrate its benefits globally through education, advocacy, networking and communication.

Has science, technology and business information.

Protect intellectual property by patenting.

Report released by the N.C. Board of Science and Technology highlights key trends and themes to be considered when undertaking efforts to promote economic opportunity throughout the state.

This white paper provides an overview of SEO and insights on how your Website and e-commerce marketing efforts can be managed and monitored. An introduction to some basic marketing principles as they relate in a digital environment and definitions of new vocabularies and technologies.

Harness the power of your Website with this free resource for SEO.

A SAS white paper on digital marketing.

Has standards information and links to standards sites.

Summarizes the results of the Harvard Business Review Marketing 2020 study identifying the attributes of a high-performance marketing organization.

QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a populations of 5,000 or more. Show side-to-side comparisons for up to five different locations; download charts.

Free resource from US Government provides a wide array of statistics in the broad fields of labor, economics, and statistics.

An annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets. Additional information can be found utilizing American Quick Facts comparisons.

Gateway to federally collected stats.

Free population, demographics, economic, and income data as well as county profiles and rankings. Use your NC public library card to access online via NC LIVE or visit your local public or UNC library for assistance.

Find popular facts (population, income, etc.) and frequently requested date about your community. Run guided queries using pre-built functions and formulas.