Nov

29

Are You Building a Community of Loyal Customers?

November 29, 2007 | 4 Comments

Are you building a community of readers and customers and participants? 
That’s important, because a community is central to a strategy of reaching out to the small business market.  True, your ultimate goal has to be to sell your services and products to small businesses.  But to do that you first have to think about engaging them.  Engagement is not […]

Nov

25

What You Need to Know About Millennial Entrepreneurs

November 25, 2007 | 4 Comments

Entrepreneurship keeps attracting younger and younger people — including “millennials,” i.e., those twenty-somethings and teens born since 1980. Since entrepreneurs are consumers first and business owners second, you have to understand their thinking as consumers.
A recent article in Advertising Age offers a fascinating glimpse into millennials’ thinking and debunks certain assumptions we may make about […]

Nov

18

Giving Thanks with Holiday Greeting Cards

November 18, 2007 | 3 Comments

Don’t forget to give holiday thanks to your business customers and partners.  You still have time, for instance, to order greeting cards with your company name embossed or a personal greeting.  You want something that looks professional, is business appropriate, and says that you remember those who count.
CardsDirect has a great selection that you can […]

Nov

11

Small Business Partner Programs - 10 Ways to Get the Word Out

November 11, 2007 | 5 Comments

There’s an increasing trend of big companies partnering with small businesses.  I wrote about this a few weeks back in my article,   Stop Selling and Instead Partner with Small Businesses.
And if you are one of the forward-thinking companies that already has set up partnership programs with small businesses, kudos to you.
Now, how about publicizing your […]

Nov

9

Latest Small Business Snapshot: Businesses and Employees

November 9, 2007 | 2 Comments

The SBA Office of Advocacy has come out with an updated annual snapshot of small businesses in the United States (PDF).
This chart shows the number of small businesses, the industries they are in, and the number of employees (click chart to open larger image):

Click for larger chart
In reading this chart remember these points:

“Nonemployer firms” means single-person small […]