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Small Business Marketing

Business marketers were early adopters of the Internet. Business buyers were using it to do their work, and they simply expected to hear from their suppliers online. It's turned into a great marriage.

Let's review the most important Internet marketing tools as they apply to business marketing. If there are any you aren't using today, I urge you to give them a try.

Email. Truly the killer app. Business marketers use email for prospecting, for qualifying inquiries and turning them into leads, and for managing ongoing relationships. Because of its speed, flexibility and low cost, email is in many ways the preferred outbound communications tool for business marketers today.

ItÇs important to gather as many email addresses as possible from your customers and prospects. The first step is to put an email request line item in every business reply communication. Second, consider the email append services available to businesses today, like Thumbprint (from Direct Media), Markets on Demand, eDirect, and iMatcher.

Thereafter, it may make sense to invest in outbound communications, whether mail or phone, to request email addresses and permission to use them. Some companies gather email addresses at their websites, inviting their customers to fill in registration forms and even to keep the forms updated on their own, as their contact information changes.

Websites. Sometimes it feels like websites can do everything. They serve as instant, globally accessible collateral material. They can be customized and personalized infinitely. You can use them to gather registrations, survey data or newsletter subscriptions. They make beautifully trackable campaign response forms. They are perfect for inquiry fulfillment, allowing live updating, customization and downloads of detailed product information. You can even build special websites for your best customers, behind their own corporate firewalls. Websites are the ultimate flexible marketing tool.

Search engine optimization. Remember, the Internet has quickly become buyersÇ first resource for business research. You must make sure your site ranks strongly„on the first page, at a minimum„of listings with the major search engines for the keywords your prospects are likely to be researching. You can find everything you need to know about optimization at www.searchenginewatch.com .

Banners. Consumer marketers may be throwing up their hands in frustration with banner ads, but business marketers are still getting great value from the medium. The secret is in targeting. Test banner ads on the sites of your business partners, trade associations, and anywhere else your prospects are likely to hang out. DonÇt forget trying a "house ad" on your own site. And, of course, be sure you make an offer and ask for the click.

Webinars. ItÇs so much easier and cheaper to run business seminars on the Internet instead of at hotels. Use web-based seminars to qualify and nurture prospects, to introduce new products or features„whatever use you have for seminars in the offline world. Just be sure you keep the content lively. ItÇs a passive medium and runs the risk of causing boredom.

Newsletters. A low-cost tool for ongoing customer communication. Newsletters are most productive when they include editorial content beyond mere product puffery. Add tips on solutions to some of the real business problems facing your customers, and youÇll be a hero. Be sure to add a "viral" pass-along component to each newsletter you publish. And gather subscriptions to your newsletters with a sign-up box on your home page.

Affiliate programs. Place your offers on someone elseÇs website, and pay a commission. Try setting up private deals with your business partners and other non-competitive companies that service your market. Then consider some of the affiliate marriage brokers out there, like LinkShare, BeFree and Commission Junction.

Incentive programs. Some business marketers are successfully using consumer-ish incentives like contests, sweepstakes, scavenger hunts and coupons.

The Internet is a perfect medium for running these programs inexpensively, and a number of vendors have sprung up to help you.

Incentive programs are great gathering lots of names for your database, but of course you have to evaluate the quality trade-off very carefully.

A final note on Internet marketing for B-to-B: Business buyers are less sensitive than consumers when it comes to privacy issues.

They are hungry to hear new ideas and learn about new opportunities, quickly. They need information in order to do their jobs, to solve problems, to keep up with the fast-changing world of business.

So take full advantage of the Internet in your business marketing program, and have fun.