Trends that will impact your business

The WAN (World Association of Newspapers) asked leading newspapers executives to identify the current trends they believe will have an impact on the future of their businesses. The list of 66 trends will serve as the centrepiece for "scenario planning"workshop being held in France January 29-30.

Though designed by newspaper execs, these trends ring very true for the local business under assault by the many changes in today's marketplace. Here are just a few:

• Availability is increasingly important - People are not always buying what they like, but instead what is at hand. 24/7 is becoming the norm.
• Infinite choices are making it hard to decide what product/service to buy.
• Increased life complexity calls for measures to simplify life.
  A new breed of "professional customers" -- well-educated customers with extensive knowledge of competing products/services and pricing.
• 50-70 percent of buying decisions are made in the store means more focus on design.

You can dowload the whole list here

Small Biz Contest - $50K and lots of glory

If you have 100 employees or less and have used technology to develop a competitive advantage in delivering superior customer value and experience....here's a contest for you.

To seek out and reward innovative small businesses for their smart use of technology, Dell and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) - founded the Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence Award program in 2004. Applications for this year's contest are due by Feb 29.

U.S. finalists will be announced in May 2008. Questions about the Small Business Excellence Award can be sent to SB_Award [at] Dell.com

OK, the $50,000 is in Dell products and services, but still, it's a nice opportunity and a very good playing field for the local business.

Small Biz Owners Always Working

Small biz owners are ALWAYS working. Yep. We knew that.

Thanks to Fox Business for alerting me to a new survey from Staples about small businesses - these stats will have folks who own local businesses nodding their heads:

"Small Business Managers Reveal Startling Work Hours and Habits

"Almost half of U.S. small business managers work during time meant for family and admit to making business calls and checking e-mail while driving, according to a national survey ...[exploring] the balance between work and personal time for 300 leaders of companies with fewer than 20 employees, a group representing nearly 90 percent of all U.S. businesses..."

Here are some of the other tidbits you'll pick up if you click through to the press release:

• nearly one in five managers admit to reading work-related e-mail and documents while in the bathroom and nearly half work while driving
• nearly two-thirds (62 percent) work well beyond a 40-hour week, and one in five work a double week, logging an extra 40 or more on-the-job hours.
• one in five work while eating dinner at least 4–5 times per week
• more than a third could not readily remember their last vacation.

College Students Come Calling for Google

Thanks to Search Engine Land for the heads up on a new Google program to turn college students loose on local businesses.

According to the always-on-top-of-things Greg Sterling, "You've got to hand it to Google for creativity. It created the local business referral representative program to enlist stay-at-home moms, college students and others to get better data about local businesses and build AdWords awareness. (I was told by Google that the response to the program had been strong.) Now Google has developed the "Google Online Marketing Challenge." According to the site, "student groups will receive US$200 of free online advertising and then work with local businesses to devise effective online marketing campaigns."

Sterling also has a heads-up about an upcoming Simple Ads program, so check out his post.

Optimize - Strategize - It's all "zzzz" to me

A recent project had me examining several dozen web sites, checking out product offerings and company information. Ugh! The state of web marketing and communications is pitiful.

Over 75% of the sites used jargon, but never said what the product was - I see they are all cost effective, revenue enhancing, they all optimize, strategize (and cross-my-eyes). They are all industry-leaders, best-of-breed, they all provide solutions, enhance, enable, and empower. HUH?

They fail to list their products. When products are listed there is not a simple descriptive sentence alongside that product. Want to know what the product does? Well, it's likely state-of-the art something that enables somebody to maximize their revenue potential. (And, like I asked, WHAT is it?). Instead - they have a page of "Solutions" which is poorly written, poorly edited, and minus compelling benefits.

Several don't list any of the names or backgrounds of the people involved, provide no street address, and fail to provide basic company information. Hey, if I'm dealing with Google I don't really need to verify that this company knows what they are doing. If I'm dealing with XYZ Cutie Name Company I want to have a lot of information that tells me they are legit.

Betcha they are thinking, "We'll provide that when they call us. No need to give any information away to our competitors." Problem is, who would care to call such an unprofessional company.

If it was just this one situation, I wouldn't be so peeved. But this is rampant. Go to any major conference, walk the conference floor, look at booths and literature, and tell me what half the companies do and how they are unique among their competitors. It can't be done.

PR these days makes it even worse. Check out this post from Ken Magill. He's on-spot in his analysis about how ineffective it is to think that people will work hard to understand your company.

So this is my mini-rant. I wish every company that wants to succeed would optimize its language, strategize on how to communicate better, enhance their message, enable real people to understand exactly what's being offered, and be the best-of-breed communicators as well as technologists.

Now THAT would be real marketing.

Small Biz and the Web

Two pieces worth noting to help keep your small retail business competitive.

One from the New York Times - Small Merchants Gain Large Presence on Web - pointing out that small- and medium-size retailers selling online has swelled in the last two years, from 21 percent to 32 percent. This article should give you cause to pause if you're thinking about opening a new business as a bricks-and-mortar location. (This sent in by pal and research guru Tim Stehle - thanks, Tim!)

The second from Andrew Shotland's blog, covering keynoter Allison Mnookin's (VP Small Business, Intuit) talk at the recent Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media Conference. She told attendees that company research shows 20% of the small businesses claimed that SEO was by far their “most effective” online marketing tactic. Only about 5% said that online advertising was most effective. Shotland remarks, "Of course 59% said business cards were the most effective form of marketing so we SEO junkies still have some work to do."

The Kelsey Group blogs also had great information from Mnookin's talk - check out Steve Marshall's post which includes hints on how vendors should work with small businesses, as well as tidbits such as, "SMBs spent about $110 billion on marketing last year. But only 22 percent have done any online marketing (in the past 12 months), and less than 5 percent of their marketing budgets are spent on online media. Finally, although 95 percent of SMBs say they want to have a Web site, less than 50 percent currently do."

Distinguished Volunteer Fundraiser

Today, as some of you know, I'm one of the Silicon Valley folks being honored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as a Distinguished Volunteer Fundraiser.

The recognition is a result of my volunteer work with my nearby YMCA in its annual Community Support campaign. This annual effort supports scholarships to YMCA programs so no one is turned away for lack of funds.

In addition to helping raise funds each February, I try to bring my marketing skills to play during the annual campaign: helping write campaign literature, letters and emails for other volunteers to use, scripts for use on the phone, telephone training, and ideas that raise awareness among the YMCA members.

Thanks again to all who have called and emailed to say "congrats."

News from the Local Space - NBC Makes Moves and Zillow Partners With Newspapers

TV Week broke the news today that the "English-language, NBC-owned TV stations have been renamed NBC Local Media. The new division [is] important to the station group’s mission to be a full-service local content provider for all digital platforms and to provide a full range of integrated marketing solutions to the local marketplace.

"Brian Buchwald has been named senior VP of local digital media and multiplatform, and Mark French has been named senior VP and general manager of NBC Everywhere, a new unit focusing on the company’s growing digital place-based networks. Both appointments are effective immediately and report directly to NBC Local Media Division President John Wallace."

Hmmm...so NBC is trying to get a bigger piece of the local advertising pie. Are there new partnerships to look forward to, or will they try to go it alone. Whatever the case, it's worth watching.

And in other local news, check out Peter Krasilovsky's coverage of the announcement Zillow has made its move to partner with newspapers, a good sign that newspapers aren't going to lay down and die when it comes to their part of the online real estate advertising that Borrell Associates estimates will swell to $3 billion by 2010.

What's all this mean for the small local business? More companies trying to build better local sites can only help create healthier advertising platforms. Will big media ever create a digital strategy that is useful and effective for small businesses? We'll have to wait and see.

What Consumers Want

Another report well worth the time: Sterling Commerce and Deloitte issued a report, What Consumers Want in Their Shopping Experience, that discusses what consumers want in online and traditional shopping.

While geared to retail, the findings also have applications all small businesses should put into play. Come to think of it, most of us could name some big dot com companies that would do well to keep these expectations of customer service in mind

Key findings:

• Both online shoppers and offline shoppers had three major areas of dissatisfaction with their shopping experience: Lack of information availability, out-of–stock items, and lack of assistance/poor customer service from store personnel.
• Consumers ranked online notifications higher than product rating and review features. Consumers also chose proactive notification of delayed shipments as one of the important features that increases trust in a retailer.
• Tracking an order across channels is also a necessity, with 57% of consumers stating that it is important for them to be able to monitor the status of their order via the Web, a 1-800 number, or through customer service in a store,regardless of whether that order was placed online, through the catalog, or as a special order in a store.
• Seventy-two percent of consumers say that finding sale items out of stock decreases their willingness to shop with that retailer. That is a huge number.
• Sixty-nine percent say it is important for a retailer to be able to locate an out-of-stock product at a different location, and then provide the consumer with various delivery options.
• Consumers are becoming more familiar with the experience of a single retailer offering products across multiple channels. They expect the communication and service options related to these products to be seamlessly merged.

The End of Advertising As We Know It

IBM Global Business Services has a new report, The End of Advertising As We Know It, that is a great read for those (like me) who care about such things.

It's received lots of press already, but I include it here so you'll have an easy link.

The report has a lot to say to the media and agencies that are engaged in the business side of advertising, but all this certainly impacts local businesses. It's already common to find small local businesses struggling for creative ways to market the business without having to spend all day at the computer watching keywords, listings, consumer reviews, etc.

Now we have a forecast that shows increased consumer control, growing niche media, and reliance on self-serve advertising models.

How can small business survive and thrive in this environment? More to come in future posts.

Newspapers Talk About National Online Ad Market - Again

Story in today's Chicago Tribune: 5 newspaper giants in talks about online ad network

I must be in an endless loop akin to a Groundhog Day scenario, because I've seen this headline before. About a dozen times since 1995. [Heck, I was part of the effort on a few occasions.]

This time, according to the article, the new network is to "help them recapture ad revenue leaking away from their print products." Well! Ok then. I get it. The first kajillion times didn't work because newspapers weren't losing enough money. Most observers thought it was because there was no consistency of audience, content, platform, and quality among the websites and the local staff knew that corporate was putting no teeth into the mandate.

And, yes, the new consortium "would both overlap with and compete against another network set up last year by Yahoo Inc..." The deal with Yahoo wasn't enough, uh, why? "What's missing [in the Yahoo partnership] is the ability for the newspaper companies to sell their own national ads across each other's sites." Wow - now I see the light. Apparently, newspapers are super stars about selling national ads on websites.

I'm a firm believer in monetizing websites. I know that it can be an advertiser's nightmare to try to buy ads in a string of newspaper websites. But the reason it has never happened is not for lack of a dedicated sales team that will "sell for newspapers."

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a dozen times...nope.

Cisco Launches Entrepreneur Contest

It's not local, but the Cisco I-Prize is a pretty cool contest for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Cisco wants to plug its collaboration technologies so they are inviting folks to post ideas and form global teams to create technology business ideas. The lure at the end of the contest is being hired by Cisco as founders of a new business unit with a signing bonus of $250,000 and an investment of up to $10 million over three years.

Here's the press release announcing the competition with links to all the details. To enter the contest: Register on the Cisco I-Prize Website. Post your idea and comment on other ideas posted by fellow entrepreneurs. Use the Human Network to refine your concept and form an idea team of all-stars that can take your idea to the next level. Registration ends Jan 15 - so if this is your cuppa tea, don't delay.

A reminder to those of you who aren't so techie - don't forget the Intuit contest for small businesses with its $50,000 prize. Deadline is December 15, 2007 and even if you don't win you get free software.