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 […]

Sep

25

Going Downmarket is Tough For Enterprise Vendors

September 25, 2007 | 3 Comments

You have two companies on the Fortune 1000 list.  Company A delights in serving small businesses  — and counts 7 million of them in its customer base.  Company B won’t touch the small business market with the proverbial 10-foot pole.  Why not? In the words of Company B’s Chairman, “We just haven’t figured out a way to make a substantial […]

Sep

9

American Express OPEN Plum Card Introduction - Another Memorable Event

September 9, 2007 | 6 Comments

Have you ever noticed that companies tend to have certain things they are really good at, just like people?
Call it core competency or shared organizational memory — whatever the term, it makes all the difference.
A case in point is American Express OPEN. American Express OPEN is a company that does big events well.  I’ve been to four events involving […]

Dec

8

The Complexity of VOIP

December 8, 2006 | Leave a Comment

According to this article by TechTarget, SMBs find voice over IP (VOIP) too complex:
“SMBs definitely haven’t been adopting the technology like enterprises, mainly because the technology is complex. Anything that’s complex is going to be difficult for these small companies,” said Gary Chen, an analyst at Boston-based The Yankee Group. “There are so many pieces […]

Nov

25

We Are Committed to the SMB Market … And Other Best Laid Plans

November 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Most large tech companies that have decided to target the SMB market space will tell you how committed they are to small businesses.  But the reality can seem much different.
In truth, what you find is that some executives and even some entire departments within large tech vendors  are indeed committed.  It’s just that it takes more than corporate edict to […]

Sep

19

Small and Midsize Retailers Get Contactless Credit Card Systems

September 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Contactless credit cards using radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are a growing trend in the retail world, with over 17 million of the cards issued in the past year alone.  
North American Bancard today announced it is providing contactless payment systems to 3,000 small and midsize retailers, free of charge. 
Contactless credit cards do not have to be swiped or inserted […]

Jun

21

Small Businesses Have Consumer Buying Behaviors

June 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Small businesses buy like consumers, and not like other businesses.
Hey, it’s no longer just me saying this. Other people are talking about this, too.
Charles Jolley, CEO of Sproutit.com, writes:
 ”… small businesses (and agile teams inside large companies) don’t buy like a business; they buy like consumers! Small teams work on a limited budget and short deadlines, […]

May

28

Can Couch Potatoes Become Entrepreneurs?

May 28, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Raymond Keating, Chief Economist of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council poses this question at the Capitalist Chatter blog:
Does too much “Desperate Housewives,”  ”24,” and “Oprah,” not to mention cruising the Internet, mean less entrepreneurship? Are we less entrepreneurial and more couch potato?
He cites some research by economists Andrew Burke, University of Cranfield in the […]

May

25

Small Businesses - Characters Welcome

May 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Is brand strategy overrated?  One commentator says it is.  Marcia Hoeck, writing in B2B Marketing Trends, says companies ought to just try to be themselves:
Most companies don’t stand out in the marketplace “sea of sameness.”  And because they don’t stand out, they are not connecting with potential customers.
What’s the solution?  Be yourself. Be unique.
Sounds simple, […]

May

23

Cell Phones, Text Messaging and Marketing

May 23, 2006 | Leave a Comment

The cell phone is becoming a way to reach consumers with marketing messages.  In this article in Destination CRM, Scott Springer of Smart Reply, speaks about the potential:
“In the U.S. 67 percent of the population subscribes to a mobile phone service, with an estimated 36 percent of the subscribers using some kind of mobile data application, as […]

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