Featured Guest
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August 1-15, 1996
Talking With The Experts
Online chats offer real-time business advice

Index
How much should you invest in marketing?
New ways to reach your customers
The challenges of marketing your small business in 1996
What makes a good (or bad) web site?
The biggest challenge facing small businesses today
Members of the Small Business Council recently "got together" on MSN to chat about small business marketing issues. Here are a few excerpts from that session:

Host Alice Bredin MSN:
Our guests tonight are experts in how to market a small business. We’re talking about challenges, opportunities, and what you can do to get the word out about your small business this year.

Host AliceBredin MSN: for Guest Jon Taber
How much should I be investing in marketing my business?

Jay Conrad Levinson:

  • Last year, the average biz invested 4% of revenues in marketing; don't try to be average with that 4% figure. Better to be aggressive. Invest 10%.
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • For your marketing question, the readers of Home Office Computing often tell us that niche marketing is doable at very low margins
  • Paul Tulenko:
  • It’s my opinion that a small or start-up business may have to invest as much as 20% of their first year’s income into marketing. After all, no one knows you at this point, and practically every thing you do is new. You’re going to have to tell everyone who you are and what you do, and that’s going to be expensive. Word of mouth is great, but if no one knows you, who’s going to tell? I’d suggest a mail campaign at the very least, a newsletter is great if you know your target market, join your target’s association and get involved, and anything else that gets you noticed.

  • Host AliceBredin MSN: for Guest Jon Taber
    Is anyone using diskette brochures to promote their business?

    Jay Conrad Levinson:

  • People have been using diskette brochures for about 6 or 7 years now.
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • Diskette brochures are becoming increasingly popular, but CD ROM is starting to move up.
  • Jay Conrad Levinson:
  • If you’re audience is computer savvy, diskettes may be a very valuable weapon for you, Jon.
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • It is now possible to produce CD ROMS at relatively low costs, provided your customers can run them.
  • Paul Tulenko:
  • Diskette and CD ROM brochures are valid only for the computer savvy prospect. If your market is the ordinary business, you’re wasting your money. The same goes for video cassettes . . . with exceptions. If your market is based on visual (and once-in-a-while audio), then a cassette might work. For example, personal fitness, health, some self-help and similar programs do have cassette audiences. Personally, I like the idea of a newsletter with REAL help, not just puffery about your product/service.
  • Host AliceBredin MSN:
    Chuck, what is the most overlooked marketing material (easily designed) for a small biz?

    Chuck Green:

  • A single page newsletter that does some soft selling is an effective, easy to produce project that can get folks interested.
  • Host AliceBredin MSN:
    Are there new ways for small businesses to reach customers?

    Dennis Eskow:

  • Alice, yes...there are many new avenues, CD ROM...public access cable TV....fax back...
  • Host AliceBredin MSN:
    Dennis, tell us more about fax back

    Dennis Eskow:

  • Sure...fax back is a wonderful technology that requires basically communications software and word for windows or some other word processor. You set up brief pages with information your customers need and they call your fax number. You set up your communications software so they can request a fax with their phone touch pad. It's very inexpensive!
  • Brad-Edwards:
  • New ways to reach customers: instead of sending them your normal letters and brochures, you might consider sending a free sample of your product. To make a sale out of this, you must do a follow-up....you'll find that you'll be thanked for the free sample.
  • Chuck Green:
  • I am particularly interested in the internet. There is little or no barrier to entry, and if you have something of value to offer and a flair for getting your message out, and a small business can compete with larger manufacturers.
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • Chuck...you are so right about the low barrier to entry. This is both great and terrible news.
  • Paul Tulenko:
  • Try this one. Set up an internet page for yourself and have one page protected with a password. Use this page to provide wholesale prices, special instructions, or something else your customer’s want all the time but have a hard time obtaining because of time, etc. Tell prospects you have this feature. It could attract new users to you. A second idea is to offer a FREE email service to your customers where they receive current information more-or-less automatically. It’s the internet version of a fax. You could also offer a FAX service as indicated by some of the others in this forum. FAX-BAK works!
  • Host AliceBredin MSN:
    What's the biggest marketing challenge facing small businesses in 1996?

    Dennis Eskow:

  • Alice...the biggest challenge will be to stay focused! There are so many opportunities in so many different directions...it will be too tempting to try winning at everything!
  • Jay Conrad Levinson:
  • Alice, it' s more of an opportunity than a challenge, and it's called the internet.
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • Yes, Jay...the internet where most of the distraction takes place.
  • Jay Conrad Levinson:
  • One of the tough challenges is separating the here and now technologies from the distant horizon technologies.
  • Brad-Edwards:
  • The biggest marketing challenge is allocating your income back into your business for the correct means of advertising to create more sales.
  • Paul Tulenko:
  • I agree with Dennis. The biggest marketing challenge is to stay focused. There are dozens of opportunities like the internet, fax-bak, and all those other glitzy gadgets and gizmos; our job as entrepreneurs is to process this new information with the underlying theme of: "Will it actually help my business or is this something that I need to think more about?
  • Host AliceBredin MSN:
    What are common good and bad elements of most small biz web sites today?

    Dennis Eskow:

  • The worst element is NO hot links....the internet is loaded with surfers who appreciate it when you forward them somewhere else...also wherever possible offer them some means of interactivity. And utilize every presentation trick. For instance, today you can do a PowerPoint presentation with wipes and fades and sound and launch it onto the net... Surfers love activity....views, sounds and pointing and clicking at buttons that DO something.
  • Jay Conrad Levinson:
  • Three major errors in web sites: not responding fast enough, not changing the site often enough, and not giving enough valuable content for free.
  • Jay Conrad Levinson:
  • One more big error on the web is not promoting a site enough.
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • Jay is right!
  • Dennis Eskow:
  • Plug it by registering with Yahoo (Ziff Davis)
  • Paul Tulenko:
  • The good elements are an attractive web page, classy but few graphics, real information instead of puffery with a number of sub-pages - all displayed in a Mall or common site area of a vertical market. This leads to one major bad element and that is trying to go it alone. You’re one among millions . . . why should I spend the energy to look you up? Join up with someone.
  • Host AliceBredin MSN:
    What is the single greatest challenge facing small businesses today?

    Jay Conrad Levinson:

  • I think it's conquering their technophobia and utilizing what is available to them, technology that is easier than ever before. And less expensive. And more effective.
  • Brad-Edwards:
  • I need to run folks...To all entrepreneurs and small business owners...may all your ventures and business deals be successful.
  • Paul Tulenko:
  • To All Entrepreneurs in the chat room. I would like to thank you for your many questions and I hope you received some ideas that will make your business a success.
  • Jay Conrad Levinson:
  • Thank you for asking good questions or listening to our answers. There has never been a better time in history to own a small business than right now.