Stephen D. Gross

Now that the first decade of this century is over, small businesses are waking up to find themselves in a quandary trying to decide on traditional marketing versus online marketing and the means to finance either one.

Traditional Media Advertising and Marketing is often times out of the financial reach for most small business owners.  Even if they have the resources, small business owners get caught up in the need to justify and ensure a return on the investment of their time and hard earned dollars.  Traditional Media firms normally require an up front payment plus a long-term commitment before launching any campaign.  In addition, the charge for creative work is passed on as an addition expense to the media buying small business owner.

Internet or Online Marketing, more often than not, follows the same routine as Traditional Media firms in terms of financing the campaign and charging for creative.  The difference is that Online Marketing is typically far less expensive, much faster to launch, and easier to track and justify.  However, many online pay-per-click campaigns are launched by inexperienced marketing agents, and thus cost, and at times exhaust, their clients available budgets before a payback can be achieved.

Enter Social and Content Marketing.  These forms of Online Marketing can be seem elusive and untrackable for the small business owner.  Many times, the small business owners lack of understanding of the philosophy behind authority, trust, and communication keeps them from participating and committing financial resources towards this form of marketing.

Small business owners are looking for a low cost of entry solution for marketing for 2010.  The Internet can and will offer a pay-as-you-go alternative to the old fashion no-risk traditional media firm financial model.

Small Business owners seem poised and ready to commit the necessary dollars to get their business growing again.  However, they will only do so if the marketing channel is proven and offers a high opportunity for success and/or has some assurances built-in for controlling and tracking the marketing expenditures.

Brookstone Marketing Group has now released a marketing campaign that fits such a requirement, PayGo Marketing.  For more information concerning PayGo Online Marketing release click here.

What is your struggle with online marketing?  Leave a comment.

PayGo Online Marketing is a campaign offered by Brookstone Marketing Group.

So here we are in 2009 with unemployment reaching toward 10%, business failures at a 30-year high, and the ability to get small business credit almost at a standstill. Are these issues the cause or effect of something far more sinister?

Actually the old 80/20 rule of the business universe is just as likely a root cause for the downturn in American retail and small business. I’m sure we have all heard that 80% of our sales come from 20% of our products or 20% of our customers. Guess what? That rule is very questionable at the very least considering the impacts of the Internet.

The actual terminology for the 80/20 rules is “Power Law distribution”. Here is a graph to demonstrate the 80/20 rule.

To the left of the graph are the few products that provide 80% of revenue while moving to the right is the majority of products providing the least amount of revenue.

This phenomena works from both sides and directions of the sales vs. available inventory argument.  On one hand a business might calculate their inventory needs based upon buying trends per product.  On the other hand, a buyer might purchase products based upon the available selection and on hand inventory.

How does this affect you?  Store and warehouse size, product availability, pricing, inventory levels, and even pricing considerations all need to take the 80/20 rule in consideration for business planning.

However the Internet greatly disturbs this somewhat hard to handle premise.  The consumer is able to research product availability, pricing, options, and resources on a real-time basis.  In addition they have the option of purchasing the products and services online at the same time they are performing the research.

The internet merchant is not saddled with expensive floor space, retails displays, on floor employees, licenses, or even some form of taxes like that of a brick and mortar style merchant.

We have, in recent years, seen the popularity of super-sized stores implemented by Target, Wal-Mart, and others to enable them to provide a wider availability of product offerings.  They are attempting to capitalize on the one big weakness of the Internet.  The “need it now” emotional purchase.  They are also combining standard forms of non-food retail products with food related items in order to capture the one-stop-shop oriented consumer.

The next time you visit your nearest retail merchant take a look around and notice if they have increased or decreased their product availability and offerings.  Either one could signal a merchant who has not yet taken time to understand the real long-term effects of the Internet.  The hard-core truth is that they could be on their way to the small business graveyard.

Visit Brookstone Marketing Group for more information.