Ventureneer, Message Medium Partner to Uncover Best Online Practices For Segments of Small Business Sector
Sunday, October 9th, 2011New York, NY (PRWEB) July 28, 2011
Speak up! Ventureneer and Message Medium?s 2011 best-practices survey wants input from small businesses and nonprofits for their survey Online Marketing Best Practices Among Small Businesses. They need to hear from business owners and nonprofit leaders about what works and what doesn?t for different kinds of organizations.
This isn?t just about social media. If a business uses an enewsletter or social media, Ventureneer and Message Medium want to know how it?s going. Online media, from search engine optimization to Twitter, are interconnected and synergistic. The best results are generated by the right mix, not by a narrow focus on one medium.
The culture, products, size, and mission of a small business affects decisions about media mix as well so the survey report will break down what works well by segments such as women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, nonprofits, and socially responsible businesses (an important and growing small business sector).
The report will show small businesses how others like them make online marketing work. It will also show them what doesn?t work in their market segment, saving them time and money when putting together their marketing plan.
?We are gathering comprehensive data to generate comprehensive best practices, guidelines that will be meaningful to businesses of all kinds,? said Geri Stengel, founder of Ventureneer.
?We are looking at segments of the small business sector. We know what works for one may not work for all. We want specific answers for each segment,? said Maisha Walker, principal of Message Medium.
To make the data meaningful, Ventureneer and Message Medium want to hear from all categories of small businesses, those who use social media and those who don?t as well as those who use other online marketing tactics, such as email and search engine optimization.
Last year, Ventureneer?s survey Use and Best Practices of Social Media Among Nonprofits, generated free ebooks, blogs, and trainings for nonprofit leaders that helped nonprofits take charge of social media. This year?s survey will add to that, with resources and training to help small businesses and nonprofits use the synergy between online marketing and social media.
The 2011 survey, Online Marketing Best Practices Among Small Businesses, will be conducted in partnership with Message Medium (owned by Inc. magazine?s most popular blogger, Maisha Walker).
The results will answer the most pressing questions small businesses and nonprofits have about online marketing and social media. We will find out:
the best ways for management to learn the why?s and staff to learn the how to?s of online marketing
what should be measured to determine the ROI for online marketing campaigns
how much time it takes to make social media and online marketing effective
how to increase efficiency when using social media
if effective use of online media increases revenue
if best practices are the same across all segments of the small business sector
if and how the culture of an organization is affected by using social media
how online marketing and social media are best integrated.
From the survey results, Ventureneer and Message Medium will develop jargon-free, best practices for small businesses and nonprofits using online marketing. The report will include guidelines for integrating online marketing tools as well as examples of what works and why. The report will be downloadable at no cost.
Examples of success stories will come from those who take the survey. It is an opportunity for small businesses to get media attention for their hard work. Those who participate in the survey will also receive a sneak peak at the report before it is released to the general public.
The survey will open on July 28, 2011 and close on August 19, 2011. To participate, go to Online Marketing Best Practices Among Small Businesses. Everyone can be part of this collaborative effort to find out what works and what doesn?t in online marketing. Experience, good or bad, will help ferret out best practices and pitfalls to avoid.
Geri Stengel is founder of Ventureneer, an online education and peer support service for values-driven small business owners. She honed her online expertise at companies like Dow Jones and Physicians? Online and co-founded the Women?s Leadership Exchange. Geri is president of Stengel Solutions, a consulting service for social-impact organizations. She has taught university-level classes and is a Kauffman FastTrac facilitator in entrepreneurship. She has been nationally recognized for her achievements in small business development and nonprofit guidance.
Maisha Walker is founder and president of Message Medium, a website design and Internet strategy firm. Message Medium shows small business owners how to harness the power of the Internet and create dynamic and profitable brands online. She has been building websites and online communities for more than 14 years. Maisha is a featured online columnist with Inc. Magazine and her blog is now the most popular on that site. In 2008, Maisha was a finalist in the New York Enterprise Report Small Business Awards for innovation and excellence in sales and marketing.
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