St. Louis Small Business Monthly
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Locally owned and established in 1988, SBM provides marketers the opportunity to access closely held, privately owned companies throughout the St. Louis Metro area. The counties served include St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County, Madison County, St. Clair County.
Readers are from established companies of all size and have an average age of 25 years in business. These companies are primarily in the industries of manufacturing, construction, real estate, wholesale, health care, banking and business services. Whether it’s in print 13 times per year, online with our enewsletters or SBMon.com, or at any of our many events and trade shows - presidents, owners, CEOs, CFOs, and other top decision-makers from closely-held, privately and/or multi-generational family owned companies, rely on SBM to keep them informed and in touch with the latest best practices, business advice and inspirational trends that are helping businesses succeed. Source
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Media Outlet details
| Scope | Local |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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| Frequency | Monthly |
Recent Articles
Search Articles2026 Best In Business Award Winners
The following are the winners and finalists for the 2026 Best In Business Awards, SBM’s annual reader survey of the BEST Businesses in the area. More than 60,000 individuals voted and the best companies were chosen in 18 categories. The winning businesses and top finalists will be featured in the 2026-2027 Business Owners’ Guide, SBM’s Book of Lists that contains all BEST Lists from the past 12 months. Winners and finalists will also be honored at a special luncheon on Oct.
Responsibilities Within a Culture
by Jonathan Jones Every business develops a culture—whether intentionally designed or unintentionally formed. Culture is reflected in the consistent behaviors, attitudes, and actions within an organization. While leadership ultimately shapes and owns the culture, it becomes truly powerful when employees embrace and contribute to a shared set of values and purpose. Strong organizations move beyond simply assigning roles; they cultivate responsibility.
Your Marketing is Playing it Safe, Your Customers Can't
by David Meyer In my experience, most marketing doesn’t fail because it’s “wrong.” It fails because it’s been carefully stripped of anything that might make it feel real. The sharp edges get sanded down. The strong opinions get softened. The language gets polished until it could belong to almost anyone. Pretty quickly, each round of revisions strips out more soul. What’s left is something technically sound. And emotionally forgettable. When everything sounds right, nothing feels true.
AI for the Technically Challenged
by John Gross Hardly a day goes by without someone talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Depending on who you ask, it’s either the greatest business breakthrough in decades… or the beginning of the robot apocalypse. My view? AI is here to stay. And while it’s not magic, it is becoming a very practical business tool. I’ll admit it—I’m not a tech guy. But I realize that businesses who ignore AI risk falling behind competitors who learn how to use it effectively.
Following Through After a Hard Employee Conversation
by Julie Tuggle-Nguyen Part 4 of the Series: making Hard Employee Conversations Easier In the first article of this series, we explored why difficult employee conversations feel so uncomfortable, and why avoiding them often creates bigger problems. The second focused on preparation, while the third covered what to do inside the conversation itself. This final article is about what happens after the conversation.
New Rules for the Charitably Minded: Pitfalls and Benefits from a Tax Perspective
Here’s a bit of local trivia: For the past 12 years, a local organization has organized an annual event that brings together over 1,000 organizations in a 24-hour period. Over that 12-year span, these groups raised more than $34 million. On May 7, 2026, the St. Louis Community Foundation hosted its 12th annual Give STL Day. That day, local nonprofits collected over $3.6 million in small-dollar donations. The St. Louis Metropolitan Area has a proud history of philanthropy.
Is LinkedIn Still Viable for Small Businesses? I'm not so Sure
by Kathy Barnard I have a love/hate relationship with LinkedIn. It’s been great for networking, lead generation, career search, and branding. But today, I loathe LinkedIn because it now seems more concerned with shareholder value than supporting its users. I hate that as of May 2026, free LinkedIn users are restricted to just three, 200-character personalized invitations per month. Premium members can send an unlimited number of personalized invitations up to 300 characters.
Growth Has a Breaking Point
by Jana Franklin The company looked successful from every reasonable distance. Revenue was up. New clients kept coming in. The founder had recently signed a lease for a larger office after months of talking about “the next phase.” Internally, the team kept repeating the same phrase to each other: things are moving fast. What nobody said out loud was that almost everything had started slowing down. Employees hesitated before making decisions without approval. Meetings multiplied.
Are Online Lenders Right For My Business?
by Pete Zeiser Business owners are busy. When you need capital quickly, the appeal of online lenders is obvious: short applications, fast decisions, and funding that can happen in days instead of weeks. For some businesses, that speed can serve a purpose. But convenience should never come at the expense of understanding the true cost of borrowing.
Women Leaders - Rachel McDougall, CEO, peomg
by Marianne Biangardi and Jennifer Bardot When you began your career did you ever imagine you would have a leadership role like you have now? What advice would you give your younger self? Absolutely not. I grew up in rural Arkansas without a clear roadmap for college or career advancement, and leadership was never something that felt obvious or guaranteed. I didn’t have a defined path or a traditional starting point, but I was determined to create opportunities where they didn’t naturally exist.