Jul

30

The Top 100 Small Business Blogs

July 30, 2007 | 3 Comments

Now why should companies like yours that target the small business market care about small business blogs?  Three great reasons: 

Blogs often serve as communities where business owners and entrepreneurs congregate. If you want to find small business owners, go to where they congregate.

You can gain interesting insights into the small business mindset by following small business blogs. […]

Jul

27

Where to Find Hispanic Market Info

July 27, 2007 | 1 Comment

The Hispanic market in the United States is not a homogenized whole.  Rather,  it is a rich tapestry of people originating from different countries (e.g, Cuba, Mexico, and various countries of Central America and South America). 
The same goes for Hispanic business owners.   
If you are looking to find Hispanic businesses, try the Hispanic Business 500.
Also, the James […]

Jul

25

Earn Small Business Loyalty By Helping Them Get Customers

July 25, 2007 | 3 Comments

One thing that most small business owners say they need is more customers.
Your small business customers will love you forever if you can help them make a sale.  That’s one of the points I got from watching Donny Deutsch’s Big Idea show last night.
Called Destination Millions, this particular episode featured four successful entrepreneurs revealing their secrets for becoming […]

Jul

23

Best Friends for Business Research: Librarians

July 23, 2007 | 2 Comments

In the midst of fun diversions like YouTube and MySpace, it would be easy to overlook what a boon the Internet has been for … libraries.
For several years now, libraries have been booming across the United States and in other countries even as use of the Internet grows. 
People want information.  They want it in print and, of course, […]

Jul

20

MetLife’s Mature Market Institute for Boomer Research

July 20, 2007 | 2 Comments

MetLife has set up an information center about Baby Boomer research and issues, called the MetLife Mature Market Institute.   
It’s where I found the reference to the Baby Boomer word of mouth survey that I wrote about in my last post.  Here is the mission for the Mature Market Institute:
The MetLife Mature Market Institute is the company’s […]

Jul

19

Baby Boomer Word of Mouth Overlooked

July 19, 2007 | 3 Comments

Six out of ten Baby Boomers are asked for recommendations about products and services almost twice a week (90 times a year).  And who do they make recommendations to?  Why, to other Baby Boomers, of course.
Oh, and 84% of their recommendations are made face-to-face, with 45% made online.
Weber Shandwick commissioned the study, which also suggests […]

Jul

16

How to Find Free Research Reports

July 16, 2007 | 3 Comments

Do you want an easy way to find free analyst reports online?  You can do a search in Google for them.  Just search for something like this:
forrester research grapevine endnotes filetype:pdf
You can do something similar with other research analysts.  Just substitute the name of the analyst firm into the string in place of the words […]

Jul

13

New Blog Identifying Studies About Small Business

July 13, 2007 | 2 Comments

Steve King and Carolyn Ockels of Emergent Research, together with Anthony Townsend of The Institute for the Future, have launched an excellent new blog, called Small Biz Labs. 
The description of the blog says:
Small Biz Labs is the research blog for Emergent Research’s ongoing project to identify, analyze and forecast the key social, business and technology […]

Jul

12

Fewer Columns Work Best for a B2B Website

July 12, 2007 | 2 Comments

According to the folks at MarketingSherpa, you might want to re-do your B-to-B website. Why? Because fewer columns in a B-to-B website work best.
And if you want to make another big improvement, do not block your website with a big in-house ad or graphic smack in the middle of the page (something that B-to-B websites do). Instead, […]

Jul

5

Single Person Businesses Should Count

July 5, 2007 | 5 Comments

Why is it that the nearly 20 million self-employed individuals in this country are more-or-less ignored when it comes time to count economic activity?
Case in point:  a paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas looks at the trend of  economic development organizations no longer focusing on luring large corporations into regions, as they once […]