Mar

29

What to Consider When Exhibiting at Trade Shows

March 29, 2007 | 1 Comment

If you don’t already exhibit at trade shows, at some point you may get the itch to do so. 
Today there are more opportunities than ever for trade shows to reach business owners. For instance, small business conferences designed to attract small business owners are getting more popular.  Also, you can find an endless number of industry-specific shows […]

Mar

27

Eliminate Lingo for Small Biz Owners

March 27, 2007 | 1 Comment

Technology products and services are famous (or infamous) for all the barely decipherable technical terminology.
Technical, legal, scientific and financial terminology — all can be confusing to the very people you are trying to communicate with:  business owners. 
The thing is, most small business owners are not subject-matter experts in your industry.   When you use insider lingo it makes your company harder to […]

Mar

26

B2B Trade Publications Go Online Only - Good News for Marketers

March 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Infoworld magazine is ceasing its print version to become an online-only publication. 
One commentator says the people at Infoworld are blazing new trails and leading the way and that others will follow.  Rex Hammock predicts that more B2B publications will cease print operations following a U.S. Postal Service announcement increasing rates.
This suggests the beginnings of a trend toward B2B trade publications transitioning […]

Mar

21

Customer Service and Technology Transform the Used Car Business

March 21, 2007 | 1 Comment

With declining margins in the new car business, many dealers are turning to used car sales for an increasingly significant portion of their sales and profits. 
And the nature of the car dealer business is changing.  That old stereotype of the confrontational salesman ambushing customers for a quick one-time sale, is going away.  Today, the smartest dealers […]

Mar

19

Economy Slows - How Does it Impact Sellers?

March 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment

The current U.S. economic expansion has been going strong for several years.  But indications suggest that the economic growth is slowing down. 
Small business owners apparently feel much the same way — that things are slowing down (not stopping or declining, just not growing as fast).  
This is reflected in the NFIB’s Small Business Economic Trends report […]

Mar

14

Bad Days for Sending Email to Small Biz Owners

March 14, 2007 | 3 Comments

If you send out B2B email blasts, newsletters and other marketing communications, the traditional wisdom is not to waste them by mailing near holidays when your prospects are likely to be out of the office and not reading emails.  However, for emails to small business owners and staff, different considerations may apply. 
Prospects to Go has created a helpful calendar showing bad […]

Mar

13

How Important is Price Versus Service to SMBs?

March 13, 2007 | 1 Comment

Here’s an interesting tidbit that deserves some exploration.  eWeek Channel Insider reports on a Gartner study of the SMB market:
Service and support trump price for small and midsize businesses. Seventy-three percent of SMBs rated the service and support they received from their technology providers as the most important factor in a buying decision, according to […]

Mar

10

Give B2B Prospects The Content They Want

March 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Content-based strategies are extremely important for reaching B2B prospects and marketing to existing customers. But do you know what B2B prospects really want? Or are you guessing?
I suspect most us do a lot of guessing. And a recent study suggests we may be guessing wrong.
Marketingsherpa and Knowledgestorm conducted a study that compared content preferences among […]

Mar

8

Forums Add Community for Retailers

March 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Forums are an attractive strategy for some retailers seeking to increase sales.
This strategy is all about building community. The community attracts people who turn into regular customers, operates as a place to conduct market research, and helps improve natural search results.
Internet Retailer has an excellent article about forums to increase online sales. […]