Good question. Many businesses are reluctant to jump in the social media pool because they believe it is a fad that will pass. They continue to put their ads in newspapers and try to get noticed on billboards, etc. Well, guess what? It isn’t a fad. It is for real and it is where your customers are. It is a great opportunity to have a conversation with your customers and increase awareness of your products and services.
I’m reminded of the buggy whip salesman telling his customers “Cars will never catch on.” Really, it is time to get on board and do it right. Engage in social media starting with defining goals and then create a strategy to reach those goals! Done right, social media can be a wonderful marketing tool.
Arkansas State University – Arkansas Small Business & Technology Development Center Director, Herb Lawrence contributes another great article on knowing your potential customers:
Market Research Part II Learning about Your Potential Customers Buying Habits
Last week I introduced some of the resources that the ASU SBTDC consultant use when conducting Market Research about a particular industry, I hope you found it helpful. Today I want to focus on effective market research tools to help learn more about your potential customers and how they buy.
Consumer market research tells my entrepreneur:
How many potential customers are in the trade zone
How much they will spend on a product or service
Where they are located
What demographic, socio-graphic or other factors influence buying decisions and how to break the market into homogenous sub groups to target
The first place my consultants start is at Hill Search, the James J. Hill on Line Reference Library for a lot of our clients initial market research needs. Three separate Hill Library resources that we access include:
DemographicsNow database -provides extensive demographic information about households and basic consumer expenditure data on trade zones (by zip code, town, county, MSA, state or region).
Hill Library New Strategist Demographic eBooks, over 30 on-line books with specific information about how much consumers spend on a wide variety of products and services broken out by demographic sub categories. One example is “Who is Buying Apparel” and “Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand” eBooks to get detailed expenditure information on jewelry by a variety of demographic sub categories including income, age, education, and more. This information combined with the county household demographics will determine not only overall county demand for a product or service and segment the households to find out who the best potential customers may be.
Hill Library Special Issues database, for industry reports outlining the trends of the past year and forecasts for the coming year.
The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center network offices are all paid members of the Hill Search Library which means that their clients have access to all of this data through the center at no charge. Plus the ASBTDC staff provides free assistance in analyzing the data and helping the client make decisions based on the information. There is no charge to be a client, nor for any assistance through the centers.
Finding good, reliable market research data is possible. It is just a matter of knowing where to look. The Hill Library is an excellent tool, or using the free services of the ASBTDC to help develop initial market research. Next week, “drilling down” to find customers in your trade zone using Dominant Tapestry Segmentation programs.
This post is contributed by Herb Lawrence, director at ASU’s – Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center:
Recently Christi asked me to contribute posts to her great blog about small business issues, and after listening to her recent radio interview with Margaret Banks about turning Passion into Profits; I thought the first group of posts should cover resources for entrepreneurs to get a better understanding of their business to determine whether their idea was feasible. At the Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center, my consultants help a new client by conducting market research. Our consultants concentrate on 4 primary areas initially: Industry Information, the Market Place – consumer trends, competitive analysis and financial benchmarking. In this post I want to share some of the best sources we use to get a better “feel” of the industry.
A good working knowledge of the industry your venture will operate in is a critical first step. The key is to find good reports that cover current economic conditions, trends within the industry, issues important to business owners in that industry, and the overall distribution channel.
My consultants start our industry research out with 4 sources:
The best source for a concise overview that we have found is First Research. A 12-15 page overview for the industry including:
competitive landscape,
sales & marketing issues,
current finance & regulations impacting the industry, and
human resource issues.
It also has a section on recent developments (updated quarterly to ensure current information) and current business challenges that the industry is facing, as well as benchmarking financial information, forecasting, and links to other sources.
Our consultants pull First Research reports on the client’s specific business as well as businesses in the distribution chain to include wholesalers, manufacturers and complimentary types of business. First Research reports run from $130 to $250 per report.
Professional trade journals are another good source of current industry information. The ASU SBTDC uses the Hill On-Line Reference Library’s Special Issues section to find current information from trade journals these journals often have quarterly or annual “State of the Industry” reports accessible through the Hill Library. For research in multiple professional journals, Hill can be a more cost effective option to purchasing from individual journals. Hill Library annual subscription is $225 and allows the subscriber to access a wider variety of reports most included at no additional cost as part of the annual subscription.
SBDCNet is an on-line library for Small Business Development Centers to research client information on a variety of industries. Although primarily for SBDC offices, the general public can access SBDCNet and has limited ability to pull reports.
Finally, Market Research.Com’s DataMonitor reports are an excellent (although very expensive) source for detailed industry data as well as recent studies on different consumer issues. Data Monitor reports can be ordered from their website and run anywhere from $500 to over $5,000 depending on the type of report.
Obviously there are many resources available to a small business to conduct research but these four are great places to start. While the cost can be quite high for a small business owner the “intelligence” provided is invaluable.
In Arkansas any small business can receive information from any of these sources through their local Small Business and Technology Development Center, and by signing up as a client this information is free of charge as part of our market research projects with our clients. For more information about how you can access any of these sources through the Arkansas SBTDC feel free to shoot me an e-mail; hlawrenc@astate.edu, call our office (870) 972-3517, join us on Facebook www.facebook.com/asu.sbtdc or make a request using the comment section on the blog. We would love to hear from you and see how we may be able to help your business. If you are outside of Arkansas we can direct you to the nearest SBDC in your part of the country.
Next time I will show you some great sites and resources to start conducting research on your potential customers.
AS promised on The Margaret Banks radio show, I am posting links to information that was discussed during the program. On the program we discussed “Turning Your Passion Into Profit.” If you missed the program, you can listen to it with audio on demand from Mountain Talk 97 Radio during the week of March 15th.
Facebook ABC’s for Business – Get Your Profile Set Right
Tuesday March 16, 2010, 02:00PM
Ends: Tuesday March 16, 2010, 05:00PM
Event Type: Training/Seminar
Location: Room 107 McLain Hall, ASU Mountaiin Home
1600 S College St
Mountain Home, AR 72653 US
Price: $35 per person ($25 Mountain Home Chamber members, $20 ASU MH faculty, staff or students)
Register at: http://asusbtdc.ualr.edu/training/jonesboro.asp
Intended For: Small business owners, managers of non-profits, anyone wanting to expand their marketing opportunities with social media
Organization: Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center
Seminar for small businesses and non-profits to learn how to use Facebook as a tool for marketing their organization. These session walks attendees through basics of setting up their profiles before starting a Facebook Page. Topics include Why Facebook? What is Social Media Marketing and how can my organization use it? Setting friend lists, privacy settings, keywords for search engines and more. This seminar will be taught by Joe and Christi Wharton of Wharton Marketing located in Arkansas and Louisiana.
Who Owns Your Website? Blog article with information you need to know to have control of one of your best business assets – your website!
Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center
The source for all of that great information including feasibility studies. Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center provides assistance to start up and existing businesses throughout Northeast and North Central Arkansas through quality consulting, training and research – at no charge. Not in Arkansas? Check here to find the SBDC nearest you.
Internet Marketing Pays Off For Small Business Blog article with information on how small businesses are increasing revenue with the use of internet marketing.
SEO Lots of SEO information is available on this blog and our Facebook page. If you would like to talk to us about SEO, contact us at info@wharton-marketing.com or call us at 870-404-1985.
The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center’s Facebook ABC’s seminar is coming up next week and I understand it is filling up! Here is more info and the registration link. Hope to see you there.
JONESBORO, Ark (March 1st, 2010) – The Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center along with the Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce and Arkansas State University Mountain Home will hold an introductory seminar on Facebook ABCs for Businesses on the ASU Mountain Home campus Tuesday, March 16th.
From 2:00-5:00 pm Facebook ABCs for Business Seminar – a basic course to help small business owners evaluate how Facebook and other social media can help their marketing efforts. This 3 hour seminar will be taught by Christi and Joe Wharton, Wharton Website Design and Marketing. “Facebook has become a great marketing tool for small businesses,” said Herb Lawrence, ASU SBTDC Center Director. “Over 325 million people are currently on Facebook and over 300,000 small businesses have Facebook Pages that allows them to find, communicate with, and develop profitable relationships with customers. The question is: are you on Facebook to interact with them?” This course will show attendees how this powerful social media network allows them to establish relationships with others on Facebook who want to know more about their businesses. In this introductory seminar, topics will include an overview of how social media works; how Facebook helps small businesses improve their marketing efforts and basics of setting up a Facebook Profile that is linked to a Page. Attendees should have some basic computer knowledge.
Registration is $35 per person ($25 for Chamber members and $20 for ASU Mountain Home Faculty, Staff and Students). For more information or to register contact the Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center at (870) 972-3517, email asusbtdc@astate.edu, register on line at http://asbtdc.ualr.edu/training/jonesboro.asp or “fan” the ASU SBTDC on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/asu.sbtdc.
These seminars are co-sponsored by Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas State University Mountain Home, Baxter County Library, First Community Bank, First Community Bank and Liberty Bank of Arkansas.
I will be posting regular contributions on issues of interest to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Look for weekly posts on a variety of topics. I thought it best that my first post for 2010 should be a little background on me and on the work I do at Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center. I apologize in advance if it looks like an “info-mercial” but thought it a good idea to give readers an idea of what I do and how we assist small businesses.
The Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center, ASU SBTDC, is part of a statewide network of seven centers working out of universities across the state. We offer economic development help to start-up and existing businesses through consulting, training workshops & seminars, as well as market research assistance. Our assistance areas include:
feasibility studies
business plans
market research
financial analysis
loan packaging
marketing
e-commerce and social media marketing
All of our consulting assistance and market research is free of charge and completely confidential. Our training seminars generally do have registration fees from $25 to $49 depending on the type of seminar.
I have been the center director at ASU SBTDC for over fourteen years helping entrepreneurs and small businesses in a fifteen county area with a variety of business needs. For more information about how the ASBTDC can help your business please visit our state website, shoot me an e-mail or join us on Facebook. We would love to talk to you about your business and how we might work with you.
I will be posting weekly articles on a variety of topics that are generally of interest to our small business clients. I hope they will prove useful to you. We need your opinion so let me know what you think. I thought a good way to start would be to discuss a topic that has caught the interest of a lot of our small business clients, Social Media Marketing. Look for that article next week about how social media marketing can work for your business.
I’ve been playing with Google’s new social media offering, Buzz, this morning and seeing how it can help businesses. It is really geared more for people than businesses at this point, but it is yet another place where you can build the social media presence for your business.
The mobile Buzz is currently available only on Droid and iPhone, but it has some nifty features like knowing your location and allowing you to see what is “buzzing” near you.
You can read more about Buzz at Mashable and read some marketing tips for Buzz from Hubspot. Just when you thought you had the social media conquered, here comes another opportunity!
We’ll be keeping up with all the fun here at Wharton Marketing to keep you informed.
According to market research firm IDC, vendors shipped 54.5 million smartphone devices in the fourth quarter of 2009, an increase of 39% compared to the same period in 2008.
With the ever increasing use of smartphones, businesses must be prepared. Gone are the days when people would pull out a phone book and look for the name and address of a restaurant, an auto repair shop, a clothing store. Now, as they are out and about, they can pull out their smartphone and find a restaurant, read the menu, make reservations and get a map with directions from where they are to the restaurant of their choice. They can even ask their social media friends for recommendations.
Combining a mobile friendly site with social media power can put your business in a perfect position to take advantage of this growing opportunity. Loading speed is even more important than ever in the smartphone world. Google has even mentioned trying to make loading speed a factor in their ranking algorithm. You may or may not need a separate .mobi site for use by smartphones, but at the very least, you need a site with clean, uncluttered code and all your pictures should be optimized for the fastest possible loading time.
The social media aspect is just as important. When someone asks their social media friends for a recommendation, will your name come up? Make your presence known on the social media sites and offer great information. However, the most important part of this equation is focusing on delivering excellence once your customer finds you. Even if a restaurant is found on a smartphone and offers a great menu, if you don’t focus on delivering excellence, you will not likely be recommended in the social media world.
Marketing in this lightening fast world is a challenge but it is the businesses that meet the challenge that will rise to the top.
We have suspected it for some time. We see sites with lower Google page ranks outperforming higher ranked pages all the time. We knew that the public page rank that we see is months old. Sometimes you see an article that articulates the point so well that you just need to link to it. The great people at the Hubspot Blog did a great job of explaining:
I will be posting regular contributions on issues of interest to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Look for weekly posts on a variety of topics. I thought it best that my first post for 2010 should be a little background on me and on the work I do at Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center. I apologize in advance if it looks like an “info-mercial” but thought it a good idea to give readers an idea of what I do and how we assist small businesses.
From 