Internet Marketing and SMB’s Are Just Getting Acquainted

I write daily for Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim blog which is all about the Internet marketing industry and the applications of its various components. It covers the fast pace of innovation on the Internet. It examines the changes that are taking place in the search engines. There is now a significant shift to watching the impact of social media on how we do business. That is great stuff but only if you are a pure Internet company or a very large corporate entity and any of the various service providers attached to them.

My place here at Frank Thinking is primarily about the SMB (small and medium business) market and their use of the Internet for marketing their products and services. Compared to Marketing Pilgrim’s big city “New York Times” approach Frank Thinking is like the local newspaper that comes out weekly and means something to people because it’s in their backyard. The audience here is aware of what goes on in the big city but doesn’t live in it so life is different. We all have our place in the market.

Based on that fact, I find that I often get ahead of local, regional and small enterprise business people with my ‘big city’ talk of tweets, friending, universal search, personalized search results etc. etc. I have noticed the glazed looks that come over business owners when I mention Twitter or Facebook. I also notice the polite thank yous that are offered once my amazing explanations of these great things are finished. I say polite because regardless of how much I know it most likely still has nothing to do with their success in their world.

I have to adapt to the style and pace of the SMB and the Internet. I used to be frustrated at these ‘rubes’ who just didn’t get it. Now I am seeing that these people were doing fine without it and are now interested in getting involved but at their pace and on their terms. I have to relax with that and know that the only way I can be of service to this group of people is to meet them where they are rather than where I think they should be.

Where are you at in your Internet marketing efforts? Do you know what a title tag is and did it matter to you before you just read this? Have you heard about what can be done on the Internet but just don’t have the time to invest while still running your business and having some kind of life? Tell me about your situation. I want to finally stop talking and listen.

FT Takeaway: The pace of Internet marketing is fast and furious. Not everyone plays with the fast crowd though and SMB’s are great examples of that. Internet marketing IS for everyone but it has to be at their pace (with some prodding possibly) or else it will not impact lives. It’s time to listen and be of service. Success will follow in the way it is supposed to look not the way we are sold it will look.