Oct

18

Stop Selling and Instead Partner with Small Businesses

October 18, 2007 | 5 Comments

Are you finding it a challenge to reach niche markets?  Too costly to go after on your own? 
Has innovation inside your organization stalled or become stale?
Perhaps it’s time to do what companies like Google and Proctor & Gamble are doing: partner.  A growing trend is that of large companies partnering with small businesses to their mutual […]

Oct

3

Constant Contact Goes Public!

October 3, 2007 | 3 Comments

It just goes to show:  there is money in the small business market.
Constant Contact, the email marketing services company that made its bones selling to small businesses, went public on the NASDAQ yesterday.  Today was its first trading day. 
Here is the announcement (sent via the Constant Contact email marketing software, of course):
We have some exciting […]

Sep

30

Can Changing Your Brand Make You Successful in the SMB Market?

September 30, 2007 | 3 Comments

Can changing your brand be all it takes to make your company successful in the SMB or small business market?
Nestor Arellano writes an interesting article at IT Business about the topic of changing your brand to appeal to a different market.  He notes, “Some key reasons for brand change include: a change in ownership, repositioning […]

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

10

Scott Cook of Intuit, on Net Promoters

September 10, 2007 | 3 Comments

At the recent 2007 Inc 500 event,  Scott Cook, founder of Intuit, gave one of the keynote presentations.  In it he made a key point about net promoter scores.  He said (paraphrasing):
“Don’t just focus on the detractors, trying to fix what’s wrong. Pay attention to the enthusiastic promoters of your business.”
If you’re familiar with the concept of net promoters and can’t stand to read […]

Sep

6

A Glut in Small Business Sites?

September 6, 2007 | 3 Comments

A friend and colleague writes me wanting suggestions for a topic niche that is not already saturated, for a small business site. His company plans to start a blog for business owners and managers. They are trying to stake out territory on a topic that is not already covered thoroughly.
In fact, he raises a point I’ve been […]

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

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

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 […]

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