Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Like you adressed in your response, I think that ignorance and fear of the technology is the main barrier. I have experienced this MANY times. Talk about a headache.

It becomes especially difficult with businesses run by seniors and blue collar folks who are used to the traditional "old school" or "good ole boy" methods of doing business. They usually watch too much news about all the scams and how the Internet is not what it used to be etc. in combination with "expert" spouses, friends and neighbors who tell them they know a guy who knows a guy who paid for a site and it was a waste.

The key to getting through to these people is explaining what you just mentioned...the FACTS. Be firm, but professional in telling them they are simply wrong (in your own words of course). You won't always get through to everyone, but presenting the facts and perhaps comparing the internet to a form of media they are familiar with or trust like "It's the new T.V. of advertising", or "It's like having 100 stores nationwide all in one spot...imagine all the business you can potentially recieve by reaching out to the masses rather than staying in your backyard".

I've actually used those phrases or variations of to convince people. Again, some are just downright stubborn and very guarded since most small businesses are not started by "businesmen", rather they are regular folks with an idea. Get down to their level Explain the facts, and use comparitve analogies based on their social status. That is what I do.

Good Luck!

Hi Peter,

Small businesses lack cash, so they have to be very tight with it. Therefore they are reluctant to spent it, and especially on things that they don't see an immediate payoff.

The web took off because many people and businesses jumped on it's bandwagon after witnessing the hysterical rise of Internet companies and their stock prices. They rushed to market and built expensive sites that didn't make any money or market share. When the overvalued stock market took a dump, the media was quick to declare the good old days of the Internet over.

For those businesses that built expensive sites that failed, they transfered the blame to someone else by accepting the sound bites from the media, instead of learning what they had to do to make it work right.

For other small businesses that didn't have a website yet, they accepted these frequently heard sound bites as truth, and wrote off the Internet and website as a has-been that didn't work.

The rapid rise of the first wave of the Internet brought with it so much bullshit and overpromised hype, that somethings were bound to fail.

But the beauty of business as a competitive environment is that you can suceed where others have failed or have never tried, by doing things different.

If your article is trying to encourage your racing team members to get on the web, you will need to describe a successful racing team website as an example of how a website can increase fan base, sponsorship and market share. If you do it right, your target customers will get the taste of the potential for a website, and then they will want it too. The me-too bandwagon effect works wonders as a means to drive business strategy.

And great reply to the post by Woody, they are not using their website to it's full potential, probably because they are not making enough profit by only attracting business through the lowest bidder process.

The article in the NYTimes is a great example of PR. Google is getting ready to do an IPO in the coming months, and they are priming the media outlets (USA Today, NYTimes, etc) with articles designed to get their name and business solutions into the minds of businesses and investors. The taste for success will cause many businesses to buy adverts on Google, which will drive their revenue rates up, which will attract investors for the IPO. Another example that reinforces the need for additional promotion channels for your website / business. And that goes for all types of marketing and advertising, not just a website.

There's some great comments here, but I have to agree with "mbarber" as having hit the nail on the head. As virtually all of my firm's clients and prospects fall into the "Small Business" (SB) category, I've seen first hand the poor-to-mixed results they've gotten with their Internet investments. Those results, in my opinion, are due primarily to lack of strategic focus.

Without a focus on strategy (what end-result you want), the dollars invested in tactics (site, ads, etc.) fall far below their potential in ROI. One tactic MUST support the other, and all MUST support the strategy. Otherwise, don't bother.

In short then, investing in an Internet presence should be approached as part of the gestalt of a SB firm's marketing presence as defined by the strategy and tactics BEST suited to reach the target customer.