A few months ago, I received an email asking for my point of view in a discussion about paying for highly-qualified leads.

Right now we are discussing the preliminary results of a group survey which shows that despite the fact over 55% of respondents said they get more than $10,000 in revenue from the average customer in a given year, only 8.8% of the survey participants felt that they would be willing to pay $500 for a super-duper qualified B2B lead.

A question then is prompted to me: “Why do you think so few companies are willing to pay $500 for a highly qualified lead? Have leads simply become passé? Do few companies even know what to do with good leads to begin with?”

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It’s 2011.  There is a new day and age in technology, in how we do business, and in how we interact with others on a macro and micro scale.  Yet, here we are, recycling the same old marketing schemes over and over again.

I’m referring to the phrase “Click Here.”  I wrote a marketing article a couple of years ago emphasizing our need to back away from our usage of that 1999 phrase and be more proactive in our call-to-action messages and methods of cultivating customer relationships. Sadly, that proactive emphasis has gone to deaf ears, as I still continue to see such unattractive and non-engaging verbiage in many sites and many campaigns. Continue Reading »

If you’re working for a small business, chances are, you’re wearing “multiple” hats as part of your job description.  And with multiple hats, you may be responsible for being the “go-to” person for any of  the areas you cover in your company.  So, with all of the “hats” that you wear, can you do it all and do it well?

Below you’ll find several key issues (or as some would say, “mild concerns”) that are predominant within the small business community.

Human Resources

I believe that this is the biggest need and possibly the hardest obstacle to address. Small businesses can have minimal amount of people to do the job and do it well.  It is even harder for a one-person or two-person entity to wear the notoriously many hats of a small business, let alone the social face of one.

Technology Resources

This, I think, is a very close second to human resource issues, if not tied to it.  Side by side with human resources issues, technological savviness can be difficult to achieve without the necessary tools to become savvy.  And if you employ an intern with limited technical knowledge or savvy ingenuity, then it gets harder to become relevant.

Financial Resources

A close third deals with the moolah.  The almighty dollar.  The budget (you guys remember what that is?).  Hard to get employees who are rich in knowledge, wisdom, and education when budgets are limited for new hires, let alone for hardware, software, and other small business expenses.

Time Management

Critical time management work is essential for balancing your business needs, especially when there is a lack of human resources. Being a small business owner myself, it takes lots of time and effort to conduct just the everyday “business” of business without having to put on your social media hat.  And honestly, how much time do we even take out to do social marketing when there is a gazillion of other things to do?

Social Relationships

Generating, managing, and maintaining social relationships online is almost as hard as conducting the same in real life, except that “real life” is now involving your online social “friends.”  And what of your potential costumers?  Finding them, engaging with them, and ultimately getting them to do business with you is hard enough in the physical world…

Any Thoughts?

What are other ways that makes it difficult for small business owners to compete in the social marketing realm?  Send me your thoughts!