August 16, 2000
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*** MarketingSherpa.com’s MarketingToSmallBiz.com ***
Practical Info on Marketing to the Millions of
Small Businesses and SOHOs on the Internet
August 16, 2000 - Vol. I, Issue 9
PLEASE FORWARD THIS ISSUE!!!
1. NEWS: ZonFire, OpenAir, AllBusiness, dbusiness.com
2. More Headlines from MarketingSherpa.com
3. CASE STUDY: A Hawaiian Bank Grows Small Biz Accounts
4. Practical Know-How: Top 4 PR Tips to Reach Small
Businesses Online
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NEWS
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Editor’s Note: Our next biweekly issue was going to right
before Labor Day, but we figure you guys will all be off
tanning someplace. So, look for us in your inbox Sept. 6
instead! Got news, comments or suggestions? Email
editor@marketingtosmallbiz.com
* ZonFire Ad Network Says Sites Attracting Small Biz Are
“Hottest Inventory” Now
ZonFire, a new division launched by online ad network L90,
is actively seeking small-medium B-to-B websites to rep. Scott
Rosenbloom, Zonfire’s Biz Dev guy says his biggest interest
is in sites targeting the small biz marketplace, which is
“the hottest in terms of ad inventory at this time.”
Hotter, in fact, than any other B-to-B category and many
consumer ones! All site repping deals are non-exclusive.
For more info contact Scott Rosenbloom at 310.315.1199 x
206 or scottr@l90.com
http://www.zonfire.com
* OpenAir.com Targets Regional Media with Local Customer
Case Studies
Small biz service site OpenAir.com’s latest PR campaign
“Operation Outreach” is a great example of thinking
nationally but marketing locally. First they emailed a
survey carefully crafted to elicit testimonials to current
customers. Next they asked customers who gave the best
answers to fill out an emailed “case study” form, promising
the final result would be promoted to local press.
Customers could even nominate the local media outlets
they’d like the final case study news release sent to!
Small businesses eager for free PR in their local market
were only to happy to comply. Locally targeted news
releases were then sent to reporters all over America.
Plus, Jeffrey S. Hunt, VP of Marketing told us because
regional paper editors are often small businesspeople
themselves, OpenAir.com also sent some business tips along
with the release. Very clever.
http://www.openair.com
* CAMPAIGN REVIEW: AllBusiness.com Excels at Opt-In
It’s a bird...it’s a plane...it’s the Champions of Small
Business! AllBusiness.com does something very, very smart
on its home page: really “spotlight” opting-in for their
free email newsletters.
Yes, most sites have a newsletter sign-up form on their
home page. But usually it’s off on a side column amidst a
bunch of other stuff. AllBusiness.com seems to realize
that getting opt-in names is the #1 MOST IMPORTANT THING
their site needs to do in this ultra-competitive
marketplace. So, they give newsletters the best real-estate
front and central on their home page … plus it’s
supplemented further down by a side-bar note to catch your
attention when you scroll.
To get into our “Marketing Hall of Fame” the only thing
AllBusiness.com need to do now is make their newsletter
sign-up more visible on all the other pages of their site,
where it’s nearly invisible.
http://www.allbusiness.com
* MEDIA BUY OF THE WEEK: dbusiness.com Opens Up Local
Markets
Want to advertise locally? dbusiness.com may have what you
need. The company hosts 25 different city sites (with more
planned) featuring targeted local news, networking, RFPs,
auctions and other features. You can advertise locally or
nationally as well as on specific channels on the site.
When all the cities are up and running, you’ll have access
to a market in just about every state although the heaviest
concentration of markets is on the east and west coasts.
The site is strictly business – no sports or entertainment
info to distract the site visitor. It might be just the
place to test that region specific campaign you’ve been
considering.
http://www.dbusiness.com
*****
MORE MARKETINGSHERPA.COM HEADLINES
*****
* FolioZ’s Philip Mowris on B-to-B Email Marketing, Banners
and Integrating Online and Offline Campaigns
http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=672
* Who's Who: Your Official Guide to Net Markets for
Marketers
http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com/sample.cfm?contentID=663
* Click2Net’s Adam Simpson on Building a 50,000 Site Strong
Online Ad Network
http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com/sample.cfm?contentID=666
* eBrandedBooks.com Signs More Digital/Paper Book Deals
http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=690
* B-to-B ASP Eventory Does Great Online Marketing Without a
Marketer
http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=676
* Is MarketingSherpa.co.uk an Estate Agent? The Spammers
Think So.
http://www.marketingsherpa.co.uk/sample.cfm?contentID=683
* FREE MARKETING NEWS HEADLINES FOR YOUR SITE:
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news channels (including MarketingtoSmallBiz.com) on your
site or intranet for free! Learn more at:
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CASE STUDY: American Savings Bank
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* American Savings Bank Significantly Increases Small Biz
Accounts by Helping Them Do Biz on the Web
CHALLENGE
American Savings Bank (ASB), based in Hawaii,
wanted to increase business deposit accounts; plus, boost
ePacifictrader.com, a local ecommerce site of which ASB is
the lead sponsor. ASB’s business banking customers are
predominantly small to medium-sized businesses, a market
that makes up 98% of all the businesses in the state.
CAMPAIGN
The bank realized most small businesses in Hawaii
want to do business online, but aren’t qute sure how to get
started. So this May ASB launched its Business Power
Source campaign to tap into this need. By opening a new
business checking account customers would also receive
special discounts on services including computer training,
IT consulting, ecommerce and Web site development. Plus
they could add up to five of their products to the ecommerce
shelves of ASB’s partner e-store ePacifictrader.com,
free-of-charge.
COST: The bank spent $11,000 on its Business Power Source
marketing campaign and invested an additional $89,000 in
ePacifictraders.com’s development and sponsorship. Both
campaigns were funded from the bank’s marketing expense
budget.
RESULTS
The Business Power Source campaign attracted local
newspaper and TV coverage over a period of several months.
As a result of both campaigns, ASB significantly increased
its deposit accounts. In addition, about 50% of the
merchants now on ePacifictrader.com are new customers of
ASB.
http://www.asbhawaii.com
http://www.epacifictrader.com
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PRACTICAL KNOW HOW: Public Relations
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Smallbiztechnology.com - the VOICE of small business
technology solutions and information
Small businesses are often overwhelmed by the technology
that’s available to them. Smallbiztechnology.com is their
guide to strategically using technology in their small
businesses.
http://www.smallbiztechnology.com
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* Top 4 PR Tips to Reach Small Businesses Online, from Dawn
Ringel, SVP Gumpert Communications
Gumpert Communications is a PR firm specializing in helping
large organizations such as NEBS and EntreWorld.org reach
small biz. We asked Senior VP Dawn Ringel for her top PR
tips for everyone who wants to do the same. Here they are
(paraphrased a bit):
Tip #1: Successful PR is all about reaching the right
audience with a message that is appropriate and meaningful
to them. Contrary to what many people think, the small
business and SOHO market isn’t one huge homogenous mass.
It’s made up of various segments which you need to identify
if your PR campaign will be effective. Ringel suggests
that you consider several things as you go about segmenting
the market:
- Cost of your goods and services
- Technological considerations
- Customer’s own market reach – is the customer is trying
to reach a large audience, local one, international one,
etc.
Tip#2: Use online media. Ringel says that many small biz
owners use the Internet because they are so busy. So
stories that appear in online media likely will be read.
But, getting the story on line has its challenges. Online
media can be harder to reach than traditional print and
television media. They’re not in the regular Bacon’s
directory so you’ll have to work harder to get them.
(Gumpert has collected an in-house database of more than
1,000 online editors and reporters who regularly cover
small business news.) Online publications may have only a
small number of pages allocated for small business topics
and it may be harder to get your story picked up.
Therefore, your story needs to be distinctive and have
value.
Tip# 3: Another way of getting your info online is through
content partnerships with related media sites. Online media
sites need lots of content that can change often, if not
daily, and these days their editorial staffing budgets are
lean so they often welcome outside help. Perhaps you can
provide a multi-part story or item that can be run over
several days. And, remember that online media need more up-
to-the-minute information. If you have a story that is more
“evergreen, ” that is, a piece that can be run now or three
weeks from now, pitch it to traditional print publications
instead.
You can also promote your executives as “experts” on small
biz topics and make them available either for online or e-
mail chats. But you must be selective about which sites you
use and make certain the sites do indeed serve the small
biz owner.
Tip #4: Unfortunately, for some companies, the road to PR
success has been filled with potholes. Here’s are the most
common mistakes you should avoid:
- Not understanding what truly sets your
company/service/product apart for small business and the
small business media.
-Setting your sights on one type of media. Some clients
that only want to reach small businesses through the Wall
Street Journal. This is disastrous. You need to understand
that various media do indeed reach the small business
community. Otherwise you waste a lot of money and time on
PR efforts that don’t work.
- A company can send out info that peripheral or isn’t
focused to the audience. Make certain your information is
targeted.
Happy note: Ringel says sometimes a PR effort is so
successful that companies are able to cutback on
advertising. (Wouldn’t that be nice?)
http://www.gumpertcom.com
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