Apr

30

Start Measuring Audience Engagement

April 30, 2007 | 1 Comment

Avenue A Razorfish has issued its third annual Digital Outlook report, for 2007 (PDF), which I found courtesy of the Guy Kawasaki blog.   
One of the points it covers very well is the notion that new channels that consumers (and of course, business owners) use, have to be evaluated using different measurements.  One new measurement is […]

Apr

27

Need Market Research? Check Your Local Economic Development Organization

April 27, 2007 | 3 Comments

I live in Northeast Ohio near Akron and Cleveland, and for years the area was engaged in self-flagellation over the loss of Big Steel and manufacturing jobs.  The local newspapers were in death-watch mode, highlighting every job layoff with big bold headlines.  Of course, they never seemed to place the same focus on the many small businesses that were growing […]

Apr

16

Creating Research for PR — Speak to Your Audience

April 16, 2007 | 2 Comments

Steven Silvers writes an interesting point about making sure that if you are using research to generate PR buzz, you use it wisely.  He points out ”the good, the bad and the ugly” of research, noting that one bad piece of self-serving research can come back to bite you.
I would add the following point:  make sure your […]

Apr

9

Top Ten B2B Marketing Mistakes

April 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

MarketingSherpa offers an excellent free dowload that you will not want to miss, called:  Top 10 B-to-B Lead Generation Marketing Mistakes.
MarketingSherpa reports are excellent and tend to go into more depth than many free downloadable reports — definitely worth the small effort to download.
Among the up-to-the-minute tips you will find:

Treat new email subscribers a little special (compared with […]

Apr

8

Developing Sales Prospects in Social Settings

April 8, 2007 | 1 Comment

Back in November 2005 we conducted an online survey at my Small Business Trends website, about selling to small businesses.  One of the findings highlights a challenge so many businesses in the business-to-small-business space have:  finding someone to sell to is sometimes the hardest part.
Thirty-three percent (33%) of sellers in that survey said that their #1 challenge was […]

Apr

6

Is Your Company Easy to Do Business With?

April 6, 2007 | 2 Comments

A business owner whose company serves other small businesses (RV and recreational equipment dealers) once said to me that his small business customers, “… are like water.  They follow the easiest path.”  
What he meant was that small businesses go with whatever offering makes it easiest on them. Now, he did not mean this in a condescending way.  He simply accepted it […]