Zalacsany

Big businesses have a lot of employees. Most decisions require the blessing, or at least some input from several people. If one employee brings up a product or service that he or she thinks will benefit the organization, and no one else has heard of this great thing, then that individual is faced with having to remarket the solution internally to get everyone else on board. Of course, product recognition isn’t a problem for American Express or Staples. They’ve got the money to make everyone aware of what they do. But when marketing to larger corporations, you have to make sure you’re hitting ALL the people internally who would need to be aware of your offerings. With turnover, relocation, promotions, and reorganizations this is a pretty tough task. When marketing to small companies, on the other hand, you’re only concerned with getting the attention of one person:
that crazy little fox who owns the business. Small business owners don’t get promoted, relocated, or downsized. A fox like Julie is the queen bee and the primary buyer of everything. She may be running from here to there, but she’s still the main target. So even though the total market of small businesses is much larger than the corporate behemoths, you only have to worry about a single person at each company. This will change your marketing approach significantly.

Some big companies work hard at marketing goods and services to small businesses. American Express targets small companies with special credit cards, programs, and financing services. Banks, in general, like to market their loans and checking accounts to small companies. They understand that these companies are the backbone of their lending practices. Staples, PedEx, Verizon, and Dell Computer all market directly to small companies. These companies understand that marketing to the small business market is not the same as marketing to larger companies. Here are a few significant reasons why.