August 17th, 2010

Small and Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs) Relying on I.T. for Strengthening Operations

A new study by trade association CompTIA indicates that small and mid-sized businesses in the United States are increasingly relying on new IT solutions to strengthen various aspects of their operations. This conclusion was established based on an online survey of more than 400 executives spread across key verticals in February 2010. Not surprisingly, the "Second Annual SMB Technology Adoption Trends" report determined that 80 percent of SMBs are looking for technology solutions that "deliver immediate payback in terms of minimum disruption of business continuity and seamless integration with existing solutions." Indeed, a majority (71 percent) say that they are willing to pay a premium for new solutions with a proven ROI."

Please see: SMBs More Aggressive in Technological Adoption - CompTIA Study Article

Call (813) 321-1300 today for help with Virtualization, unified communications, SaaS and other new IT solutions questions.

Measuring the Success of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Campaigns

From the relatively short, but quite insightful article linked below: “If you own a website, you're already doing SEO. The e-commerce platform you choose, information architecture of your site, product marketing copy, meta data, and more all affect your organic listings in search engines from day one. As you continue managing the site, you're constantly changing your search engine visibility, so it's important to know if things are on the right track. It takes a combination of several quantitative and qualitative measurements to get a good grasp on the state of your SEO.” The author then discusses each of those valuable measurements.

Please see: Measuring Your SEO Success - SearchEngineWatch.com Article

Action Item: Call (813) 321-1300 today for help with Social Media strategies.




Is it Time to Upgrade Your Business Accounting Software?

David Boos, President of Cornerstone Consulting, Inc. has written an article entitled, "Dave's Top 10 Reasons Why it MIGHT be Time to Upgrade Your Business Accounting Software" which was published in the Bay Area Business Magazine. If you are contemplating upgrading your business accounting software, the information contained within this article can help you decide if now is the right time to implement a new software solution.

Please see: Reasons to Upgrade Your Accounting Software - BABM.com Article

Action Item: Call (813) 321-1300 today for help with Business Accounting Software Systems.

Resonance Marketing for Smaller Retailers

From the very recent article published in MIT Sloan Business Review linked below: “Besides simply avoiding the clutter of mass markets, smaller retailers…need to stake out unique market sweet spots, those areas that resonate so strongly with target consumers that they are willing to pay a premium price, which offsets the higher production and distribution costs associated with niche offerings. We call this approach resonance marketing. The vast amount of information available on the Internet has made this kind of niche marketing more important than ever and easier to do. More important because all that information encourages comparison shopping, putting tremendous downward pressure on prices and profits in highly competitive mass markets. And easier because it eliminates much of consumers’ uncertainty about new niche products, since they can easily find reviews, ratings and comments on everything that hits the market…today’s empowered consumer is truly listening to word-of-mouth. Finding sweet spots in the market is especially important in these tough economic times…. Many shoppers will compromise whenever possible by looking for cheaper alternatives to the things they usually buy — but keep buying products that don’t have any direct substitutes. With the right approach, resonance marketing can fulfill its promise. We have found that six marketing principles, taken together, will allow a company to manage the complexity of this strategy and reap superior profitability.”

Please see: Strategies for Successful Niche Marketing Article - MIT Sloan Business Review

Action Item: Call (813) 321-1300 today for help with Marketing strategies.

Small Business Lending - Are You Part of "The Target"?

From the BusinessWeek article linked below: “The House just approved a $30 billion fund to help banks lend to entrepreneurs. But officials say they're unsure how much would reach the target. The problem, say some economists, policymakers, and observers, is a lack of information: We don't have the data that's needed to understand why small business lending is down--and what a proper fix might look like. Check out our story for analysis.”

Please see: What We Don't Know About Small Business Lending - Businessweek.com Article

Action Item: Call (813) 321-1300 today for help with Business strategies.

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