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2008 Issue 6
Small Business Uses For Blogs
And Wikis
Three Keys To Maintaining A
Good Relationship With Suppliers
Finding Your Niche
Creative Techniques For
Product Naming
 
Small Business Uses For Blogs And Wikis
If you spend any time at all online you can’t
have failed to notice a whole set of new
technologies that make up what is being referred
to as ‘Web 2.0’ - wikis, blogs, rss feeds and
podcasts. More and more, these are finding
applications in business. Here’s a simple
explanation of two of the most common Web 2.0
technologies being promoted as useful to small
business, blogs and wikis.
Blogs
Contraction of ‘web log’, a blog is a diary of
the writer’s thoughts but with entries displayed
in reverse chronological order. Communication is
two-way – readers who have joined (subscribed
to) a particular blog can post their own
responses and thoughts on the stories the author
has posted there.
Example Blogs: The Consumerist, Small Business
Trends, Small Business Brief, SalesTeamTools
Business applications
- Inexpensive marketing
- Build web traffic
- Low cost alternative to creating and maintaining a website
- Chance to communicate in an immediate and personalized way with customers and prospects to get new ideas as well as feedback on products
and service
- Keep employees informed about business related developments
What it takes
You need to publish well written, informative
content on your blog on a regular basis to enjoy
the maximum search engine optimization benefits
of blogging and keep readers coming back. More
time will go into responding to the comments you
receive and checking up on the links you have
provided to other sites (users will stop reading
your blog if they regularly find dead links in
your stories). It also needs some clever
marketing to get noticed and attract subscribers
in the first place. You could use your customer
list to let people know you have started a blog,
make prominent mention of it on your website and
list with a blog directory. Also put a link to
your blog in your email signature line and
mention it in forum discussion replies.
Wikis
A wiki is a website whose information can be
added to, removed or edited by visitors. It
derives from the Hawaiian word for ‘quick’.
Think of a wiki as a shared whiteboard and
filing cabinet combined. Wikis present a
powerful opportunity for collaboration among
employees and can be used to create a valuable
organizational knowledge base of information
ranging from policies and procedures, to a list
of product serial numbers or a directory of
client websites. A wiki can be for purely
internal use among employees or open to the
outside world so customers and prospects can
view and add to what is there as well.
Example Wikis: SmallBusiness.com, HTC Smartphone
Wiki, Corporate Underpants
Business applications
- Useful repositories of information your people may need easy access to
- Support for collaborative projects – keep all documents in one place accessible to all project members
- Allow customers to generate content for you, for instance a bookshop could host readers' reviews
- Create a virtual call center to answer customer FAQs
- Gather customer comments on products and services
What it takes
Open access to Wiki content (although some
content can be locked down and untouchable)
means that data is easily vandalized by removal
of content or deliberate addition of
misinformation. Some sort of editorial control
and content review process is recommended to
keep information up to date, relevant, correct,
and to prune out problematic content such as
defamatory comments and advertising for other
sites. It’s better to avoid this intervention as
much as possible. Let contributors know the
rules up front by posting a ‘terms of service’
policy outlining what is acceptable.
If sensitive information is included in your
Wiki, such as employee details or product
designs and other intellectual property, then
implement a strict gatekeeper policy to control
who has access to what. Employees will need some
encouragement to start using it. You’ll have to
market it to make customers and prospects aware
of it.
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Three Keys To Maintaining A Good Relationship
With Suppliers
A dependable supplier makes life so much easier
and when your relationship with suppliers is a
mutually beneficial one, their dependability is
almost guaranteed. We believe there are 3 key
elements to developing this sort of
relationship?
1. Know your supplier
Don’t sign up with the first supplier you come
across in the Yellow Pages. It pays to create a
list of possible suppliers and check out how
they perform. Ask them for customer references
and contact the customer for their view on how
well the supplier performs, particularly how
they handle the glitches that will inevitably
occur. Is the supplier prompt and helpful in
resolving problems, or defensive and
uncooperative?
Investigate the financial situation of potential
suppliers. Smart suppliers investigate the
financial health of would-be customers and it’s
just as important to buyers that their supplier
is also financially viable. Credit problems
could signal future trouble in their ability to
meet supply obligations.
Knowledge can be power when it comes to
establishing a relationship with a supplier. An
appreciation of how crucial your business’
orders will be for the supplier will give you an
idea of the leverage you can apply to the
arrangement. If your business is important for
the supplier cost and condition negotiations
will be weighed in your favor. Unfortunately,
the reverse also applies. Then it might be an
idea to see if you can get into a cooperative
buying arrangement with other businesses so that
your combined purchasing does carry some weight.
2. Clarify expectations about service
You need to think past price if you want to
build a dependable supplier relationship. Your
expectations about key service issues should be
clearly spelled out and agreed upon with your
supplier before any contract or purchase takes
place. Once you have short listed a number of
possible suppliers, ask for a quote or proposal
and get their policies on these key areas:
- Price structure including any discount or other incentives, e.g. for early payment
- Shipping methods, cost and delivery time
- Payment mode and period
- Handling of returns
- Customizing orders or dealing with other special needs
When it’s necessary to step outside the agreed
structure, explain the situation and discuss the
options. If you really need an order to be
rushed, go over what delivery options there
might be and what they would cost. Don’t expect
to get something for nothing, extra service will
mean extra cost. And don’t continually haggle
about price - your supplier may become resentful
and decide you aren’t a customer they want to
deal with.
3. Keep good faith
The supplier/buyer relationship involves a set
of mutual commitments. If the supplier fails to
meet their end of the bargain it can have dire
effects on the productivity of the buyer. Where
the buyer reneges it can affect the cash flow of
the supplier. Keeping faith is good for the
business of each and good for the relationship.
Any issue that arises from a failure of the
supplier to maintain their service commitment or
the buyer to pay on time or make unreasonable
demands can quickly spiral into mutual
recriminations and distrust.
If you feel that the level of service provided
by your supplier is below par then contact them
and tell them so. If your first contact is
verbal, follow it up with a written summary of
the issues to avoid any future misunderstandings
after the conversation has finished. Tell them
your opinion and expectations. Try and determine
a mutually acceptable way forward. Likewise, the
supplier may be having problems with you. One
common cause of dissension is with respect to
placing orders. An order placed well in advance
of need gives the supplier sufficient time to
meet the needed-by date. Orders placed late
cause angst for both supplier and buyer.
Good communication can take the relationship
beyond just working effectively with your
supplier. Suppliers who trust their customers
are likely to give them that little extra that
can be so important. For instance, telling a
retail customer which of their products are
selling well at other outlets or, with their
manufacturer customers, by suggesting potential
substitutes for materials or ideas on how to
improve production quality ideas. This advice
can mean lower production costs and improved
product.
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Finding Your Niche
Large retailers often leave smaller market
segments unserviced since they don’t represent,
for them, a sufficiently profitable target. A
small business can capitalize on these unmet
needs by developing a product or service that
fills the gap. You can think of a niche market
as a narrowly defined group of potential
customers.
A niche market can be built on developing a
product for a particular consumer demographic,
such as manufacturing kosher milk products to
meet the dietary requirements of particular
religious groups. Many service firms have grown
their business by deciding to build up expertise
in how a certain industry works and focusing on
attracting clients from that industry based on
the expertise they can offer. Others will
concentrate on a particular service line such as
a dentist who specializes in pediatric work.
Still other businesses concentrate their
resources on marketing to a particular region,
so they could be said to operate in a geographic
niche. The competitive advantage of being in a
niche market derives from being alone there and
of being able to offer a level of expertise
others can’t match or perfectly satisfy a
particular need.
Niche market businesses are frequently small
scale since they tend to focus on identifiable
sub segments of a larger market such as cleaning
blinds instead of cleaning offices in general.
But it’s an error to think that this is a
necessary association. The First Commerce Bank,
in Charlotte, N.C became hugely profitable
concentrating on servicing small business
clients and some accounting firms have moved
into the big league through providing advice to
clients in specific industries or occupations.
Making niche marketing work
There are three basic ground rules for making niche marketing work for you.
- Develop a detailed marketing plan: a well
developed marketing plan is the key to
successful niche marketing. It has to be very
specific about the basic business concept – what
you are selling, who you are selling it to, why
they would buy it (the benefit to the customer)
and how you will make money out of it.
- Appoint a niche champion: the secret to tapping
into a niche market and working it to get the
best return is to know just what it is the
consumer will really value from the product or
service you are offering. If you need to, find a
niche champion with the knowledge and experience
in the product/service that will enable you to
develop just the right package. If your niche
marketing initiative is really a subsidiary line
of business within a larger organization, for
instance preparing a line of gluten-free
products within a general bakery business,
ensure the project is properly funded and the
niche champion has sufficient authority and
respect to be able to keep the project on track.
Don’t throw away the opportunity through bad
planning and execution.
-
Market hard: niche marketing succeeds or fails
on its success in connecting with exactly the
right kind of customer. Both the target market
and the marketing channels that will most likely
reach them should be closely defined. Give
careful consideration to what marketing messages
will work best as 'hot buttons' for prospects
and will prompt them to purchase the product.
Marketing spend may not need to be large but it
does need to be well focused so as to get your
name known within the target market and educate
them to the benefits of using your
product/service. In the case of gluten-free
bakery products, you could advertise in health
food stores, food bars, natural healing centers
and healthy living publications.
The famous entertainer Bill Cosby once said, "I
don't know what the secret of success is, but I
know the secret of failure and that was trying
to please everybody." The same wisdom applies in
business as in entertainment. For many
businesses, large and small, creating a product
or offering a service that satisfies the needs
of a niche market has been a recipe for success.
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Creative Techniques For Product Naming
There’s plenty of good advice around about
naming products. Brand managers tell us that a
product name should clearly distinguish the
product from its competitors, hold appeal for
the target audience and convey an implied
benefit. It should be short, easy to pronounce
and to remember. It’s sensible to keep these
ideas in mind as guidelines when trying to come
up with the name for a product, but what happens
when names just won’t come or the only ones that
do just don’t sound right? How do you get the
creative juices flowing in the first place? No
doubt about it, naming is not easy. There’s no
‘right’ process for coming up with a name but
there is an approach that can help.
Start with a brainstorming session: Focus your
brainstorming by creating a list of questions
related to the product. What does this product
do? What are the characteristics of the target
customer group? How will the customer benefit?
What makes it special? This exercise should
supply you with plenty of relevant words and
phrases. Now, what to do with all those words?
Here are some ways you can get creative with
them.
Explore synonyms: If your particular words seem
a bit flat and just don’t have that special ring
to them, try looking for different words with
the same or similar meaning – synonyms. Here a
thesaurus is a handy tool to have. You can
purchase one from a bookstore or use one of the
excellent, and free, online versions such as
Thesaurus.com.
A variation of this method is to write down what
your business does and come up with other things
in life that do the same thing. For example, if
the product is a pool cleaner then another
gadget that does the same job is a vacuum
cleaner and the product might be named PoolVac;
if it’s a battery that just never gives out –
won’t die – then … Die Hard.
Combine words: Create one word from two or more
so that at least one part is a portion of a
recognizable word rather than the whole word.
Revlon’s Fabulash mascara speaks to any woman
who wants fabulous eyelashes. When they work,
word blends can be short, meaningful and
elegant. When they don’t work, blends can be
awkward, obscure meanings or plain unfortunate.
‘Beneful (‘beneficial’ + ‘wonderful’) dog food
isn’t just bland, it unfortunately no part of
the combined words are recognizable.
Consider the names of things that relate to your
product: Plenty of great product names gain
meaning and suggestive power from proper names
that conjure up a specific image, particularly
if there is a link of some sort between them.
Depending on the product the name of an explorer
(Magellan GPS), an animal (Cheetah Printing), a
dinosaur (Tyrannosaurus Red, a red wine), or a
mythological figure (Venus swimwear) could add
some poetic overtones that also get the message
across.
Look for related figures of speech: Some figures
of speech, like 'forty winks' or 'bed of roses’
can seem like a made-to-fit product name. Many
figures of speech have become so common as to
achieve cliché status and should be avoided.
Create a deliberate misspelling: In an age very
forgiving of spelling errors the deliberate
mistake is being used creatively to come up with
descriptive, short, and easy to remember product
names – Solahart (a water heating system) and
netflix use this technique.
Play with puns: These are product names based on
words or phrases that have been modified
slightly to evoke an appropriate second meaning.
Nero software for recording (burning) optical
media plays on the association of the Roman
emperor Nero, implicated in the burning of Rome.
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