Garr Barr Group

You are here: Home / Archives for small business marketing

By 1 Comment

Claim Your Web Properties

Today is the first in a series of Ten Biggest Mistakes Small Businesses Make Preventing Web Profitability.

No matter how far you have gotten in developing your marketing strategy that includes using the internet as a sales and growth channel for your business, there is no excuse for not claiming your name. These are the 8 basic property categories I recommend every small business claim to begin the process of building a web presence. Almost all are currently free or very inexpensive and can be claimed with a few hours work.

1. Website: Believe it or not, I recently read that only 44% of small businesses have their own websites. Yet, recent studies indicate that between 65-80% of consumers use the internet to search for local businesses and over 2/3 of all consumers read ratings and reviews prior to making purchase decisions. At the very least, claim your unique name using an inexpensive service such as godaddy.com. Claim your personal name (if still available) and your business name.

2. Join several social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. There are very easy user interfaces which walk you through the sign-up process and you are certain to find many of your current contacts and friends already there populating an instant network for you. Currently, Facebook has over 150 million users and LinkedIn has 12 million. Growth in social networks has been off the charts across all demographic groups.

3. Get listed on the big search engine directories such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Yellow Pages, and AOL. It only takes a few minutes to claim and update your business listing (which may already be listed) and make sure it reflects your hours of service and a description of your business services.

4. Sign up for local community social networks such as MerchantCircle, Biznik and Konnects. This is a growing segment in the social networking landscape but one which holds benefit for small businesses targeting locals. Think of them as your virtual chamber of commerce. Speaking of the Chamber of Commerce, many local branches have business networks and directories on Facebook or Ning. Check your local newspapers, general as well as local business publications. Many of these media outlets are increasing their online presence with blogs, directory listings and message boards. In most cases, the basic fee to join these listings is free or minimal charge.

5. Business and Industry Verticals: Are there online directories specific to your industry? Many professional organizations and certification boards provide online directory listings: lawyers, doctors, dentists, real estate agents and other vertical industry boards allow you to post your profile and update it with your products, services, etc. Are there referral or certification boards in your field? Add your profile.

6. Rating Services: Ratings and ranking are already a part of some of the directories I have already mentioned (Yahoo and Google are notable) but there are new ones emerging every day. Check out Yelp and Citisearch to see if your type of business is listed there and claim your listing.

7. Microblogs: Twitter, Jaiku and Pluck are the companies in this space with Twitter currently leading the charge (over 1300% growth from Feb 2008 to 2009). Don’t be put off by the stream of consciousness of the worlds millions of Twitter users (see my post Twitterfied?). Remember when you had a chance to claim your own name in email 15 years ago and you did not and now you have an interesting email address like suebarr6667@xxxxxxx.com? At the very minimum, claim your name and/or your business name. When you become more comfortable with the medium and begin to see just how beneficial this tool can be for your business, you will be glad you claimed your real estate. Combined with pervasive mobile communications, Microblogs hold tremendous promise for small business to target promotions.

8. Groups: I use Ning, Facebook, and LinkedIn and have begun to use Ryze for groups. Look for groups in your industry that are active and welcoming to new members. Look for groups where your customers hang out so you can begin forming relationships and getting to know their needs for your business. Create your own groups, fan pages on Facebook or in Ning and invite your followers to join. Start your own group under your company name.

Think of your web presence as if it is a big virtual game of monopoly. When you first start going around the game board, you buy all the property you can afford. Over time, you figure out which properties can be leveraged for the most profit. You build on the most profitable (just like adding hotels in monopoly) and you weed out the unprofitable properties.

I think it is very early in evolution of the social media game. Some social sites will emerge as clear winners and some will disappear. Some businesses will adopt early and succeed and some will crash and burn. Some late adopters will arise to wow and surprise the markets. The only mistake for your business is if you don’t get in the game – your customers are expecting it.

By Leave a Comment

Are Marketers and SMB’s disconnected?

Just finished reading “Marketers and SMB’s Disconnect over Online Tactics” by Marketing Charts detailing results from study completed by Bredin Business Information. Two separate groups were interviewed in 2 separate studies: “Marketing to SMB’s in 2009” was a survey of 50 marketers in large companies such as IBM, Cisco, Comcast, Dell and other banks and technology companies who market to small and medium businesses. The second survey was for over 700 small and medium businesses to understand their marketing preferences entitled “SMB Media and Brand Preferences.” There is some great information and you can draw your own conclusions. I will be fascinated to see the results of the same studies performed a year from now.
My initial take-aways (based upon my own anecdotal evidence combined with the statistics) are that there is not so much ” disconnect” in the results as much as there is a lag in adoption between the groups simply due to resource limitations:

1. Both SMB’s and Marketers are looking for high value and low price in purchasing decisions. Not a surprise in the current economy.

2. Considering the marketers and the companies they represent, I am not surprised that they have been putting a full out effort in online advertising and marketing. They have the resources to a) understand the technological options, b) apply significant enough technical and marketing staff to create and manage social networks and technologies. Today’s SMB’s are stressed from the standpoint of resources, more so than I have ever seen. As a result of credit lines diminishing, resistance in adding to payroll and the plethora of technology options they are unable to fully understand, SMB’s are stretched thin – how many ways can you divide a small staff?. Marketers are simply making the shift to online faster than the SMB’s because they have the financial and people resources to make the shift quicker.

3. The study says “Marketers say their biggest challenges in 2009 are funding new projects (24%), growing business with limited resources (15%) and increasing awareness (15%).” These are the exact issues I hear from SMB’s every day.

4. I think the wager marketers are making to invest in online marketing while reducing off-line presence is a smart bet to make especially with constant reports validating a huge increase in adoption of social technologies across all demographic groups.

5. Old habits die hard. SMB’s are still reliant upon old methods of learning about potential suppliers. However, the growing trends towards increased online research of brands among consumers before purchase are also showing increase in SMB’s. The more marketers actually “engage” potential customers online, not just with traditional awareness programs but with education and connection programs, the more the SMB’s will become retrained to rely upon online resources.

Who will the winners be? Marketers who use their social technology presence to teach the SMB’s not only how to use their products but how to implement social web technologies to achieve strategic objectives such as leads generation, customer awareness, brand loyalty and as always, increased sales and profits. Dell and Intuit are two of my favorite companies whose marketers are using the web to educate and engage SMB’s with their social applications. As a consequence, both companies are well positioned to benefit from increasing loyalty between SMB’s and their brands.

What are your thoughts? Which large company marketers are earning your loyalty as a SMB? What is preventing you from a quicker adoption of social technologies?

By Leave a Comment

Twitter-fied?

I must admit I was a little perplexed. Everyone was talking about Twitter so I had to check it out. Twitter is a social networking utility that allows you to join and invite friends and colleagues. Twitter provides you with a profile page and the capability to broadcast a 140 words or less to the entire “twittersphere” of members on the Twitter site. I began as a complete lurker with a non-descript logon id so I could watch the action and I never linked to my professional email. Initially I thought this was a tool that would be more interesting for social networking among the under-24 age group. I was hugely skeptical about the application for my clients and my own business. To be honest, I thought being on Twitter was like getting junk mail ALL DAY LONG!! I wasn’t ready to put myself out there.

But I watched and learned and began to see how Twitter could fit into my short and long-range marketing plans. I started to see how others were using Twitter for business and I began seeing the possibilities for my clients. I took the plunge and found some tools and techniques that I suggest you adopt as a Twitter-newbie.

1. Sign up at twitter.com and set up a profile. Link to your business website.

2. Invite colleagues and clients to follow you.

3. Search for topics that interest you at search.twitter.com. Watch the stream of “tweets” and you will find people who are interesting to you so add them to your follow list. I follow small business, social media, local cities, news outlets and favorite bloggers, positive people with good vibes, political pundits and other topics that catch my interest. You can also see the top trending topics and follow along.

My favorite day of the week is “Follow Friday” when you will see a stream of tweets with the hashtag of #followfriday. It is a great way to give a shout out and recommend folks you think others should follow as well as a way to start following others recommended by the masses.

4. Join chats that are of interest. By watching keywords that interest me, I learned of several “tweet chats” on small business topics. I join the chats at Tweetchat.com and have met some great people who I network with on Twitter and my other social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

5. You don’t have to watch Twitter all day long and catch every conversation. I use Tweetdeck and check it a few times per day for items of interest. Tweetdeck allows you to follow your favorite people, phrases and topics. It helps create a more organized approach for me so I don’t get caught up in the constant stream of consciousness.

6. Once you understand how you plan to weave Twitter into your marketing strategy, offer information to your followers in the form of tips, referrals, links and content that your target market would find beneficial. Don’t spam but do make your followers aware of targeted special promotions and products. Ask yourself, “How can I add value?”

7. If you google Twitter, you will find an array of products and classes available over the web. Here are a few sources I recommend to further your Twitter education.

For a quick guide for the beginning and intermediate Twitter user:
http://johnjantsch.com/TwitterforBusiness.pdf

For a brief screencast video with tips for small businesses:
http://smallbiztrends.com/2008/10/how-why-twitter-small-businesses.html

In my own business I see Twitter as a great way to participate with and serve my target market. I find it invaluable for researching my brand, my competitors and industry leaders. I have made great contacts and hope to use Twitter to identify new markets, identify potential alliances and business partners.

Did I mention you can follow me on Twitter @garrbarrgroup? See you in the twittersphere.

Let’s Talk!

We'd love to hear from you! Please send questions or comments via email to admin@garrbarr.com

Social

Follow Garr Barr Group: