Wayne Messick

Archive for the ‘Opinions’ Category

It was 1999 when I presented the idea that “the Internet will be your bridge to the 21st. century” to three trade association audiences.

By then, thanks to an unexpected client engagement, I was already deeply involved helping a well established third generation traditional “brick & mortar” mainstream business leverage itself onto the Internet.

The presentation looks like some sort of prophesy in hindsight – as if I had some idea before its time. In fact my observations were just common sense based on my long experience helping business owners identify what was important to them and the future of their company.

Here is what I deduced from these business owners – what they would want the Internet to do for them back in 1999, that has become a fact today.

These were mainstream companies, with from 25-500 employees – companies up and down Main Street in every country around the world. Companies who employ seventy-five percent of the people on the planet want small business Internet marketing explained to them.

They have traditionally marketed their products and services, for the most part, within 100 miles of their business location. That’s the distance, historically at least, that their trucks could deliver there products to or service their customers, driving there and back during a business day. Beyond that there are additional fixed costs to consider.

They want to increase their market share in their traditional marketing area and they want to extend their marketing area by another 50 miles or more in every direction. Just imagine the additional profits of extending your marketing circle another fifty miles without any additional overhead – by using the Internet.

Successful small business owners told me they wanted to increase their “share of customer” meaning they want to be the sole source provider of products in their category that their clients and customers use. Why not get all their business – make every customer a Key Account and their profits per would soar.

They also want to make online sales and service a default part of the company – so at least some elements of their organization are in gear and running 24/7/365 – adding dramatically to their customer contact potential, at no incremental cost.

And they want to grow their bottom line with easier automated customer acquisition, increased productivity, reduced costs, and higher a sales volume.

Internet marketing for these successful small businesses is about doing a better more profitable job of doing what they are already doing.

With these expectations and many more – and with more and more companies getting online every day, I decided to create a blog style web site that would allow dozens of authors post their articles for small business success and I would write down my experiences as well.

The objective is to illustrate actionable strategies you can use to grow your business!

I hope you are think about the implications of what you read on my site and I also hope you will take a few seconds and post your comments for the rest of us. By sharing your experiences and insights here you will be adding to the richness of the conversation.